UK bike sales plummet

[Gweeds]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

But every single cycling jacket, without fail isn't waterproof. Either from new or at some point it'll wet out.


Hunt uses Novatec hubs. Not a bad hub at all but personally I'd rather buy a Hope hub.

Except Shakedry. Which they stopped making. bds.

[Gweeds]

ChocolateFrog said:

Luckily I've got to the point where I'm a bit old and a bit fatter and resist the urge for upgraditis.

I like to admire the nice kit from a far and just keep my eyes peeled for a nice second hand Look 795 that someone has nicely specced that I can pick up for a fraction of the rrp

The right approach. I see people over on WW lining up to sell superb SL7’s because the SL8 would save them 30 seconds over 40km at 45kph. Plenty have the money.

[Salted_Peanut]

PastelNata said:

What's the big deal

The big deal is the price of some cycling gear takes the Mickey.

[andyeds1234]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

andyeds1234 said:

You can buy much a more expensive motorcycle jacket than the RST, and a much cheaper cycling jacket than Assos.

But every single cycling jacket, without fail isn't waterproof. Either from new or at some point it'll wet out.

A lot of jackets are waterproof, but being waterpoof vs breathable is the challenge.
Getting wet from the inside due to lack of breathability is just as bad as getting wet from the outside.
A bin bag is fully waterproof, but useless at keeping you dry.

The few jackets that are fully breathable and waterproof are worth every penny.

[GravelBen]

Its interesting the different attitudes / motivations, road (and to a degree XC MTB) riders often seem to upgrade thinking it will make them faster whereas most recreational MTB riders upgrade thinking they will have more fun and be more confident on challenging trails/features.

I'm not a roadie but I can imagine road bike design being so established by now that any improvements with newer bikes are pretty small and incremental? MTB on the other hand has still been seeing significant changes in geometry and suspension dynamics over the last 5 years or so, fundamental enough changes that there can be benefits in updating to a newer MTB even if the weight and component spec is no better.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 3rd September 23:52

[okgo]

No advancements in road bikes in last 5 years really. Everything you can buy now existed then.

[Dracoro]

Salted_Peanut said:

PastelNata said:

What's the big deal

The big deal is the price of some cycling gear takes the Mickey.

So, no-one is obliged to pay out large sums, there are plenty of cheaper options. Same as anything else, car stuff “taking the mickey” as Ferrari charge £300k and then £3k just for CarPlay etc., whilst ignoring you can get a. £25k Kia with CarPlay as standard etc.

I have a great cycling jacket but costs £60, so what’s the issue if Joe Bloggs down the road wants to buy the £300 one?

Now, I would understand the “taking the mickey” for products/items where they are expensive and there is NO better alternative/value items available so have no choice etc…

[anonymous-user]

It's all fairly logical really. Many of us had bikes but bought new ones around d 2011-2013 during the "boom", then we upgraded three or four years later and some good second hand bikes entered the market... Then we all upgraded again to the "forever" bike, and again some really nice bikes appeared second hand.... And now we've had a pandemic, a shortage of parts, a reduction in disposable income for many and loads of technology that many people just don't need... So many of us are sat on very nice bikes, albeit a few years old, with no intention of buying a new one anytime soon, with a glut of good bikes available second hand for the industry to contend with....

[JEA1K]

There are tonnes of used/hardly ridden bikes for sale ... people that had all that spare time and good intentions during covid have reverted to the sofa and eating Dorito's and Jaffa cakes.

I 'think' its reached peak bks now ... I priced up the new Madone SLR in full Pederson spec in the same spec as my 2020 Madone SLR, barring the paintwork of course and it comes to £18,350 Moving to electronic groupsets and disc brakes has been an opportunity to allow manufacturers to inflate bike prices and leverage as much from buyers as possible. 10 years ago, that £18k Madone was £6k ...

The bike industry is a funny one, it goes through large peaks and troughs but the money men/investors seem to think its a current peak can be milked for years to come. Personally I think its heading for a sharp drop/reset ..

[okgo]

A chap I know through riding has a workshop, based in SW London, I reckon he’s done 15 SL8 S-Works builds in the last 2-3 weeks. There’s a staggering amount of folk who can and do spend £15k on a bike. I’d be willing to bet most of those people have the SL7 too…

I couldn’t bring myself to spend £18k on a bike given their horrible residuals but I quite agree it’s got out of hand.

[Ballistic]

Personally I think the manufacturers are taking us to the cleaners and they see cycling as the new golf.

I'm weighing up a lightweight ebike but can't justify spending £13-14k on a top end Specialized turbo Levo SL.
Someone posted on another forum that Specialized employees in the USA get 70% discount - I don't know if it's the same deal here in the UK.
If Specialized can still make money on a 70% discount, it just goes to show how huge the margins are and how the public is being ripped off. I can't see this being sustainable.
Going back to the Levo, based on this years deals, I know that if I wait until next Summer, I should be able to get a 2023 model with a 50% discount.

I was also considering the Haibike Lyke 11 which was only launched at the end last year, yet recently I could have picked one up with around 50% off.
It just goes to show how much the retailers are struggling to sell bikes this year.

Most of the big online retailers seem to have perpetual sales on for bikes and clothing.

[irc]

Ballistic said:

Personally I think the manufacturers are taking us to the cleaners and they see cycling as the new golf.

I'm weighing up a lightweight ebike but can't justify spending £13-14k on a top end Specialized turbo Levo SL.

