Cycling has always been a relatively costly sport to get started in, but why has it become so ridiculous over the past few years? We’ve taken a look at some of the worst offenders for costing you money and it’s also given a great chance to simply have a good moan.
Bikes
First up, is the bike itself. Just how we got to the point where bikes can cost the same as a nice car we don’t know, but many of the top brands now have £10,000 plus models and seem to have no problems selling them. Surely the prices have got to stagnate at some point but would you like to take a guess at how much average bike prices have gone up here in the UK since 2019? What do you reckon – 5%,10%?
Well, the Bicycle Association actually found that the average price of bikes being sold has risen a rather staggering 26%. That is an astronomical amount, though our guess is the cheaper bikes just haven’t been available, forcing people to buy the more expensive options.
We’ll never know for sure, but there are a few things you can do to try and counter the rising prices. Firstly check out our buyer’s guides for the best independent advice on where to spend your cash and then head to the DealClincher section. There’s often last season’s kit with some huge savings to be had, often just because it isn’t the very latest and greatest.
It’s also worth remembering that as you spend more and more there are diminishing gains to be had, for example, the weight difference between Ultegra and Dura-Ace is the same as a trip to the loo and functionally Ultegra is just as good. Try not to get sucked in by a manufacturer’s efforts to get you to spend more if you can’t justify it. Even the Ribble Weldtite race team are using last year’s Ultegra on their race bikes and they’re not exactly slow.
If you know a thing or two about bikes then buying second-hand can save you a pretty penny. The likes of eBay and Facebook Marketplace are full of bikes that have rolled out the shop, been left in a garage for a few months when the novelty wore off and are now on sale for half the price. You should be wary of using this tactic though. Look out for scammers and overly worn components, if something looks too good to be true then it probably is.
Nutrition
Next on the list, we have cycling-specific food and drink products. Now don’t get us wrong, some of them are absolutely brilliant, but most of us couldn’t afford to go around guzzling these down every day of the week.
It’s the bars for us that really take the mickey. They can easily cost upwards of £1 per bar and you can go to any supermarket and usually get 6 for the same price, surely the cycling specific ones can’t be that much more expensive to make?
> How to eat right for long rides
We save the expensive cycling-specific stuff for race days and rides that are really challenging. If we’re just out for a weekend bimble then we’d rather save some money and spend it at the cafe.
You could also try making your own snacks, that’s what a lot of the pros do, rice cakes or flapjacks are very popular and the ingredients cost peanuts. If you’ve got recipe ideas then leave them in the comments section.
Race/Sportive entries
Want to ride in an organised event? Then you’re going to have to be prepared to pay a tidy sum for the privilege. Local sportives usually cost about 40 quid which is going to add up if you want to do them regularly. A lot of this fee goes towards the events insurance so please don’t think we’re having a go at event organisers. They often work for free and do an absolutely brilliant job especially given the additional challenges of closing roads and pressure from local communities who aren’t always so keen on the events happening in the first place.
We do like the odd sportive though. Our favourite part is getting your money’s worth out of any feed stations and they are a great way of discovering the best roads that different places have to offer.
> 8 tips for getting the most out of a sportive
The same thing applies for racing, you’ll need to purchase a British Cycling licence and a race licence if you’re going to compete regularly so there’s £100 gone before you’ve even got to a start line. A midweek criterium will usually set you back about £15 and a road race is easily £30. Plus you’re usually on roads that have oncoming traffic, now that’s something you don’t see very often in France or Spain.
What we can recommend is taking advantage of any early bird entries which sometimes offer a reduced rate and if you do enter a race then put it in your calendar! The amount of people that have a DNS because they’d entered months ago and duly forgotten about it is getting ridiculous. That really is money down the drain.
Clothing
So you’ve got the bike, you’re fuelled up and you’ve entered your first sportive, however, you’re going to be a lot more comfortable if you’re in some cycling-specific kit. Surprise surprise, that’s also going to cost a bomb.
All of the kit soon adds up – helmets, shoes, a nice set of bibs – none of it comes cheap, but it can make a big difference to your ride. We’ve recently had £200+ shorts in for testing and jerseys costing almost the same.
On all the kit we review, including helmet and shoes, we rate it out of 10 for value so be sure to give that a nosey.
Just like with bikes you can save a lot by buying last year’s stuff, keep an eye on sale sections, especially if you fit in the less popular sizes and also consider buying out of season.
It’s always sensible, for example, to buy winter gloves in the spring. While it might be annoying not to be able to try them out straight away, but as soon as late autumn comes around and you actually need them you’ll see the prices skyrocket as everyone else rushes to cover their frozen fingers.
Components
And finally components, we thought we’d quickly take a look at some of the more ridiculously priced equipment out there.
First up, an Absolute black oversized pulley system. It’s very controversial and at £519 it’s easy to see why. We think it looks awesome and when we reviewed it we did find it was quieter than a standard setup. However, the gains are marginal at best making this a very lavish purchase.
How about a £700 handlebar? That’s how much a Deda Elementi Alanera will set you back. In fairness, you do get a stem as well. And if you’re getting the bar you might as well go full Italian and finish your bike off with a £440 Selle Italia saddle.
Want this bike that you’re building to be even lighter? Check out these Lightweight Meilenstein wheels that will cost about 7 grand.
97 thoughts on “We hate that everything is so expensive in cycling”
It’s not at all expensive to
It’s not at all expensive to start and maintain a cycling habit – it just looks that way because of our consumerist, materialist society, and because cycling magazines and websites like this make their money from continuously promoting the latest, the “best” and the most expensive. As a lifelong cycling fan, this is one of the most tiresome aspects of our culture.
I suppose most/all of the
I suppose most/all of the stuff that gets reviewed/promoted on sites such as this will be pushed at the site by the manufacturer or supplier. And I get that no site can afford to go buy a nice bike or groupset to review.
But maybe there could be a spot for the stuff the contributors bought and paid for themselves, new or old, in their capacity as cycling enthusiasts rather than journalists. I guess the editor would need to ensure there were no “influencer” type conflicts of interest behind the scenes.
Sriracha wrote:
That’s us.
