BigDL

Stunning

They probably needed to ups the price in order to be able to replace the item. Presumably the wholesale price has jumped.

Similar - I'll pack the boot full of loose items rather than keep buying bags. They're awful things

This debate about same factory, same quality, is one that has always frustrated me. I spent some years in the UK and Ireland setting up recycling strategies and programs for various manufacturers and, as a result, spent days at time on factory floors, following the production processes from beginning to end. Without exception, in food facilities, the no name discount brand and the Marks & Spencer stuff, followed very different processes and had different ingredients. I also spent some years buying fitness equipment at scale for health club chains in the UK and in South Africa, where balancing price, quality and longevity is critical. I visited lots of factories in China where big brand names were produced in the same factory as lesser known or budget brands. There was a massive difference, in most cases, in everything from quality of materials through to quality control. Thus, when I'm in a shop and the salesman says to me "Brand X comes out of the same factory as Brand Y, but you are paying for the name", I am dubious

Those look brilliant

I would amend that to - Buying a new car with a massive balloon payment at the end of 5 years which forces people to either give the car back and buy another or to take out another finance agreement to pay the balance makes a new car just about affordable for most people in lots of countries, if you want a medium sized car anyway.

Sharing- Not paying a fortune extra to have my own tent , especially as I am doing the event with my son.

To be fair, I'm paying R19k for 2 for three days of Sani2C next year. Extrapolating that to 7 days gets me to R45k, so it's not that different per day to Sani. I personally wouldn't pay that to ride my bike for 7 days, but it is within a few hundred rand a day of the price of Sani

Good point - wrong bike, sell it in a year or two and try something else.

Thank you so much for the thoughts. Makes a lot of sense. Think the "what do you want to do with it" question is the biggest for me as well and I'm quite stuck. We're in a position from next year where the kids will probably be doing their own thing in the summer, so we will be having a holiday as a just a couple for the first time in 21 years, so I'm really keen to get a bike that's comfy for two, pack the panniers, chuck on a tent and head to Europe for 3 weeks next June, with no real agenda other than to explore some remote places. At the same time, I want the capability to go and ride trails here on the weekends and ride to work occasionally as I don't have a car. That's the thinking anyway. In reality, riding much in Winter is unlikely as the weather is so *** here, so the bike is likely to sit in my barn for most of Winter. Trying to maintain and manage a smallholding and a cycling habit and a job in Summer is fairly hectic, so I am unsure of how much time I would have to galavant about on a bike during the good months. What I'd hate to do is buy an all singing all dancing bike and then not use it for much other than commuting, so I need to decide before I cough up £12-14k.

Nope - 2 yrs to rent a bike lol

Thanks - had a look at the Aprilia - looks good, only issue, according to the reviews that I read, is that the subframe is welded on, rather than bolted, which apparently can be a serious issue (probably showing my lack of knowledge here). Popped into a dealer today that has Yamaha, Honda and BMW showrooms all within 100 metres of each other. The Tenere World Raid is beautiful but I like the traction control on the others. Unfortunately you can't test ride a bike here if you haven't had your licence for at least a year ,so having a think about how to get around that.

loving this thread. Been reading from afar for a while. Turned 50 in June and passed my motorbike licence test this week. Been riding bikes on and off my whole life but never got around to getting a licence as in SA you could ride for a year or two on learners licences back in the day. Haven't owned a road legal bike in many years, but am looking to fix that currently, so busy comparing adventure style bikes. Really like the T700 World Raid, but also looking at the BMW GS and the Honda Africa Twin. Don't know enough about the benefits of each yet to make a really informed choice so would appreciate any advice from those in the know.

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Capitalism summarised in one sentence

My neighbour, who farms about 300 acres across a few different locations, with no labour other than himself (and neighbours when cutting and baling hay), drives a 2003ish Corsa with the back seats taken out. He reckons that anything that he can't shift in the Corsa, he'll use a tractor.

Farmers have a very different attitude (or need, I'm not sure) to vehicles in Northern Europe to SA.

Fair enough.

That I'll never understand. Why buy a car outright when finance is (comparatively) cheap. Surely that money would be better being invested somewhere?

96 months - Holy Crap I've no idea what the max is here as a percentage of income. Interest rates are pretty low though so paying a deposit on a car makes zero sense. As a comparison, in 2019, I financed a 2016 Polo for my son over 48 months with zero deposit and an interest rate of 4% APR. He has now taken on the payments (or is at least paying me the money every month) and, as a part time gymnastics instructor in a council leisure centre / gym, he is able to afford the monthly payment comfortably (about 13% of his take home if he works 35 hrs a week).

What luxury products have dropped in price after a rise before? Other than houses and fuel of course?

Lol - I didn't buy a house, but I bought a BMW 320 just before the rate went through the roof. Was paying prime + 2% if I remember correctly and the payments went through the roof. Cured my 25 year old self of any desire for fancy cars after that.

Over here, the bike shops are saying that they cannot fulfil the demand at the higher end. I was chatting to a shop owner the other day who says that custom builds are most affected, often because of not being able to get one or two components. A mate of mine took delivery of his new bike on the weekend from Ribble. It was supposed to be delivered in March, but was delayed because they couldn't get some of the Ultegra parts to build the bike. At the same time, it seems that the biggest growing industry in the UK is Charity Food banks

Presumably, if stock is still constrained and demand is still high, the bike boom is not over.

That's brutal