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New bike prices


Eric Evans

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For this to make any sense, you need to differentiate between cost, perceived value and desirability.

 

People don't buy Sworks for their functional superiority over the model that costs half as much, they buy them because they want the best.

Clearly that huge winkie of yours is channeling blood from your brain if you finished the last sentence with 'best'
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Oh, I didn't know there was a correlation between economic success and tottie size. Meh, guess we learn something new every day.

 

I better go for a penis reduction operation so that I can become rich and buy all those bikes that I want.

Ja nee, I also wondered about that logic.

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My pov echoed by an industry insider. Enve and other $3000+ wheels are just taking the piss. 

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/do-wheels-need-to-cost-so-much--interview--sea-otter-2017.html

 

The demise of the LBS and the consumers' forever bargain hunting from online shops should signal serious alarms to the bike industry that its current model won't be sustainable. Yeah, you can argue it's just following the same trends as the rest of the retail market, but the LBS still offers the service aspect. It means the consumer is aware it is being shafted, but pressure and the quest to have the best equipment will leave a slightly less sour taste in your mouth when you "saved" x% over the LBS's prices. Eventually one gets fed up with it, and the fun will be totally forgotten.

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My pov echoed by an industry insider. Enve and other $3000+ wheels are just taking the piss. 

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/do-wheels-need-to-cost-so-much--interview--sea-otter-2017.html

 

The demise of the LBS and the consumers' forever bargain hunting from online shops should signal serious alarms to the bike industry that its current model won't be sustainable. Yeah, you can argue it's just following the same trends as the rest of the retail market, but the LBS still offers the service aspect. It means the consumer is aware it is being shafted, but pressure and the quest to have the best equipment will leave a slightly less sour taste in your mouth when you "saved" x% over the LBS's prices. Eventually one gets fed up with it, and the fun will be totally forgotten.

In the defence of the LBS, generally they are a bit stuck. They need to sell enough gear at X markup in order to keep their bottom line going, and they're also being fed stock that is already inflated (sometimes by a mahooooooosive amount) by the local distro. So they're kinda stuck, in some instances. That's why a service-oriented store will be more e-tail proof than the sales-based stores. 

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I think the bottom line is that anything in competitive sport is going to be expensive. for example:

 

https://www.centurioncricketcompany.co.za/178/puma%20evo%20power%201se%20white%20edition%20cricket%20bat.aspx

 

That's for a piece of wood!

If you go and read about the English Willow market, you will realise that there is 1 supplier of the wood supplying something like 90% of all bat wood. They set the price for the wood (per grade), and you take it or leave it.  Unlike bikes (driven by marketing and brand desire) this industry struggle under the monopolistic tendencies of one dominant supplier.

 

After the monopolistic pressure, the same marketing and brand power takes charge, and before you know it, a R10k plus bat 

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The pricing cannot be justified, there's just no ways and they're not trying to either...

 

but I'm here to share some really, really good news with you... you don't have to buy that 180K mtb, your R20K secondhand Anthem will climb any mountain just as well as your mates Commondale if you put in a little more training :thumbup: Strange but true fact  :clap:

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If you go and read about the English Willow market, you will realise that there is 1 supplier of the wood supplying something like 90% of all bat wood. They set the price for the wood (per grade), and you take it or leave it. Unlike bikes (driven by marketing and brand desire) this industry struggle under the monopolistic tendencies of one dominant supplier.

 

After the monopolistic pressure, the same marketing and brand power takes charge, and before you know it, a R10k plus bat

Swimming costumes are now upwards of R6k and you only use them for racing cos they are so tight. But honestly, only the very top guys are going to need the 1 or 2% benefit from them and they are sponsored. Sound familiar?
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a gold club is heavy maintenance which I can understand but to send some MTB riders through some open land belonging to an oom, I dont think so but theyll still charge upwards of R300 per rider to do so.

 

 

Ever been involved in trail building?

 

I'm not defending the million-bucks-for-miles-of-district-road Epic entry fees, but smaller stage races with lots of singletrack are a lot more work than you might think...

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WTF - I remember when a state of the art bat was R40 at Kings Sports in Durban

 

Exactly.

 

And I didn't even "shop around" for that.... I just googled "cricket bat price". Then there was that one and 2 others for R11.5k.

 

It all comes down to perceived value (as Patch pointed out). Granted, perceived value does have a component of true value, but it's all about how much someone thinks it's worth. And what it's worth is different for different people. And (it) can be anything - if people think it's worth it, they'll pay; if they don't, they won't.

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With human powered devices, there is a very clear point of diminishing returns as you climb up the pricing ladder.

 

A Lamborghini Aventador can justify its price on the basis of a number of factors, but most importantly is its performance. It has an objective level of performance that you buy. A bicycle doesn't have that.

 

With high-end bikes,you pay for the exclusivity of the bike, its components, and the perceived performance feel. Generally, there will be an objective performance gap between a R10k XC bike and a R100k XC bike, but less so if you compare that same R100k XC bike with a R160k XC bike.

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The pricing cannot be justified, there's just no ways and they're no trying to either...

 

but I'm here to share some really, really good news with you... you don't have to buy that 180K mtb, your R20K secondhand Anthem will climb any mountain just as well as your mates Commondale if you put in a little more training :thumbup: Strange but true fact  :clap:

 

Yup yup. And that S-Works Epic is gonna put you on your face if you don't have Kulhavy's skills. Which, lets face it, about 0.01% of S-Works owners have.

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If you go and read about the English Willow market, you will realise that there is 1 supplier of the wood supplying something like 90% of all bat wood. They set the price for the wood (per grade), and you take it or leave it.  Unlike bikes (driven by marketing and brand desire) this industry struggle under the monopolistic tendencies of one dominant supplier.

 

After the monopolistic pressure, the same marketing and brand power takes charge, and before you know it, a R10k plus bat 

 

And there are only 2 potential suppliers for the components in the bike industry - also pretty monopolised.

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Oh, I didn't know there was a correlation between economic success and tottie size. Meh, guess we learn something new every day.

 

I better go for a penis reduction operation so that I can become rich and buy all those bikes that I want.

You didn't think this through, did you :blink:

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