I frequently benefit more from the comments than the article. That’s no slight on the road.cc team and the contributors, it’s because everyone brings their own experience and perspective.
Cripes. “Everything”? Really?
Cripes. “Everything”? Really? Riding NC500 last year on my almost decade-old Triban 3 didn’t feel particularly expensive.
I have a lot of cycling
I have a lot of cycling clothing for all seasons , most of it is at least 10 years old, some of it 20 years old and still in good wear and use. Unless its crashed and torn there is little to wear out clothing wise. A couple of pairs of good bibs and some summer gloves are that I have purchased in recent years.
Almost the same. except ive
Almost the same. except ive lost 20-30kg so im quickly finding out that all my old clothing doesnt quite fit anymore 🙁
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Then smile! Be happy! Away with the frowning emoji!!!
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Lost 25kg, that’s like 4
Lost 25kg, that’s like 4 super bikes so treat yourself to £40k of stuff, am I right?
I mean yeah prices have gone
I mean yeah prices have gone up and yeah it costs a lot if you want to get ‘the look’ but otherwise…. keep your bikes until they break, take up Audax and buy things that are good enough (and exceptionally good compared to the old days) like 105. I ride a lot and have a decent income and I could drop 5k on a bike but I refuse to, I buy second hand where possible and with the price of the Tube I still come out ahead every year… Mainly it’s down to how much you want to look like a cyclist versus how much you are a cyclist. FWIW people who don’t ride can’t tell the difference, so really all you are doing is trying to impress other riders, which is a bit, ummmm…
If you just want to commute,
If you just want to commute, it is not that expensive, a hybrid bicycle with drop bars, a no name softshell jacket and decent gloves, while keeping all the rest of your casual clothes will be a great cheap way to move around.
If you see it as a hobby or training, well then the sky is the limit, as in all hobby sports. And this is good even for people who aren’t willing to pay that much, as eventually nice technologies like disc brakes (I would love having disc brakes, but back then when I bought my bike there weren’t any cheap options), reach the basic models.
But it is all about memory, if you can remember how horrible was your first kid bike (a steel MTB with friction shifters, canti brakes and rim dynamo lights for me), then even the most basic bikes today seem great.
Started mixing my own energy
Started mixing my own energy drinks this year. Basic shorter sessions just mix varying weight of caster sugar with pinch of sea salt and splash of baking lime juice to cut the taste. Longer and more specific stuff and long racing I do DIY Maurten/beta fuel/STYRKR with bulk bags of maltodextrin, fructose and electrolyte powder. These stronger 90g+ per bottle mixes means you can ditch the gels. Works out about 50p a bottle rather than £2 plus.
Buy Bulk Powders energy drink
Buy Bulk Powders energy drink rehydration powder. I buy 5kg bags when it’s on offer (there is always a discount code, I just wait for 40%+ off).
Last lot worked out at 28p per 600ml bidon. Cheaper than yours and simpler – I just put one scoop in a bidon and fill with water. It mixes perfectly (unlike some) and I find the taste just fine.
100g molasses
100g molasses
100g almond butter
160g chopped dried fruit
40g mixed seeds
80g mixed nuts
120g rolled oats
20g chia seeds
Warm the molasses and nut butter until runny. Mixed with chopped dried fruit, broken up nuts, etc. Press into a small baking tray and put into fridge to set. Cut into bar size segments. Freezes well.
Buy expensive, buy once.
Buy expensive, buy once.
A lot of my outerwear, including shoes, is heading towards 10 years old. £10 per year for shoes seems an OK investment. £7 for a jersey. Bibs have been replaced more frequently but kept on rotation which helps with wear.
Yes, I’ve spent a lot on bikes in that time but nearly always it’s been a secondhand frame. Once again, quality components, well-maintained, and passed on for minimal losses.
Generally I’ve run Apex/Tiagra with just a short foray into Di2-land. Pre-pandemic consumables were cheap for those groups.
As with anything, I think cycling is only as expensive as you make it. Personally, I love buying quality kit off riders with more money than sense. For example, I got a basically unridden Racing DB4 wheelset, including tyres, for £150 because the Bianchi they came with got upgraded to some expensive carbon hoops.
The other option to learn to mechanic and buy a high-end frame with a low-end group and upgrade using secondhand parts. Although given that even Claris routes cables under the tape these days the point of upgrading is moot, unless you’re racing. There’s loads of manufacturers playing that game – Focus Izalco was a good example from a couple of years ago, and Trek do it too. I’ve got a Defy Advanced with Claris which cost under £450 used.
The problem we all have is that to the more money than sense brigade a couple of hundred quid here or there is nothing. Cycling is still a cheap sport to them, compared to golf or watersports, for example. That undoubtedly leads to inflation. The cost-conscious among us need to learn to mechanic and pick up their discarded kit and bikes. Used £10k superbikes really don’t hold their value after a couple of years, if you know where to look.
Does this include ultegra
Does this include ultegra cranks ?
hirsute wrote:
Oh snap!
I dropped 5k on a Trek Madone
I dropped 5k on a Trek Madone Jan 2021 and it’s been the best 5k I spent in cycling. The bike is significantly faster and it’s been a joy every time I went out. Yes, I have fun with much cheaper bikes too (winter bike is still going well after 9 years and 17k miles) but I don’t regret buying a bike that puts a smile on my face every time I put some power down – like being a kid again! So I understand the complaint but you’re also paying for some outstanding tech.
This is just the sort of
This is just the sort of nonsense that perpetuates the myth that expensive bikes go faster. Let’s see the actual data in scientific tests that shows ‘expensive bikes are faster’. Why? Is it weight? Plenty of light bikes about and most riders are ten times heavier than the bike. Is it the wheel bearings? Let’s see the data on loaded bearings. Is it aerodynamics, again, let’s see the data with a 75/95kg rider onboard. The truth is it’s all in the customer’s head, like expensive golf clubs make you a better golfer, it’s bling. And it’s killing cycling for young people.
I think a lot of it is to do
I think a lot of it is to do with the demographic of cyclists. There seems to be fairly strong contingent of relatively affluent (in the grand scheme of things) white males who enjoy cycling and the marketing people are just doing their thing going after them.
