how much does it cost...

[princeperch]

...to knock together a basic bike in China/ Taiwan et al?

I've got a pretty decent road bike which I keep at my parents, but I thought I would get a cheap one to use every other weekend in the smoke - I went for this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013NCQXC/ref=...

and for 120 quid, I am staggered at the quality. It has shimano gearing all round, and the welding on the frame is very good. I know these things are knocked up in China/Taiwan - but what would a bike like this owe Amazon?

I've put some decent lights and some spd's on it and am very happy with it - just wondered how much these things cost to knock together - the prices of bikes have rocketed over the last year or so...

[slomax]

I got a bike of ebay for £30 just as a run around at uni. It too has shimano gearing all around and was practically brand new when i bought it. I can safely say though it is the worst bike I have ever ridden. No doubt it was good value for money and new probably cost £100 but it is still very cheap. When i change the peddles and saddle though i think it will improve somewhat as the pedals are tiny and have no grip at all and the seat is massive.

[The Count]

Just bought one as a sh*tter. Thanks for the heads up.

[raf_gti]

This may give you an idea.

I bought an almost top spec bike recently, Ultegra all round and lovely carbon

Retail is just over £2k, I got it for cost @ £1.3k so assuming the importer is making a similar profit that is most likley to be £700. If the manufacturer is making the same profit then that is £350 to produce a top notch bike.

So how much is the el cheapo bike actually costing to make?

Perhaps it's the same but only with economies of scale pushing the price down.

[stu8975]

Top notch for not much money - Planet X bikes..carbon frameset...dura ace..£1499. http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPE/sl-pr...

[Rolls]

Thing is shimano components cost an absolute BOMB just on their own now :-(

[princeperch]

went out for a ride on it today and was very impressed. It's a couple of KGs heavier than my claude butler criterium (which cost something like 400 quid when new) but I cannot tell any difference in the quality and the ride. Perhaps time will tell, but this is a very cheap way into road cycling.

eta: strangely enough its gone up in price by 24p!

Edited by princeperch on Monday 5th April 18:52

[raceboy]

Something like that is very tempting......never done the road bike thing and think it might be usefull for building up stamina now I've got back into BMX Racing after a 22 year break, had my 1st race on Sunday and although I did win my class my legs were like jelly for my 3rd race after only having 15 minutes max recovery time between races.
It's ether 2nd hand ebay specials att his price range or something like this new.....

I do have a contact in the trade though and will ask him the original question.

[raceboy]

Well in answer to the original question it costs more to make these than they are being sold for.
The most likely answer to the price is that Vittesse is no longer trading so there is a good chance this stock is a bankrupt stock clearance sale.

[princeperch]

that's very interesting - thanks for asking.

I note that tesco also sold this bike http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-9447.aspx but now is showing as being out of stock...

[louiebaby]

stu8975 said:

Top notch for not much money - Planet X bikes.

Carbon frameset, dura ace, £1499.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPE/sl-pr...

Looks like good kit, but does anyone have experience of them? The Ti framed Dura-ace jobbie looks the nuts...

[okgo]

louiebaby said:

stu8975 said:

Top notch for not much money - Planet X bikes.

Carbon frameset, dura ace, £1499.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPE/sl-pr...

Looks like good kit, but does anyone have experience of them? The Ti framed Dura-ace jobbie looks the nuts...

Yup, go on a bike forum (bikeradar) and hundreds of people have them.

[The Count]

princeperch said:

went out for a ride on it today and was very impressed. It's a couple of KGs heavier than my claude butler criterium (which cost something like 400 quid when new) but I cannot tell any difference in the quality and the ride. Perhaps time will tell, but this is a very cheap way into road cycling.

eta: strangely enough its gone up in price by 24p!

Mine arrived today. Bloody impressed with the quality. Took about an hour to assemble/check their tightening of nuts etc.

Only slight criticism would be the front wheel isn’t quite true. Anyway to remedy this?

P.s. thanks again princeperch for the link

[Nick_F]

louiebaby said:

stu8975 said:

Top notch for not much money - Planet X bikes.

Carbon frameset, dura ace, £1499.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPE/sl-pr...

Looks like good kit, but does anyone have experience of them? The Ti framed Dura-ace jobbie looks the nuts...

