UK bike sales plummet
Discussion
ChocolateFrog said:
To replace my bike basically like for like would cost 3x as much.
That's where I am, not that I need a bike, but if I did, what would I do? I have a 10 year old bike that cost £3k back then, the same price point gets you something heavier with lower spec kit and £3k is a f
king fortune anyway. £6k gets me an old tractor in decent nick and some 90s project car, so no chance I'm buying a new bike at the moment!I would ignore the Wiggle/Chain Reaction numbers though, they'll be a bit skewed because they decided to cash in on demand by essentially stopping Cylce2Work sales, so they'll have seen a significant number of customers go elsewhere.
President Merkin said:
paulrockliffe said:
I would ignore the Wiggle/Chain Reaction numbers though, they'll be a bit skewed because they decided to cash in on demand by essentially stopping Cylce2Work sales, so they'll have seen a significant number of customers go elsewhere.
Absolute bobbins. https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cycle-to-work
Wiggle use the same webpage with a different skin over it, so that too gives the same response and there is no other way to use the scheme with either retailer.
President Merkin said:
What are you talking about? You put a £100m loss in that business down to booting out c2w sales, People talk st on the internet but that's a pearler. Try reading the directors report & when you've done that, maybe some reading on FLI & 2Pure, Cycle to work my arse.
I think your response is a little harsh, why would it not have an effect?t on the internet but that's a pearler. Try reading the directors report & when you've done that, maybe some reading on FLI & 2Pure, Cycle to work my arse.Disagree by all means but I would not say, logically, the assertion that cycle to work not being an option for chain reaction and wiggle has had no effect on their financials.
remedy said:
Timely thread.
I've got a 2016 Giant Defy Advanced that I've added prime 50mm carbon wheels and Hope RX4+ brakes.
It's on 105 and it has done me well for 000s miles. During covid I almost bought an Orro Ventura STC Evo but bought a new car instead.
2 years later I'm still thinking of an upgrade but do like the look of a Giant Propel advanced 1. With SRAM it's about £4.2k. Similar price to the Orro.
I'll keenly watch the prices and see what drops there are.
I love the Defy and it does everything I need so it's just an itch to change at the moment. I might just upgrade the wheels as mine are bashed so far out of round it's untrue!
I can relate to this. Per my earlier post, I got a new bike last year. It’s my second bike - Tarmac SL7 Pro. My first bike is a 2015 Defy which I bought new (aluminium though. Guessing yours is carbon?).I've got a 2016 Giant Defy Advanced that I've added prime 50mm carbon wheels and Hope RX4+ brakes.
It's on 105 and it has done me well for 000s miles. During covid I almost bought an Orro Ventura STC Evo but bought a new car instead.
2 years later I'm still thinking of an upgrade but do like the look of a Giant Propel advanced 1. With SRAM it's about £4.2k. Similar price to the Orro.
I'll keenly watch the prices and see what drops there are.
I love the Defy and it does everything I need so it's just an itch to change at the moment. I might just upgrade the wheels as mine are bashed so far out of round it's untrue!
When I got it, I had the idea that if the was still cycling 2 years later I’d get a Propel with Di2 as someone in my club had one. One thing after another meant I never got round to anything until last year, when I did my first sub 5 hour on the Defy so felt I earnt a new bike.
Straight out the box I set a load of Strava PBs on my first ride on the Tarmac, without really trying. No doubt it’s quicker. But I used the Defy on the Dunwich Dynamo this year and it made me realise how much I like that bike. Done 25k miles on it now and just seems to fit so well and so easy on long runs (not had a bike fitting on the Tarmac yet, mind. Will do that once summer is over)
gl20 said:
I can relate to this. Per my earlier post, I got a new bike last year. It’s my second bike - Tarmac SL7 Pro. My first bike is a 2015 Defy which I bought new (aluminium though. Guessing yours is carbon?).
When I got it, I had the idea that if the was still cycling 2 years later I’d get a Propel with Di2 as someone in my club had one. One thing after another meant I never got round to anything until last year, when I did my first sub 5 hour on the Defy so felt I earnt a new bike.
Straight out the box I set a load of Strava PBs on my first ride on the Tarmac, without really trying. No doubt it’s quicker. But I used the Defy on the Dunwich Dynamo this year and it made me realise how much I like that bike. Done 25k miles on it now and just seems to fit so well and so easy on long runs (not had a bike fitting on the Tarmac yet, mind. Will do that once summer is over)
Yep. Went from my first bike, a Boardman CX to the full carbon defy.When I got it, I had the idea that if the was still cycling 2 years later I’d get a Propel with Di2 as someone in my club had one. One thing after another meant I never got round to anything until last year, when I did my first sub 5 hour on the Defy so felt I earnt a new bike.