StraelGuy wrote:
Cycling is the new golf
And this has happened because
And this has happened because the cycling press, Road CC included, are fixated on making money, and not telling people ‘you don’t need this bling, you just need to ride more, and intelligently’.
I’m a high earner and I build
I’m a high earner and I build my own bikes. Sure, I don’t need to spend £10k on a bike, but it’s my passion and proportionally I’m just spending some of my disposable income in the way I choose too. I don’t get into debt doing it, and I love the tech and building and maintaining my bikes almost as much as riding them.
I’ve ordered an Enigma titanium frame in a limited run of Reynolds tubing, ENVE fork and sourced last generation Dura Ace 9170 to match my other bikes. I wanted Hope Hubs which I love, but they have stopped doing them in gold. I looked at other options and have settled on significantly more expensive Chris King hubs/ BB and headset all in the gold colour I wanted.
Extravagant? Every non-cyclist and most cyclists would say yes. Of course they would. Will it make me go any faster? No, but I’m not building it to do that – I have a Colnago Concept road bike and a Scott Plasma TT bike if I want to try to go fast (for me).
So why the extravagance? Because I love the engineering, the quality and craftsmanship of the frame and the Chris King components is superb. I know it will be a sublime ride. I know it will look fantastic. I know I will love riding it. And all in it is no more expensive to me than a £2k bike to soneone on a significantly lower wage. That’s not meant to come across as arrogant, but I am sure many will read it as such.
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make me faster, it doesn’t matter if a 16yo can ride faster than me over 25 miles. What matters is that when I do century after century it will not only perform phenominally and feel sublime, it will look great and I will have a beaming smile. I know that I will have specced and built it.
Will I be happier than I was aged 14 growing up on a rough council estate with an unemployed father saving up pocket money and doing odd jobs for two years to buy my Raleigh Rapide? Probably, because although I loved that bike and rode everywhere, I had no idea what I was doing, had no access to a club or anyone who could teach me, couldn’t afford cycling magazines and thus just ‘messed around’ at cycling my racer thinking I was a great cyclist. I did maintenance but didn’t have the right tools so damaged parts. I had very little as a child, but now I have a successful, well paid career I enjoy the finer things in life. And cycling is now my passion, so I don’t really care if anyone is jealous or thinks my bikes are a waste of money. I could easily say someone’s two grand bike was a waste of money if they earnt peanuts and spent their rent on it…
It’s horses for courses. Live and let live.
Pilot Pete wrote:
Then it was worth every penny (and I’m very jealous).
Woah, you can’t say that. This is road.cc!
NOtotheEU wrote:
Too right – you want hack.eq for horse chat.
Chris King stuff is ace. The
Chris King stuff is ace. The headsets seals are worth the cost.
You do have the angry beeness on the freehub, but Hopes are quite noisy too.
Enjoy your dream machine.
Cheers! Well the R45D rear
Cheers! Well the R45D rear hub is almost silent out of the box – not fitted it with a cassette (or even spokes and a rim!) yet though,
Hope do noisy or quiet(er) these days, depends which freehub you buy.
And yes, the in-house made bearings to exacting standards which ‘wear in’ rather than out, service and adjustability etc all really appeal with the CK stuff. Expensive? Yes, comparatively and all my other wheels have Hope Hubs which are superb quality, but there is something about this CK kit which is just ‘another level’, and that gold finish…?
I went for a rasta ahead for
I went for a rasta ahead for my good bike (Ti xc MTB) over a decade ago, blingy as. Did a full stripdown a couple of years ago, good as new in there.
Ultimate commuter got one in black, Soto Voce, looks anonomous, but I know. Went for a full set of his spacers too, they don’t shout either.
Quote:
FTFY
This type of comment seems
I’ve had the same sturmy archer town bike for 30 years!
I know people treat cycling
I know people treat cycling nutrition as snake oil, but there must be something more to it than just good marketing, as Ive tried to swap to cheaper alternatives that the cycling collective brain trust recommends as the cost of energy bars etc is becoming noticeable, but I dont get nearly enough bang per gram with the alternatives, Im finding Im either under fuelling on rides now, or having to carry twice as much to begin with.
as for the rest well yes sportives are much more expensive thesedays and I dont think as well catered for now in terms of what you get for your money, so maybe the cost really is all on insurance.
clothing its a personal choice thing imo, I am surprised some of the really expensive kit brands sell enough to survive, but you only have to look at the cost of sports gear in general to see there are alot of brands charging alot for kit in all sports. if you dont want to buy it dont buy it is the only advice Id give, rather than get all fashionista about it.
Awavey wrote:
I don’t believe that the branded food products contain anything special or cram in much greater quantities of carbs. I’ve had no problems with bananas, flapjacks, eccles cakes etc and my perennial cool weather favourite of a Snickers/Aldi Racer bars.
For drinks you could buy bulk maltodextrin and mix it with squash or fruit juice (though I invariably drink just plain water, it’s my fitness that fails me first).
As for bikes, clothing etc – as in all areas of life, you can choose to make it expensive if you want. Choose Rapha or Assos shorts over Decathlon or Lusso. A top-of-the-range carbon bike with Di2 instead of a perfectly good alu or cheaper carbon bike and Tiagra. Run GP5000 tubeless on the new wide carbon rims instead of Lithion tubed tyres and an OE wheelset. And so on ad infinitum.
Although bike prices have jumped in the last 2 years but that’s a combination of factors that I believe are not limited to the cycling industry. And since review sites and publications review a disproportionate number of very expensive bikes (£5k Pearson models have been cropping up here and in CW, for example) then yes, it can appear to be a very expensive hobby.
But it’s not a monopoly, no-one is forcing us to buy expensive stuff, so I don’t see any point in moaning about it. As long as my LBS sells and maintains cheap bikes as well as the eye-wateringly expensive ones like the Tarmac SL7 and Aspero then surely doesn’t everyone still manage to ride a bike or 3?
Apart from necking pure
Apart from necking pure granulated, can you get more sugar into a smaller space than a jelly baby. And they taste great.