I have a P-X Stealth Tri bike: absolutely love it.

[princeperch]

The Count said:

princeperch said:

went out for a ride on it today and was very impressed. It's a couple of KGs heavier than my claude butler criterium (which cost something like 400 quid when new) but I cannot tell any difference in the quality and the ride. Perhaps time will tell, but this is a very cheap way into road cycling.

eta: strangely enough its gone up in price by 24p!

Mine arrived today. Bloody impressed with the quality. Took about an hour to assemble/check their tightening of nuts etc.

Only slight criticism would be the front wheel isn’t quite true. Anyway to remedy this?

P.s. thanks again princeperch for the link

it seems it is no longer available on amazon!

Edited by princeperch on Saturday 30th October 12:23

[princeperch]

...and mine gave me 6 months of faithful service, and just sold on ebay today for £100.00.

[Fatman2]

louiebaby said:

stu8975 said:

Top notch for not much money - Planet X bikes.

Carbon frameset, dura ace, £1499.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPE/sl-pr...

Looks like good kit, but does anyone have experience of them? The Ti framed Dura-ace jobbie looks the nuts...

By all accounts they're very good and offer staggering value for money....

...however there are people that have a problem with them as generally (albeit maybe with a few exceptions) the frames are generic Chinese manufactured frames with little/no heritage/history.

It basicly boils down to whether you're happy with this or you rather buy from a manufacturer that has an in-house design/structures team that then outsources the manufacture of their own designs. Some don't care (and so are very happy with a good value bike) and some do.

Personally the designs don't do anything for me and I'm not overly fussed about owning the lightest bike either, hence my buying a Bianchi, but if only they did a good looking frame in that pink scheme then I'd have one in a shot

[CerbitonFlyer]

Fatman2 said:

but if only they did a good looking frame in that pink scheme then I'd have one in a shot

In a non-ghey way..... I really like that! Saddle and bars maybe a step to far, but the frame looks awesome!

[anonymous-user]

fatman2: only a few manufacturers can afford to design a bespoke carbon frame and put it through rigorus testing in a wind tunnel to prove their claims. its why a cervelo p4 frmae costs £4K and a planet x frame costs £1K.....what you will most likely find is that the carbon framed planet x is the same as many other frames out there, if you do the research regarding geometry that frame will crop up a number of times as a brand that you will have heard of and are possibly more likely to trust...... i still laugh when people assume that specialized, trek and giant et al build their bikes in some special factory using aerospace qualified welders in the far east and the rest of the brands are welded together by some communist on 4p per day....

[Fatman2]

pablo said:

fatman2: only a few manufacturers can afford to design a bespoke carbon frame and put it through rigorus testing in a wind tunnel to prove their claims. its why a cervelo p4 frmae costs £4K and a planet x frame costs £1K.....what you will most likely find is that the carbon framed planet x is the same as many other frames out there, if you do the research regarding geometry that frame will crop up a number of times as a brand that you will have heard of and are possibly more likely to trust...... i still laugh when people assume that specialized, trek and giant et al build their bikes in some special factory using aerospace qualified welders in the far east and the rest of the brands are welded together by some communist on 4p per day....

I wasn't suggesting that manufacturers use wind tunnels at all on their bikes as most of them probably don't for their regular bikes (sportive and non TT race frames). My Bianchi certainly wasn't subjected to such tests otherwise the brochure would have waxed lyrical about it.

What they have done, however, was to design the frame in-house and (if my brochure is correct) structurally tested and validated the design before either making the carbon frame themselves or subcontracting it out to China. This is the difference and whilst I'm not suggesting that large mainstream manufacturers build their bikes in 'special' factories, understand the difference between doing the hard work yourself and merely buying in a generic frame that someone else has done the work on. This is akin to Daewoo rebadging and selling the old Mk2 Astra some years ago.

I'm not sure people think the way you're assuming but genuinely understand that Planet X frames are cheap because they i.e. Planet X, have not done the up front work to get the frame as it is today. They've just bought a set of frames that have been built to a print that was signed off by A-N-Other. The difference is significant as Planet X has had absolutely no input in how the frame performs. The fact they ride so well is just good fortune on their part.