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Are bikes getting more expensive or just better?
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https://www.bikeradar.com/...nsive-or-just-better

bikeradar wrote:
In 2013, the cheapest model, the Comp, cost £2,600, while in 2019 that model costs £3,150. Now £3,150 is more than £2,600 (I checked), but accounting for inflation, the 2013 bike would cost over £2,900 in today’s money. So in real terms, the price is hardly in a different league.

How about Triathlon bikes? Are they also priced about the same when accounting for inflation? To me, it seems they are getting way more expensive, but so does lunch and just about everything else.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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i was thinking just that the other day.

when i started racing tri in the mid-90s, $1250 to $1500 got you most companies' meat-and-potatoes bike: 105, aluminum frame, carbon fork, and mid-range wheels like the mavic CXP series. you could spend 2 or 3 times that on something really exotic (z-frames by corima, lotus or hotta, for instance, or a beryllium frame from beyond fabrications). but it would have been genuinely difficult to spend 5 figures without sourcing things from the most obscure places possible.

today you can buy bikes off the peg for that much, and source exotic upgrades to double the price. wasn't look on here recently talking about $1200 pair of aerobars?

i guess bikes are 'better' in many respects, but then it's all relative - they're also made with 'better' technology and shipping through 'better' supply chains, and seem to have outpaced the rate of inflation by a decent clip.

so if they are indeed getting better, they're doing so at a faster rate than most of the other stuff we're buying.

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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You can get a great bike for 1k now. The comments in a 1k-1.5k bike are the same tech we were using a few years ago. You can get 105 and it’ll be great for years.

The top of the line bikes have gone up a lot but the middle of the road is cheaper for instance you can get a new p3 frameset that is faster than the original p3c for 500-600 less than in 2006. Also for the same price of Ultegra mechanical a few years ago you can get hydraulic/electric Ultegra.

The problem the bike industry has isn’t the price is translating that there is a real difference between a 2k bike and a Walmart bike. It becomes fun to ride not lugging around a brick and it will last longer than you need it too.

Two examples, I bought my wife an r3 a few years ago, and all I heard was “I don’t need this, my cruise bike is fine”. It took a good 1-2 mins of her riding the r3 to figure out how much more fun it was. I also have an s5, it was one of the 2013 versions. I had a shifter break a couple weeks ago and that’s the first thing that I’ve had to replace. You don’t get that quality in a cheap bike. But the bike shop has to make the case and that’s difficult for a lot of people to do if they only ride a couple times during the summer.

It’s the whole chicken or the egg situation. How do you convince someone that you’ll ride more and have more fun with a bike, when they don’t ride more and have fun, because they don’t realize it’s their bike that is making it suck.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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On the whole, it seems that we're getting a lot more bike for our money than twenty years ago, but cycling has exploded in popularity (even if it's decline for some parts of the world) so you'd expect the economies of scale, along with competition, to have contributed greatly. I see this more for road bikes though, TT/tri bikes are still niche and the mark-up for disc brakes, compared to road bike offerings, doesn't follow unless there isn't enough money to be made from new moulds.

SteveMc
p.s. BTW still waiting for a reasonably slippy and affordable disc brake TT/tri bike offering...
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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iron_mike wrote:
[..]today you can buy bikes off the peg for that much, and source exotic upgrades to double the price. wasn't look on here recently talking about $1200 pair of aerobars?

i guess bikes are 'better' in many respects, but then it's all relative - they're also made with 'better' technology and shipping through 'better' supply chains, and seem to have outpaced the rate of inflation by a decent clip.[..]

To be fair, Profile Design, TriRig, 3T, Zipp, Pro, and Enve all have bars in the $900-1200 range, with only two of those below $1000, so it isn't surprising that Look's is $1200 given their extension design.

Consider all the variables, not just price. Stuff is getting better and manufacturers are choosing to cater to a broader market. The supply chains, for example are the reason one manufacturer can offer 5 frames with 3 builds each. Some companies use an improved supply chain to reduce price and offer one model in fewer sizes while other use it to increase their selection, offer more SKUs, or improve the product.

Many manufacturers still have bikes in the $2000 range, which was $1400 in 2000, and I don't remember many options in that price range in 2000, either. For $3000 ($2100 in 2000), which is was the bare minimum to get a basic 10sp carbon bike, you can now get you a fully integrated Kestrel 5000 SL with Ultegra parts, or a PR-Four with integrated storage and disc brakes.