I’m for real food, me. Bake my own flapjacks and brownies (I love to bake), bananas, and cheese and pickle sarnies. If it’s going to be a long one, starting the day with a bacon and brie sarnie, or maybe a fried egg one. And a cold can of coke stored in a coozie for a mid ride treat…
And of course Jelly Babies
And of course Jelly Babies were good enough for Beryl Burton…
ktache wrote:
Kendal Mint Cake.
Good call.
Good call.
Though I’d rather the jelly babies.
Also the offering from the best Dr Who.
Simon E wrote:
I dont have a problem with other foods as such I just dont think they deliver the same high energy hit in the volume as the energy bars do and I definitely feel the hit on energy levels on longer rides swapping out the energy bars. And ok maybe measuring carbs isnt the best way to do this, but one energy bar that gives 40g carbs, would need according to google 2 bananas, or 8 jelly babies to be closely equivalent. I used to carry a bar around with me, and thats ignoring British Cyclings nutrition advice which is I should be consuming 2 bars per hour, but is swapping that 1 bar out for essentially a whole packet of jelly babies a good swap ?
To the extent that these bars
To the extent that these bars work their magic through the placebo effect the cost is part of the chemistry; you swallow the price. For non-believers there are cheaper alternatives. Everyone’s a winner.
Awavey wrote:
— AwaveyIf a flapjack contains similar amounts of simple carbs (particularly sugars) then it is likely delivering the same number of calories in a very similar way and you shouldn’t really find yourself so short of energy. Plenty of people have competed and even won races with foods such as Mars bars and flat coke.
Could it be that you simply prefer the flavour of the energy bars?
I shall be making my own very
I shall be making my own very shortly, found a recipe on YouTube. If you want to know how it turns out, get back
And own brands are about one
Energy bars might be convenient but and quite well-designed for cyclists – but so are Fig Rolls (and own brands are about one-third the price of those reviewed by road.cc). It’s hard to find independent reviews that credibly claim energy bars give you something that ‘normal’ (even if still heavily processed – but cheaper) food can’t.
yep Ive tried fig rolls as an
yep Ive tried fig rolls as an alternate, its about 12g a roll per the packaging, so 3 is under, 4 is over as an equivalent, but you are still undercooking at that rate per BCs nutritional advice. and yet I dont often see other riders with whole packets of fig rolls being carried around in jersey pockets.
and then someone will tell you btw you know what happens when you eat lots of fig rolls too often…
80g of carbs per hour? I
80g of carbs per hour? I suspect that is guidance for racing. The vast majority on here will be leisure cyclists, yes some very serious leisure cyclists, but they won’t be riding at their heart rate threshold like in a race everywhere they go…
Nope it really is just snake
Nope the whole nutrition thing really is just snake oil. But don’t take my word for it spend £10 on a copy of ‘Good to Go’ by Christine Aschwanden. It’s a smashing read and, as I’ve said before, still hasn’t been reviewed by road.cc.
Thanks for the tip I’ll get
Thanks for the tip I’ll get myself a copy
Surely tgat must just be in
Surely that must just be in your head? I do 250mile rides and dozens of 100mile+ rides each year at an average of 16-19mph, so not hanging about for a 55yo. I only eat normal food – cafe stops and things like Nak’d bars in between. I do carry Bulk Powders energy drink powder in ‘single scoop’ seslable plastic bags to top up my bidons every now and again.
Last summer over 250 miles with 15,000ft of climbing I consumed about 6000 calories and drank 7litres of fluid (half water, half energy drink). I never bonked at any stage and certainly never felt like I needed some expensive energy bars or worse still gels. I also lost 2lbs on the day.
Gels are for racing when your heart rate is up at or above threshold and you simply cannot chew normal food. Seeing cyclists riding 50 miles slurping gels by the side of the road or even outside a cafe makes me laugh – what a complete waste of money.
And if you do bonk, a can of coke and a mars bar are just as good at getting your legs working again within 15 minutes…
I havent done cafe stops for
I havent done cafe stops for two and abit years now, most were closed that time anyway, but cafes can be difficult to find, let alone good ones. And the biggest issue is you can say if you bonk just get a can of coke, from where ? a nearby shop ? there arent many of those in lots of parts of rural East Anglia, there are literally routes I can be on where I could be the best part of 40mins ride from anywhere I could find a shop, assuming when I get there its still open. So I have to be prepared to take what I need with me and not rely on cafe stops or shops and things like gels or energy bars, they easily fit in a jersey pocket, easy to carry and they just work, yes they are increasingly expensive, but Ive struggled so far to find good swaps, and that dont simply exchange cost for more faffing about. Im not someone who is going to start baking flapjacks just to save £1.
Fair enough. I must be lucky.
Fair enough. I must be lucky. Even in rural Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and North Wales I never struggle to find cafes/ petrol stations/ convenience stores. And then on our annual cycling trip into the pretty remote hills of the Algarve we have never struggled for supplies and only carry a couple of bidons each…?♂️
..this year I be mostly
..this year I be mostly crying over the price of bike tyres. Oh how I hate to be at the wrong end of a supply and demand chain.
Too much inflation?
Too much inflation?
And within the last week or
And within the last week or so, we’ve seen road.cc trying to convince us to spend an extra AUD2000 on a bike with electric gear shift because it saves nanoseconds in gear changes! It’s a bit like the moron pushing tin to get past at speed so that they can wait at the traffic lights but beat you there by seconds and endanger your life as well. Seriously, what % of the cycling population needs this stuff!
It’s not that long ago that we were told that closer gaps in gears were best, so a triple was the bees knees! Now, it’s bigger gaps and 1x. It’s all marketing and making sure that the user finds it more difficult to replace worn-out bits requiring an expensive upgrade instead.
road.cc wrote:
Don’t get me wrong – I’m also horrified by the price of new bikes, and £10,000 will certainly buy you a perfectly serviceable car (it would buy 2 or 3 of mine for example). But that’s not really apples and apples is it – £10,000 buys a very nice new bike – I doubt it would buy a nice new car. Not sure what the cheapest OTR is these days, but e.g. a new Dacia Sandero is over £13k, a new Ford Fiesta over £17k.
