Where is the bike industry going with pricing

[Baracuda]

Much of this debate may come down to the difference between what things are worth (based on the materials and labour) and what people are willing to pay.

 

I read an article no so long ago that laid a lot of the reason / blame for the escalation in the price of bikes and components with Enve.

 

Apparently, Enve used to make really good wheels at a low price, but battled to make ends meet. The guy who started it had a deep passion for building great wheels and really just wanted to get them out there, but they were always on the verge of bankruptcy. Accordingly to the article, after a number of years of this, his wife (who has a degree in business science, ex-McKinsie etc) took some time off her normal job and decided to step in and help. She looked at the business, looked at the demand, and said "rubbish" and just increased the price of wheels by 3-4 fold. On first reflection, everyone's response was "those prices are mad", but they eventually came back and bought them.

 

The other bike companies saw this - if Enve is selling their carbon wheels for 3 times the normal price, why don't we?

 

Most of us think that spending 200k on an s-works is mental. It doesn't add up in terms of materials and comparisons to motorbikes etc. Is an s-works bike really worth 24,000 cans of Castle Lite?

 

But there are guys that are willing to pay it and they will probably sell all of them in a few months.

[DieselnDust]

Ego is our own worst enemy.

 

When you look at the R120k bke vs the R200K bike theres not even a sparrows fart difference in weight.

You pay that extra R80K to be top of the pile in terms of hardware, for a 200gr weight reduction when there's 10-20Kg around the waist that's cheaper to lose and a better performance gain.

Luxury purchases feed off our ego. So I don't complain about it. Yes its mental but I'm happy with the XO1 for racing and a set of light alloy wheels with suspension that gives me the tunability options.

Kashima Coat?!! No thanks Performance is good enough.

[BenGraham]

Ego is our own worst enemy.

 

When you look at the R120k bke vs the R200K bike theres not even a sparrows fart difference in weight.

You pay that extra R80K to be top of the pile in terms of hardware, for a 200gr weight reduction when there's 10-20Kg around the waist that's cheaper to lose and a better performance gain.

Luxury purchases feed off our ego. So I don't complain about it. Yes its mental but I'm happy with the XO1 for racing and a set of light alloy wheels with suspension that gives me the tunability options.

Kashima Coat?!! No thanks Performance is good enough.

Nailed it.