Bikes are getting better for the $ and companies are creating higher offerings independently of that fact. There was no P5x equivalent 15 years ago (it's not $12k+ just because it has a beam). Analogies exist in many other industries. You can now buy a $2m+ Ferrari. But those models are in a new league, not the $200k league from 20 years ago. The base 360 Spider was around $170,000 and the current 488 Spider is 10x the car for $260,000, which is... $170,000 in 2000-dollars.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [Grant.Reuter] [ In reply to ]
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Grant.Reuter wrote:
You can get a great bike for 1k now. The comments in a 1k-1.5k bike are the same tech we were using a few years ago. You can get 105 and it’ll be great for years.

The top of the line bikes have gone up a lot but the middle of the road is cheaper for instance you can get a new p3 frameset that is faster than the original p3c for 500-600 less than in 2006. Also for the same price of Ultegra mechanical a few years ago you can get hydraulic/electric Ultegra.

The problem the bike industry has isn’t the price is translating that there is a real difference between a 2k bike and a Walmart bike. It becomes fun to ride not lugging around a brick and it will last longer than you need it too.

Two examples, I bought my wife an r3 a few years ago, and all I heard was “I don’t need this, my cruise bike is fine”. It took a good 1-2 mins of her riding the r3 to figure out how much more fun it was. I also have an s5, it was one of the 2013 versions. I had a shifter break a couple weeks ago and that’s the first thing that I’ve had to replace. You don’t get that quality in a cheap bike. But the bike shop has to make the case and that’s difficult for a lot of people to do if they only ride a couple times during the summer.

It’s the whole chicken or the egg situation. How do you convince someone that you’ll ride more and have more fun with a bike, when they don’t ride more and have fun, because they don’t realize it’s their bike that is making it suck.

going from a cruiser bike to a cervelo r3 is a pretty unusual jump, IMO, for anybody outside of ST. I have plenty of friends who all they need is some walmart level cruiser bike to ride a mile to the store or cruise around the neighborhood. when those break down beyond repair after 3-5 years if they're lucky they just getting a used cruiser for like $50 and ride that for a few years. obviously it depends on the person and what their interests are. My wife got a nice 3 speed comfort bike for like $500. I think it's a Giant brand. She cares that it looks pretty and the seat is comfortable. She would never consider a road bike.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Yes the bikes are MUCH better. In my example:
In 2009 I bought a Ridley Noah Frame Retail $2900 I got it for about $2k. I put Ultrega 10 Speed on the bike that I had recently purchased for a different bike.
Great stuff, much better bike than I was as a rider. Upgrades were made over the 9 years I had the bike. Box rims, to Reynolds Assault Tubulars, and finally Reynolds Assault clinchers in 2017. It was a great bike.

Last year 2018, I decided it was time to replace that bike. 2018 Cervelo S2 with 105 Group Set Retail $2900, and I purchased for much closer to $2k for the whole bike. I put on the 2017 Reynolds Assault Clinchers that were on the Ridley Noah.

The Cervelo is a much better bike, and at a much lower price point (Actual Purchase price to Purchase price).
The 105 is MUCH better than 10speed Ultegra shifting even before years of wear and tear.

Although not as drastic, my experience of Original P2C (this was updated 3 times with new frames from 2007 to 2014), to 2016 Felt B12 to 2018 P2 was an improvement also.

2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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I think it's a little of both. In the late 90s, our club got a deal on CAAD4 9sp Ultegra box rimmed bikes. Carbon legged fork with a quill stem. The orange/yellow fade. I think the price was $2000, but I didn't buy one.

I recently bought a Trek Emonda ALR5 disc for just under $2000. 11sp 105 with 30mm deep wheels, full carbon fork and a carbon seat post. The bikes weigh about the same in the rim version. The Cannonade had Ultegra shifter and rear dearilleur. It had a 105 front derailleur, I think. The 11sp 105 shifts more crisply than I recall 9sp Ultegra shifting.

So, 20 years later, roughly equivalent bikes are available for the same price with 2 more gears, a compact crank, better shifting and you can get disc brakes if you want. And yeah, there are examples that work the other way.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Better? Sure

More expensive - no question. It's a luxury item and the economy is firing
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Everything is getting more expensive. It is quite clear that the consumer economy has split into Walmart-esque race to the bottom selling crap that people can afford in a pinch (but is crap and won't last very long), and boutique high end items for those of us lucky enough to afford them. There's less and less moderately priced products. Even retailers follow the same pattern. Low end still in business, and high end stores still in business. Everything else is shutting down.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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25 years ago, our beryllium road frame was priced at $20K.

Today, it is $68K.
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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can i have one?

please?

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
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Re: Are bikes getting more expensive or just better? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Shiv ultegra 3700
Trek SC ultegra 4k

Those are better than 4k bikes 5 years ago
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