To be honest the first thing
To be honest the first thing I would do if I had a £10k bike would be to exchange it for two £5k ones, or even three £3k ones, that money would get you a very nice set of road, gravel and MTB…but in defence of people buying £10,000 bikes, if it’s your hobby, why not? A £10,000 bike will, properly cared for, last you a minimum of 15 years with fairly minimal outlay; a season ticket at a premiership football club (in the cheapest seats) will cost you about that over a decade, and that will get you about 50 hours of games a year, whereas you’d probably be out on the bike more like 300 hours a year at least. Membership of even a mid range golf club runs to about £2000 a year these days, and so on…
Of course if you buy a £10,000 bike then the cheapest seats or a mid range golf club aren’t really comparable, you’re getting the equivalent of a McLaren F1 in terms of being top of the range and pretty much a replica of what the best in the world ride, it’s equivalent to having a box at Arsenal or membership at St Andrews.
I guess the bottom line is, if we remember Oscar Wilde’s line that a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, the price may be outrageous, but the value is still rather good.
Of course there is another way of looking at it…
I would also argue the people
I would also argue the people who buy a 10k bike are the ones probably buying an 100k car.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Neither is likely to be kept for 15 years by the original owner, surely.
If you’re a regular rider on
If you’re a regular rider on anything other than dry roads, then some of the biggest savings are probably in acquiring the knowledge (and time) to do your own maintenance. Not only because you aren’t paying labour costs and can shop around for parts but because you’ll be more aware of when minor maintenance prevents much greater costs when the thing finally breaks/falls off, etc.
And you save time as you dont
And you save time as you dont have to be off the road waiting to get it fixed
Taking up cycling as a sport
Taking up cycling as a sport or encouraging a child to do so is hugely expensive. Lack of local facilities and distances required to travel to events is often prohibitive.
Which is a shame, more investment for the grass roots would be very welcome.
“but why has it become so
“but why has it become so ridiculous over the past few years?”
Is a lot of this gear imported from Europe? I ask, because, the cost of importing from Europe since Brexit has become very expensive and there is extra admin involved for all companies who import from EU now.
Of course, there has also been a dramatic rise in fuel prices, which is causing everything we buy to increase in price.
Could these reasons both be a factor in increased prices?
Brexit has added some costs,
Brexit has added some costs, general inflation adding to transportation costs, COVID getting at the supply side, lockdowns in China, shortages in drivers.
Blockage of the Suez really didn’t help…
Then there’s the world wide bike boom, money to be made, less excess stock, none of the bargains that took the edge off the expence of our hobby.
Nothing to do with Brexit,
Nothing to do with Brexit, everything to do with the retail business tapping into the wealthy/trendies mindset with ever more ridiculous ‘stuff’. Cycling Weakly had a review recently between two sets of Zipp wheels, one pair at £1200, the other pair over £3000. Totally ridiculous and very unscientific, which they admitted. The REALLY interesting test, which would blow the bling industry out of the water would be between a pair of Shimano wheels at £99 and the Zipp wheels at £3000. That would have revealed diddly squat performance difference for the typical lardy middleaged buyer who never races or does TTs, just does occasional sportives with cake stops. Punters have chosen to make cycling expensive. At my club, one 25 mile TT record was set by a 16 year old on a secondhand aluminium Boardman bike he picked up for £100, put some tribars on, did 55 minutes 23 seconds. The cycling industry is making cycling a non-sport for young people, they (or their parents) look at the ads…and take up running, football or nothing.
not really as youd be seeing
not really as youd be seeing component costs elsewhere alot cheaper, and they arent, obviously on bike bits with most made in China now its the cost of basically there arent enough factories making enough stuff for various reasons, and then shipping it around the world, but prices were rising before Covid or the container crisis.
Most of the really expensive kit brands are EU based and the stuff is made in the EU, but you can see they charge just as much to their local customers as they do for UK, we just pay roughly £20 extra on the postage/import now.
which if its a short sleeve jersey already costing £130, its one of those well if you can afford that, you can afford the £150 for it.
but how any company survives as a business for long charging that much I really dont know.
Got to agree- UK sportives
Got to agree- UK sportives are getting really pricey. Take the London 100 that’s just been and gone… £89 paying I asume mostly for the road closures…. which is great, but add that to travel, hotel, food etc it racks up. Far cheaper to do an event abroad and way better value- some include a jersey, the feed stations are always fantastic and you’re usually riding iconic routes
The cycling industry, that’s
The cycling industry, that’s retailers, manufacturers and media are wrecking the sport because they are fixated on making money out of the demographic that has more money than sense. Some years ago the windsurfing ‘business’ did the same thing to their sport, they killed it by being obsessed with flogging the latest ‘go faster’ gizmos and gimmicks. Most customers falling for the ads never reached the heights because they were more obsessed about the gear than training.
Cycling needs YOUNG people but they and their parents recoil at what is sold as ‘essential’. Very, very rarely does anyone really, properly, scientifically test equipment; manufacturers know it would be massively embarrassing, like blind wine-tasting makes fools of ‘connoisseurs’. Is a 12 speed cassette ‘quicker’ than a 10 speed? Of course not. Does Di2 make you go faster? Obviously not. Most riders blubber is where the weight problems are.
There’s nothing more revealing than people pitching up at Time Trials with ridiculously expensive bikes and crossing the finish line with red faces…and PPR, Post Purchase Remorse. Whether a bike is 7kg or 9kg makes little difference, what matters is intelligent training, training and more training.
Cycling Weakly had a review recently between two sets of Zipp wheels, one pair at £1200, the other pair over £3000. Totally ridiculous and very unscientific ‘tests’, in fairness they admitted it, they had to. A proper scientific test between a pair of Shimano wheels at £99 and the Zipp wheels at £3000 would have been VERY amusing, it would have revealed diddly squat difference for the typical buyer who never races or does TTs, just does occasional sportives with cake stops.