Or for the same price buy a car. Under 6 months old.

https://www.arnoldclark.com/nearly-new-cars/fiat/5...

£13k for an e-bike? They are having a laugh. So £1000 for the bike and £12000 for the engine?

[JEA1K]

okgo said:

A chap I know through riding has a workshop, based in SW London, I reckon he’s done 15 SL8 S-Works builds in the last 2-3 weeks. There’s a staggering amount of folk who can and do spend £15k on a bike. I’d be willing to bet most of those people have the SL7 too…

I couldn’t bring myself to spend £18k on a bike given their horrible residuals but I quite agree it’s got out of hand.

Thats a good bit of business ... but yes, it still amazes me how much people are willing to spend on somethin that is worth buttons as soon as its ridden.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

JEA1K said:

Thats a good bit of business ... but yes, it still amazes me how much people are willing to spend on somethin that is worth buttons as soon as its ridden.

I've been advertising my Orbea ebike for a while now. Even at 50% off no bites.

[Gweeds]

okgo said:

A chap I know through riding has a workshop, based in SW London, I reckon he’s done 15 SL8 S-Works builds in the last 2-3 weeks. There’s a staggering amount of folk who can and do spend £15k on a bike. I’d be willing to bet most of those people have the SL7 too…

I couldn’t bring myself to spend £18k on a bike given their horrible residuals but I quite agree it’s got out of hand.

That’ll be Mr Rhino

That particular area is S-Works central isn’t it

I know someone who buys 6-8 new bikes a year and none are less than £15k. He is worth a few hundred million though.

[emicen]

I quite fancy a new road bike later in the year, my first road bike was bought in 2020 via Cycle2Work and whilst the kit on it is fine, I would like to be able to run bigger tyres and the 2020 TCR is really quite crap in this respect. 28mm are rather too close for comfort and I would really want 32mm.

2022 TCR Advanced 2 with the same 105 disc spec, but ability to run 32mm rubber, has just been reduced on the Giant website from £2700 to £2000. That makes it only £100 more than my existing Advance 2 cost 3 years ago.

But does it really make sense to buy a whole new bike just to run bigger tyres…?

[MrBig]

irc said:

Ballistic said:

Personally I think the manufacturers are taking us to the cleaners and they see cycling as the new golf.

I'm weighing up a lightweight ebike but can't justify spending £13-14k on a top end Specialized turbo Levo SL.

Or for the same price buy a car. Under 6 months old.

https://www.arnoldclark.com/nearly-new-cars/fiat/5...

£13k for an e-bike? They are having a laugh. So £1000 for the bike and £12000 for the engine?

I think this is very relevant. Just feels like they are taking the piss.

Also, there are a lot of people thinking very carefully about how they spend their money now, if they have any spare cash at all. That's not changing in the next few years.

I've also noticed that most of the kids at our school have scooters now, very few bikes, especially at primary level. I wonder if the current generation are just not as interested in 2 wheels.

[President Merkin]

You can buy a Brand new Spesh Turbo Levo for about £3k. You can also spend £13k on the S works top of the line bike.They are fundamentally the same bike with different componentry. People bring up S works bikes regularly to bash the bike industry, invariably overlooking the alternatives. It's a fundamentally dishonest argument. The same though doesn't apply to the car.

You can buy a base Fiat 500 or the Abarth but you will get very different vehicles. Buy the bottom of the range Levo & you get the same motor & the same frame as the S Works, very much the same dynamics on either bike but with different quality components bolted to it. And no one is twisting anyone's arm to splash out on an S Works, it's a market where companies make offers & buyers make choices

[okgo]

President Merkin said:

You can buy a Brand new Spesh Turbo Levo for about £3k. You can also spend £13k on the S works top of the line bike.They are fundamentally the same bike with different componentry. People bring up S works bikes regularly to bash the bike industry, invariably overlooking the alternatives. It's a fundamentally dishonest argument. The same though doesn't apply to the car.

You can buy a base Fiat 500 or the Abarth but you will get very different vehicles. Buy the bottom of the range Levo & you get the same motor & the same frame as the S Works, very much the same dynamics on either bike but with different quality components bolted to it. And no one is twisting anyone's arm to splash out on an S Works, it's a market where companies make offers & buyers make choices

The frame will be totally different in materials used. The difference between S works and not isn't the components alone.

[lufbramatt]

MrBig said:

I think this is very relevant. Just feels like they are taking the piss.

Also, there are a lot of people thinking very carefully about how they spend their money now, if they have any spare cash at all. That's not changing in the next few years.

I've also noticed that most of the kids at our school have scooters now, very few bikes, especially at primary level. I wonder if the current generation are just not as interested in 2 wheels.

I've noticed this too. My kids love being out on their bikes but I think they are a minority. My daughter is 6 and not many kids in her class can ride a bike without stabilizers. The other kids see it as some sort of super power

I cycle with my son (8) to his football practice on a saturday morning, it's a good warm up for him and saves getting the car out. As part of that I've been letting him ride in the road in front of me and teaching him some basic road skills and safety stuff. It's only about 1,5 miles on quiet roads but other parents look at me as if I'm mental. He knows never to ride in the road without me. Very rarely see other kids their age cycling anywhere.

I don't think the cycling industry is helping though. Kids bikes are all heavy crap unless you spend a fortune on a Frog/Isla type bike which are £££ if bought new, the silly prices of adult bikes have trickled down to the better kids bikes too.