Chain lube

[Prince Albert Cycles]

Not a sarcastic question ..what ingredient is so expensive that a 120ml container of dry chain lube is selling for R179 ? And some others close to that price.

[DieselnDust]

Price Of base oil , wax , chemicals has all nearly doubled since the start of the year.

diesel is used to transport so transport cost is higher 

 

[Steady Spin]

1 hour ago, Prince Albert Cycles said:

Not a sarcastic question ..what ingredient is so expensive that a 120ml container of dry chain lube is selling for R179 ? And some others close to that price.

The marketing and packaging. 

[ichnusa]

The fact, like all other bicycle related products, that we are willing to pay for it…

[NotSoBigBen]

IMHO there are very few products today where the price is based on input costs plus a fair profit as was the case many many years ago. Today there's clearly a 'charge the maximum the market will tolerate' strategy. As has been mentioned before cyclists seem for whatever reason to tolerate more than others?

[throttles]

11 hours ago, Prince Albert Cycles said:

Not a sarcastic question ..what ingredient is so expensive that a 120ml container of dry chain lube is selling for R179 ? And some others close to that price.

Cyclist mentally justify all purchases by NEED, everything is needed.  

I buy the workshop size bottle of Lube, R250 for 500ml

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

IMHO there are very few products today where the price is based on input costs plus a fair profit as was the case many many years ago. Today there's clearly a 'charge the maximum the market will tolerate' strategy. As has been mentioned before cyclists seem for whatever reason to tolerate more than others?

True story!! We are our own enemies.. Listening to the conversations online, on the bike and at LBS, it's the NEED to have the best or just below.. Not many complaints about shortage of Tiagra or 105, but the shortage of DA 9270 cannot be tolerated. "How can such a big company not be able to supply even 50% of the demand in SA? " 🤦‍♂️ What about the rest of the world? SA is small fry compared to the US and Asia.

There's backlogs of new bike sales that are on hold due to no availability of DA 12sp GS and this is after the price of a complete new bike almost doubled in the last 3 years.

 

/Rant off.. 😅

[bleedToWin]

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

IMHO there are very few products today where the price is based on input costs plus a fair profit as was the case many many years ago. Today there's clearly a 'charge the maximum the market will tolerate' strategy. As has been mentioned before cyclists seem for whatever reason to tolerate more than others?

If you're in business and go for cost based pricing you're playing with fire.

1. If your input costs rapidly rise you could loose too many clients that aren't willing to follow the resulting increase in your pricing and you go under.
2. You are inviting competition to challenge you to a race to the bottom, squeezing your margins to a point where you are barely surviving... or go under.

If you do value based pricing you don't have to respond to competitors price, only to their value offering. If input costs rapidly rise you can absorb and spread out over time some of those increases if your market cannot tolerate a big jump in pricing. Value based pricing isn't about screwing over clients, it's about taking control of more variables that determine your long term viability as a business.

[Thomo]

Costs have escalated ever since cycling became the new golf ... 

Maybe we need to start promoting and making bowls popular again. 

[madmarc]

Because the market has led the sheeple to believe dry lube is the answer to longer drivetrain life with a lot less cleaning required - And we all know how lazy we are when it comes to cleaning the drivetrain - less cleaning makes a happy cyclist.

 500ml of 20W40 mixed up with a bit of chainsaw oil to increase the viscosity - you be having chain lube for the next 100 years and a much longer chain and sprocket life.

[Steady Spin]

14 minutes ago, madmarc said:

Because the market has led the sheeple to believe dry lube is the answer to longer drivetrain life with a lot less cleaning required - And we all know how lazy we are when it comes to cleaning the drivetrain - less cleaning makes a happy cyclist.

 500ml of 20W40 mixed up with a bit of chainsaw oil to increase the viscosity - you be having chain lube for the next 100 years and a much longer chain and sprocket life.

Definitely keen to try that mix. Drop per link and let it soak in followed by dry wiping the excess? 

[The Ouzo]

I was looking at the tub of coconut oil in the kitchen the other day. Its in a wax form, spoon some out and put it in a pot and it liquifies rather quickly. Had me wondering how it would work as a chain lube.

[DieselnDust]

June 2021

"Prices of Paraffine Wax remained in a narrow range during this quarter across North America region, backed by high inventory levels. Due to the polar storm in last quarter, production of Paraffin Wax remained low in the country. However, availability remained abundant to tackle any demand from downstream cosmetics and candle manufacturers. Despite of slow refinery rate, older stocks was so abundant that led to an overall slump in the prices of Paraffin Wax in the country. Therefore, price of Paraffin wax tumbled effectively settling at around USD 1355/MT for light grade in Texas."

 

June 2022

"Paraffin wax prices increased throughout the first quarter of 2022 in the North American market. Demand remained stable from downstream paper and agriculture industry. However, strong offtakes due to consistent demand from the cosmetics and pharmaceutical segments till the end of the quarter escalated the values. In March, reduced supplies from Asian countries due to global supply chain disruption and increased upstream crude oil values boosted Paraffin wax prices in the international market. Paraffin wax CFR prices settled at USD 2250 per MT in the end of Q1 2022 in North America.

 

#semanet

[dasilvarsa]

R124.99 @CycleLab

[DieselnDust]

12 minutes ago, dasilvarsa said:

R124.99 @CycleLab

probably older stock

[ChrisF]

3 hours ago, madmarc said:

Because the market has led the sheeple to believe dry lube is the answer to longer drivetrain life with a lot less cleaning required - And we all know how lazy we are when it comes to cleaning the drivetrain - less cleaning makes a happy cyclist.

 500ml of 20W40 mixed up with a bit of chainsaw oil to increase the viscosity - you be having chain lube for the next 100 years and a much longer chain and sprocket life.

 

How much of the chainsaw oil to the other 500ml ?

 

Application the same as normal ?

 

 

 

I do have a chainsaw .... so this one do tick the boxes for me ....

[ChrisF]

4 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

If you're in business and go for cost based pricing you're playing with fire.

1. If your input costs rapidly rise you could loose too many clients that aren't willing to follow the resulting increase in your pricing and you go under.
2. You are inviting competition to challenge you to a race to the bottom, squeezing your margins to a point where you are barely surviving... or go under.

If you do value based pricing you don't have to respond to competitors price, only to their value offering. If input costs rapidly rise you can absorb and spread out over time some of those increases if your market cannot tolerate a big jump in pricing. Value based pricing isn't about screwing over clients, it's about taking control of more variables that determine your long term viability as a business.

 

There was an article about a large family owned transporting company with many trucks that effectively closed down a few months back.

 

Reason - - Transport is competatively priced and close to "cost based" .....  Add rapid increase in insurance due to the unrest and burning of trucks.  Add insane increase in goods insurance due to track hi-jacking.  Add the fuel increases.  Add the increases in tires and similar consumables.

 

Their clients refused to accept the "cost based increases".  The family made the call to close down the business.