At my club, one 25 mile TT record was set by a 16 year old on a secondhand aluminium Boardman bike he picked up for £100, put some tribars on…he did 55 minutes 23 seconds, because he’d trained and trained. But the cycling industry is now making cycling a non-sport for young people. It’s a tragedy.
Most of us don’t race and don
Most of us don’t race and don’t want to, we just want to ride round the countryside with our mates and do the occasional alp, for fun. I like having Di2 because it’s less strain on my arthritic hands than mechanical. I like having a 6.8kg bike because it’ll take about 5% fewer watts to ride than a 10kg one and at my age I need all the savings I can get. There are more types of cycling than just racing; those who do race and run clubs should do more to explain to kids/parents that it needn’t be that expensive, rather than whine about, and sneer at, old donkeys like me who happen to like riding nice bikes around quietly and slowly instead of racing as if we’re “wrecking the sport.”
If you believe a 6.8kg bike
If you believe a 6.8kg bike requires 5% less watts you are one of those perpetuating the myths of more expensive kit. What do you weigh?
Hicksi wrote:
80kg. At that weight a 5% climb on a 6.8kg bike at 20kmh takes 316W, on a 10kg bike 326W. I was overestimating there I agree, nearer 3% than 5%, that’s still a very worthwhile saving for me.
I know we like to argue about everything on here, but surely “lighter bikes take less effort to pedal than heavier ones” isn’t controversial?
My winter bike, which is
My winter bike, which is aluminium, with full guards, 28mm tyres, external battery front light, heavy spare tube etc etc weighs a ton. Hills are a painful slog (not that I do many in winter on it) at a fraction of the pace of either of my summer super bikes.?♂️
1) Slightly heavier winter
1) Slightly heavier winter bikes are better training 2) a lot of the extra weight is the extra clothing we wear in winter and 3) the actual, properly recorded differences of winter bikes are microscopic – we see this demonstrated at my club all the time.
So, like the entire industry,
So, like the entire industry, you were fiddling figures. And unless your entire ride is a 5% climb, it’s even more wrong. On the flat or downhill, total weight difference, that’s bike AND RIDER means the power figure number differences are microscopic; maybe you’ll get to your cake stop 3.2 seconds quicker on a £5000 bike than a £500 bike. This is exactly the snake oil that is all over bike and kit reviews. I don’t care a tot if overweight, wealthy people want to waste their money on bling bikes but I do care if it puts up barriers to young people getting into cycling because they can’t afford what the industry tells them is ‘must have’ gear.
Hicksi wrote:
Apart from being extremely rude, you are entirely wrong, I’m not overweight, at six feet tall and 80kg my BMI according to the NHS is 23.8, neither am I particularly wealthy, I have a bike which would cost £4.5K to replace but I bought it secondhand for £900. Most “non-luxury” bike manufacturers make perfectly acceptable road bikes for not much money and of course there are countless secondhand bargains. Perhaps you should devote your energies to explaining to young people what their options are instead of whining on websites about the sort of bikes other people choose to buy. You seem a very angry person who’s simply looking for a fight, so no more responses on this matter from me today – I’m off to ride my bike and enjoy the weight savings on the climbs and the slickness of my Di2 without giving a tuppenny damn whether you approve or not, cheerio!
Thanks for confirming what a
Thanks for confirming what a £4.5k bike is really worth; the secondhand values on bling bikes is another embarrassing secret of the trade. I know someone who paid £14,000 for a bike, was massively disappointed that it still hurt riding up hills, gave up cycling, started advertising it for £10,000, so £4000 wasted right away. There is no hope of explaining to young people the silliness of older (but not wiser) people falling for industry advertising because the money driving the advertising is huge and young people always follow fashion, however ridiculous.
Hicksi wrote:
My bike was £2999 in 2014, I got it for a steal in 2018 from a pro MTB rider who’d bought it because he thought he wanted to branch into road cycling but quickly decided he didn’t like it, left it in the garage and just wanted it out of the way. Doesn’t prove your point at all, sorry.
My difference in weight
My difference in weight between the two bikes I have was about 5-6kgs. I know I used to do the commute on the lighter one in 16mph average where the heavier one is 12-13mph, and I feel more tired with the latter over the distance then the former. Yes I could get faster on the latter with losing weight and / or better training but surely then I would be even quicker on the other one.
Yes your 16yo did well on an old boardman. Are you telling me he wouldn’t have gone a lot faster on a more modern and lighter bike? Sounds like you might have a future pro-star in the making.
Absolutely. Imagine how quick
Absolutely. Imagine how quick he could go on a Bolide that was fitted to him, aero kit, skin suit, helmet and most importantly a well suited and practiced aero position!
When I was TTing I was nigh on 2 mins quicker on my full TT bike over 10 miles than I was on my road bike.
Doesn’t mean riding a £100 bike at the age of sixteen and knocking out a 55min 25 isn’t impressive, nor a fantastic, cheap way to get into cycling. So to be honest I think it proves the opposite – that you can get started in this sport cheaply enough if you want to.
My eldest son started TTing with me when he was 14 on a second hand Allez bought for a couple of hundred quid. Bargain bin shorts/ jersey and a cheap helmet. Entry was free for him if I remember correctly.
Ludicrous to compare a road
Ludicrous to compare a road bike with a TT bike, of course there’s a difference but put tri bars on a road bike and that difference almost disappears. I was just reading a Cycling News review on the new Pinarello, utter, utter nonsense, how do they write this garbage with a straight face? Two versions, £5300 to £7000. Let’s get them both tested by two equal time Time Triallers over 10, 25 and 50 mile courses, with a third Time Trialler on basic bike at £900. There will be red faces all round. shorturl.at/krJPX
The biggest difference
The biggest difference between a road bike and TT bike is simply tri-bars and a good aero position and this is demonstrated time and again. When our 16 year old got a TT bike he never beat that road bike/tri bar set up. Shock horror, lots of PPR…Post Purchase Remorse. For top riders, of course tiny changes add to the ‘marginal gains’ but remember, Tadros was a TT star for years, not with an aero helmet but a cap worn backwards.
Says the person who chose his
Says the person who chose his profile pic with a TT aero helmet.