Straight out the box I set a load of Strava PBs on my first ride on the Tarmac, without really trying. No doubt it’s quicker. But I used the Defy on the Dunwich Dynamo this year and it made me realise how much I like that bike. Done 25k miles on it now and just seems to fit so well and so easy on long runs (not had a bike fitting on the Tarmac yet, mind. Will do that once summer is over)
You see huge gains from big moves like that but spending £4k to get seconds of difference is when you know you are well into the club!
Jungle selling carbon 5010 that were critised as bad bikes for peanuts. Well peanuts if you call 2k off to 3k peanuts.
I thought it was hilarious when the bike industry was offering base spec carbon bikes for 5-6k.
No offence to them but I hope they fail.
I remember being a big fan of Santa Cruz bikes and paying 1-2k max. Then they jumped to 6k? Dirt bikes were always way cheaper.
Many people will say yes but loads will lose their jobs.
Their jobs before weren't paying big wages, their jobs will still be the same at the same wages and same demand. The only difference is the venture capital/speculators will move on to something else. No more big ££ in the bike industry like before for them.
I thought it was hilarious when the bike industry was offering base spec carbon bikes for 5-6k.
No offence to them but I hope they fail.
I remember being a big fan of Santa Cruz bikes and paying 1-2k max. Then they jumped to 6k? Dirt bikes were always way cheaper.
Many people will say yes but loads will lose their jobs.
Their jobs before weren't paying big wages, their jobs will still be the same at the same wages and same demand. The only difference is the venture capital/speculators will move on to something else. No more big ££ in the bike industry like before for them.
Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Saturday 2nd September 20:11
towser44 said:
Everywhere seems to be struggling. I notice Le Col have a massive sale at the moment, albeit I find their stuff overpriced anyway, but they've got £90/£100 jerseys down to £32 with an extra 20% off at the moment.
Le col are the DFS of the bike clothing world. Don’t think anyone has ever paid full price for any of their kit. Pretty much just have to click on a Strava/le col challenge for an instant £50 off voucher. I think the industry jumped the shark when Specialized started selling their top end eMTB for AU$23k a couple of years ago - for comparison, at that time I bought a brand new, 200bhp Hyundai i30 for $25k.
Prices had already been going mental but this expanded the range of prices so price points shifted to fill the gaps. Suddenly a base spec Yeti or Evil was $10k, and the rest just filled in behind. It seems similar has happened with gravel and road bikes.
I’ve had my eye on replacing my Norco Search for a year or so but gravel bikes are now the industry darlings and somehow anything decent is now $5k plus, with many thinking $8k is where my spec should be. That’s a family holiday for us, or a decent secondhand car for a soon-to-be-driving teenager.
I don’t wish any failures in the bike industry, but somewhere, somehow there has to be a moment of realisation that prices just can’t be supported anymore.
Prices had already been going mental but this expanded the range of prices so price points shifted to fill the gaps. Suddenly a base spec Yeti or Evil was $10k, and the rest just filled in behind. It seems similar has happened with gravel and road bikes.
I’ve had my eye on replacing my Norco Search for a year or so but gravel bikes are now the industry darlings and somehow anything decent is now $5k plus, with many thinking $8k is where my spec should be. That’s a family holiday for us, or a decent secondhand car for a soon-to-be-driving teenager.
I don’t wish any failures in the bike industry, but somewhere, somehow there has to be a moment of realisation that prices just can’t be supported anymore.
Still racing my 2016 Cube hardtail, I have no idea how must faster I would be on a more modern bike.
I’m definitely faster racing on my 2013 single speed Cannondale, which is more of a concern, as that was a third of the price.
Next weekend I’ll be racing my ten year old Kinesis Crosslight, again I’m not sure how much this old bicycle will slow me down.
I feel no need to buy a new bicycle.
I’m definitely faster racing on my 2013 single speed Cannondale, which is more of a concern, as that was a third of the price.
Next weekend I’ll be racing my ten year old Kinesis Crosslight, again I’m not sure how much this old bicycle will slow me down.
I feel no need to buy a new bicycle.
I've recently had my 2015 Trek Emonda wrecked when a delivery driver collided with me. I'll be in the market for a new bike once the claim against the driver's insurer is finalised. So I've started looking and it really isn't straightforward. Bike sales may have "plummeted", but it's still a tough job finding the right bike, with the right spec, in the right size.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'd hoped that with sales down there might be some stock sitting around in stores.
Since I've moved to a new area the type of riding available to me seems to call for a 'gravel bike' rather than a pure road bike. So far I've looked at three shops and two of them have sucked their teeth and said "we'll try, but no promises" and another has said "we can probably order your size, but don't expect it at the (reduced) price on the ticket on that one that is too big for you".
Early shortlist entries are Merida Silex (but limited spec choices) and GT Grade but I'm not hopeful about the availability of the Grade. Shame, really, as I'd hoped that a downturn in bike sales might make it slightly more of a "buyers' market"...
...and on a relatively unrelated note: when did the gravel bike market subdivide into about umpty-twelve subcategories? Would sir like a gravel race bike? Or perhaps an adventure gravel bike? An all-road bike maybe? Or a touring bike? Bike-packing machine? Road-based geometry? Or perhaps something more akin to the slack angles of a hard tail MTB? One-by or a front derailleur? Or an electronic gear set?
... blah, blah, blah... "Eh? Wibble"
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'd hoped that with sales down there might be some stock sitting around in stores.
Since I've moved to a new area the type of riding available to me seems to call for a 'gravel bike' rather than a pure road bike. So far I've looked at three shops and two of them have sucked their teeth and said "we'll try, but no promises" and another has said "we can probably order your size, but don't expect it at the (reduced) price on the ticket on that one that is too big for you".
Early shortlist entries are Merida Silex (but limited spec choices) and GT Grade but I'm not hopeful about the availability of the Grade. Shame, really, as I'd hoped that a downturn in bike sales might make it slightly more of a "buyers' market"...
...and on a relatively unrelated note: when did the gravel bike market subdivide into about umpty-twelve subcategories? Would sir like a gravel race bike? Or perhaps an adventure gravel bike? An all-road bike maybe? Or a touring bike? Bike-packing machine? Road-based geometry? Or perhaps something more akin to the slack angles of a hard tail MTB? One-by or a front derailleur? Or an electronic gear set?
... blah, blah, blah... "Eh? Wibble"
dudleybloke said:
It's not just top end bikes that are silly money now, if I needed to replace my boardman hybrid it would cost me £600 for the same spec bike that I paid £300 for a few years back.
Kids bikes are silly money for anything that's not a BSO too.
That’s the point - the top end bikes shifted upwards, a long way upwards, and left space in the whole price range for others to move around too - so the whole industry just went upwards.Kids bikes are silly money for anything that's not a BSO too.
yellowjack said:
Early shortlist entries are Merida Silex (but limited spec choices) and GT Grade but I'm not hopeful about the availability of the Grade. Shame, really, as I'd hoped that a downturn in bike sales might make it slightly more of a "buyers' market"...
Add Norco Search to your list, no-nonsense all-rounder with good spec and usually priced similar to Merida stuff. Also don’t dismiss Giant - usually have a good value proposition in most of their line-ups - Revolt is their gravel bike.PomBstard said:
yellowjack said:
Early shortlist entries are Merida Silex (but limited spec choices) and GT Grade but I'm not hopeful about the availability of the Grade. Shame, really, as I'd hoped that a downturn in bike sales might make it slightly more of a "buyers' market"...
Add Norco Search to your list, no-nonsense all-rounder with good spec and usually priced similar to Merida stuff. Also don’t dismiss Giant - usually have a good value proposition in most of their line-ups - Revolt is their gravel bike.Stick Legs said:
Sadly I think the ‘fad’ has moved on. ITV4 aren’t bothering to show LaVuelta Espana or the classics now.
So that’s indicative that the world is moving on.
ITV has live coverage of the Tour of Britain and a nightly highlights show. So that’s indicative that the world is moving on.
Clash with the Vuelta will mean they can only show one.
gazza285 said:
Still racing my 2016 Cube hardtail, I have no idea how must faster I would be on a more modern bike.
I’m definitely faster racing on my 2013 single speed Cannondale, which is more of a concern, as that was a third of the price.
Next weekend I’ll be racing my ten year old Kinesis Crosslight, again I’m not sure how much this old bicycle will slow me down.
I feel no need to buy a new bicycle.
Not that I win any races these days but there's great satisfaction beating people on machinery worth a tenth of the competition. I’m definitely faster racing on my 2013 single speed Cannondale, which is more of a concern, as that was a third of the price.
Next weekend I’ll be racing my ten year old Kinesis Crosslight, again I’m not sure how much this old bicycle will slow me down.
I feel no need to buy a new bicycle.
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