Because helmets have been
Because helmets have been compulsory in TTs for a while now, but if you’re a flash bike/tea shop rider you might not know that.
Hicksi wrote:
Yet again showing you just want a fight and to satisfy some obscure need by being rude to people. On the actual point, we all know helmets are compulsory for racing, yet you’re clearly wearing an expensive aero one, why aren’t you following your own dictats and wearing a £15 Halfords’ job, are they not as good? Or have you fallen for the industry hype?
Not quite sure that is a fair
Not quite sure that is a fair analysis (though I accept that the bike business loves a sucker).
I left the repair trade in 2015 – it was an easy choice to make. Repairers were being squeezed by retailers like Wiggle who sold below what typical shops could access as distributor pricing.
As a sort of example, for something like a chain with a list price of £20, a manufacturer would sell for £5 to a distributor, who would sell it for £10 to the retailer who would sell it for £20. WIggle could by direct from the manufacturer and sell it for £10, making 50% profit. WIggle might though, decide to sell at £8, less than the retailer can buy from the distributor. Generally, the cheaper the part and higher volume, like brake blocks, the manufacturer and distributor price would be a lower percentage of retail. Expensive parts might be more £100 manufacturer, £150 distributor, £200 retail.
So along comes customer and he knows Wiggle price, so thinks that the retailer is bagging something like 75% of the price because they assume the retailer buys at the same price as Wiggle. A retailer might not even be able to price match Wiggle at cost.
Next a retailer has to cover the basics in stock, but what stock? One week there might be a run on 105 shifters, then might not see a shifter repair for 6 months – in which time a new generation comes out. But customers tend to want repairs yesterday, so the retailer can go to the distributor – but unless you buy £150 worth of parts, you get charged say £10 delivery – too much overhead for a front derailieur – yet if you buy just in case items to make up delivery, your stock soon gets out of control and any saving is illusory.
A retailer sets his labour partly assuming that the contribution from parts will cover the profitability of a repair. If you have to sell at a much reduced margin, you then either aren’t making a living or you are going to have to up your labour charges – which like in the motor trade don’t just represent your typical near minimum wage cycle mechanic, but the costs of tools, workshop and all the other overheads (like spending half an hour trying to find a SRAM manual to deal with some obscure SRAM fitting that makes no sense or trying to work how to get some wacky new Campag bottom bracket apart without wrecking it, or worst of all, trying to work out what hub you are looking at on some manufacturer wheel – for example Specialized used Fulcrum wheels but mixed and matched rims and hubs so you couldn’t tell how they matched). As a professional bike mechanic, try having the conversation with a customer that you want to sell him an hour’s labour just for finding out how to fix a freehub before you’ve even started. Unless you are working for a high volume, branded store, that is what bike shops are faced with as yet another variant rolls over the doormat. Then there are hangers, literally thousands of them, just trying to match a hanger takes time, you can spend half an hour trying to identify the right hanger for a particular model of bike – it is not always straight forward even to identify the year of a bike and often hangers vary even with minor changes in yearly updates.
So long story short, until lockdown, retailers were being shafted by venture capitalists taking a short term view of maximising turnover to “grow the business” in the competative world of online retail, where short term viability of their company was not a concern, in combination with “savvy” customers using Internet pricing to pressurise retailers, or simply attemptingto DIY because retailers were “clearly” gouging.
Another problem I had was customers. I had a Tesco shelf stacker who had learning difficulties. He would cycle to work and get punctures – regularly. He would call me, I did mobile repairs. He lived 15 minutes away. What would you charge? He couldn’t learn to repair a puncture, though I tried to teach him.
Retailers were going bump left right and centre, the bike trade just was too difficult to work in given the unrealistic expectations of customers fuelled by the unrealistic pricing that the Internet worked to.
The lockdown caused a major reset, and indeed overcorrection as scarce parts have triggered prices not just returning to near RRP but those RRPs being inflated, in part because manufacturers have been inflicted with major costs too – the cost of a container to ship goods has not doubled or tripled but transport costs might have increased by a factor of 10 – if you can even locate a container to use.
However, on top of that, you have the natural tendancy of business to try and invent a premium market and consumer lemmings like nothing more than a few buzzwords like titanium and 3D printed to excuse their throwing money around. Taking Shimano as an example, the quality of the lower end products has increased massively, and if you want to avoid Shimano brand inflation, switch from 105 to Tiagra , you are getting 105 2015 quality in 2022 Tiagra, Sora is unrecognisable from the tat it was 10 years ago, and who would have thought something below Sora would be as good as Claris?
I put a like on your comment.
I put a like on your comment.
I’m now one of the old buggers with money to spend on kit I don’t deserve and more bicycles than I need. I don’t race, am about 20% slower than I used to be but there is still the basic satisfaction of owning a really nice bicycle even if the main benefit is just to enjoy looking at it during a cafe stop.
Your anecdotal 16 year old on a £100 Boardman illustrates that cycling can be accessible at relatively low cost. I look after my bikes and literally own them for decades. One day, some young buck will pick up a decent classic in good running order for a bargain (but maybe not £100)
Compared to smoking or a 3 night a week pub habit or gambling or cars or many other vices, cycling is still a cheap option as a mid life crisis / futile attempt to relive one’s youth. And with added health benefits regardless of how red faced you are at the finish line.
At my club, one 25 mile TT
[/quote]
At my club, one 25 mile TT record was set by a 16 year old on a secondhand aluminium Boardman bike he picked up for £100, put some tribars on…he did 55 minutes 23 seconds, because he’d trained and trained. .
[/quote]
Love it.
Hicksi wrote:
I agree with you.
I started racing in the 90’s and coming from a cycling family we built our own bikes up with a top end steel frame, ultegra groupset (or equivalent campag), hand built wheels and decent finishing kit for around £1500.
When I returned to racing in 2006 I decided to go carbon and the cheapest frameset at the time was – an S Works Tarmac at about £1200.
That same 2022 frameset is now £4450.00 = 270% increase
As an aside a Colnago C40 in those days was about £1500 and was the benchmark for top end carbon fibre, 2022 price = £3799.00 = 150% increase
Even steel frames because of their “hipster” factor have gone up from £500 to around £2000 in some cases = 233% increase.
Many late comers to cycling i.e. post 2012 won’t have noticed it as much.
Bottom line is this – a top end race bike shouldn’t be 10k in 2022.
That’s before you even get into £100+ bib shorts and 2k + wheelsets.
These days I knock around on a winter De Rosa Milanino with mudguard eyes and athena group, self build, nice finishing kit the frame was about £700 which I got in 2015. It’s a nice ride.
Do you think De Rosa still manfucture it?
Of course not………..£700 framesets don’t make the bike bandits any money.
My first truly spiffy bike
My first truly spiffy bike was a Raleigh Road Ace in 1986: Reynolds 531 frame and Shimano 600 groupset (equivalent of Ultegra today). It was £600 retail (not what I paid, I got a good deal from an LBS as it was a return). According to online calculators, £600 in 1985 is equivalent to £1937 today, a sum which will still get you an Ultegra-equipped carbon bike provided you’re not obsessed with having a fancy Italian name on the downtube. I just don’t buy the idea that everything has become super expensive, the very highest highend bikes have indeed shot into the stratosphere but for non-pro riders who don’t believe Dura Ace offers any advantage over Ultegra apart from 300 grams in weight great equipment is still out there at prices not dissimilar, allowing for inflation, to what they were when I started nearly forty years ago
Rendel Harris wrote:
Nice!
I had a Record Sprint (501) in 1984. At £180 it was one of the cheaper ‘good’ Raleigh race bikes.
More recently in 2008 my Giant SCR 2 alloy with 9-speed Tiagra was £525 RRP, while the TCR 0 (carbon Ultegra) cost £1250. I remember a price bump in 2009/2010, partly due to exchange rate changes (and surely the 2008 crash), the TCR models went up by about 20%. The exchange rate volatility after the Brexit referendum resulted in another rise in component prices.
The Giant Contend with rim brakes & 9-speed Sora costs less than £1000, the Sora disc Contend AR 3 is £1149, Allez Sport (Sora rim) is £1149. The Boardman SLR 8.9 (carbon rim brake) with 105 is £1150 while the alloy framed 8.6 (Tiagra disc) is £850, so perfectly good bikes are still available around £1k. But apart from Boardman there is a significant price jump if you want a carbon frame – Defy Advanced 3 (Tiagra disc) is £2099, Synapse (Tiagra disc, not ‘smart’) is £2400. The cheapest Tarmac SL6 (105 disc) is £3100, the SL7 frameset alone is £4250 for the 2021 model. Electronic shifting, the must-have du jour, adds another chunk.
Modern steel framed bikes are often built with 853 or similar materials and involve careful tube selection and significant shaping, not stock 4030 chromoly, so they are not going to be cheap.
As for pricey bibs and carbon wheels, we’ve been repeatedly told that fancy kit is so much better and it’ll make us x% faster but people don’t want to admit that their £2k Zipps don’t make them ride uphill like a pro. Young guns are as vulnerable to the hype as MAMILs.
Simon E wrote:
Yep, there certainly are eye-wateringly overpriced numbers out there! But as I said, if you’re not fussed about “name brands” there are still good bikes for relatively low prices e.g. Ribble R872 Ultegra full carbon £2299, or the Van Rysel CF Ultegra for the same price.
P.S. The Record Sprint was a lovely bit of kit, I would probably have bought one if it hadn’t been for a fortuitously-timed small legacy falling due that allowed me to go up a notch! Still miss my Road Ace, I kept it as part of the collection until 2002 and would still be cherishing it now if some bugger hadn’t pinched it. Shimano 600 downtube SIS levers were just about the loveliest bit of engineering I’ve ever owned, I think.
Consumable components are
Consumable components are pretty terrifying right now. I can go without fancy nutrition or an extra sportive, but chains and cassettes are pretty fundamental.
I bought a 2nd hand bike with SRAM Force. I just had a look at swapping out the 28t cassette for a 33t. In my head, I’m thinking £50-60… nope!
£179 and no availability until May 2024?
Wow, just checked and seems
Wow, just checked and seems to be similar dates on other sites as well. And same with the rival and axs compatible ones as well. Glad I didn’t go SRAM in the end for my replacement bike.
Let’s face it, cycling has
Let’s face it, cycling has ALWAYS been expensive because like golfers, who can spend $1000 on one driver in the hopes it will give them that edge, cyclists are looking for those few less grams, those few less watts. We are conditioned to buying the sizzle, not the steak and the supply chain is happy to accomodate. Today’s supply-demand imbalance has pushed already absurd pricing into the stratosphere. My boss at the bike shop just bought a beautiful new European motorcycle for half the price of the Dogma we sell. What’s wrong with this picture?
I recently recieved a £50 off
I recently recieved a £50 off voucher for Le col bibshorts, even with that I cannot warrant their price, still too expensive!
Le Col use the “DFS” approach
Le Col use the “DFS” approach to marketing – i.e. there is always a sale on and they hand out £50 vouchers like candy. It’s clearly an effective strategy so don’t blame them for it, but it does mean you should take their pricing with a generous pinch of salt.
Yes, very noticeable that
Yes, very noticeable that they occaisionally did one or two vouchers per year on strava and you needed to complete a large challenge to get them. Now they have sometimes two a month and most of the cheaper clothing options they did have disappeared.
It would be nice to know the
It would be nice to know the mark up they make on all cycling components and clothing. I think we’re being ripped off. They will get that greedy they will kill it!
A LARGE flapjack at my local
A LARGE flapjack at my local HomeBargains shop is 29p. That’s cheaper than I could make starting from oats and syrup and a couple will easily see me through a 100 mile ride.
This. Which once again proves
This. Which once again proves you simply don’t need gels if you aren’t racing. And as for ‘special’ sports branded flapjacks at 10x the price….?♂️
My brother once worked in a
My brother once worked in a factory that made flapjacks… I’ll stick to homemade.
Totally agree food/fuel doesn’t need to be a special brand.
Does he still work there, or
Does he still work there, or are we safe to eat the flapjacks now?