R400k Bikes, Deconstruct for Discount? Discussion on bike pricing.

[IceCreamMan]

1 minute ago, BigDL said:

I think that the cycle2work scheme is a big contributor to bike shops staying open over here. When the gov took away the max spend per bike, a lot of folks took advantage of getting higher priced bikes and paying them off over 12 months from salary pre-tax. I know a couple of dealers who are kept busy with cycle2work vouchers 

Funny enough I was just eyeing out a ti gravel bike and doing mental calculations as to how much it would actually cost me. 😂

yip, it’s a huge factor. 

[BigDL]

3 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

Funny enough I was just eyeing out a ti gravel bike and doing mental calculations as to how much it would actually cost me. 😂

yip, it’s a huge factor. 

I got my new giant anthem partly paid through the scheme. 2024 model discounted from 5k to 3.6k. I paid 1200 and got a voucher for 2400. As a 45% taxpayer, the bike will end up costing me about 2500 all in. 
 

Next year I’ll use the scheme to upgrade components to DI2. 

Edited October 14, 2025 by BigDL

[DieselnDust]

33 minutes ago, BigDL said:

I got my new giant anthem partly paid through the scheme. 2024 model discounted from 5k to 3.6k. I paid 1200 and got a voucher for 2400. As a 45% taxpayer, the bike will end up costing me about 2500 all in. 
 

Next year I’ll use the scheme to upgrade components to DI2. 

So that’s how the poms are riding such fancy bikes these days.  Pre2012 they scoffed at any thing better than Sora as a needless waste of money 

[Super Sywurm]

11 hours ago, F@yino said:

Can someone please just go buy the Colnago. 

I'll do it later man, don't force me!  I'm busy.

[Paul Ruinaard]

My 2 cents worth:

Actually this topic is applicable to any luxury good.

R 400k bikes are the poster child for the underlying affliction that humans labour under in a consumer culture. 

A Rolex still only tells you the time,

Louis Vuitton handbags still are only bags.

Diamonds are nothing more than hard stones and have zero to do with love and more to do with industrial aplications where they can be used to cut.

Cars - still only good for transport.

etc ad infinitum.

But I am still a self confessed petrol head, bike geek etc that admires some beautiful cars and loves bike porn and will geek out over technological advances like AI.

We are truly not in touch with or aware of our base motivations as a species and would do well to spend some time understanding what actually drives us once certain of our needs are met.

Once we have a bike we lust after better bikes and the same for  cars, houses, clothes, wives etc. 

And BTW use cases where said cars or bikes are raced is a completely different thing - at the extreme levels of the performance envelope the lightest and fastest machines do provide advantages and help in beating others. We live vicariously through these sorts of events and see ourcelves in the mould of our heroes. Which brings me back to the Colnago. Its all based on Pogacar's success and how we are all watching him. In some way, shape or form owning that bike brings us at least closer to some form of emulation of his success and we can own a part of the glow or magical events he has created. Same as ow(n)ing the Ferrari or Mclaren or Aston ....

if you have the money then who am I to judge you for allowing the dream you have had to be realised. As long as you didnt steal it from Tembisa hospital i am okay with it, but unfortunately in the Saffer sense a large portion of the consumption of these goods is from ill gotten gains.

Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings. 

 

 

[michaelbiker]

I am just gonna leave this here. It's a fascinating lecture on how countries have changed from being worker-centric to consumerist...

 

[splat]

23 hours ago, dave303e said:

Easy decision if I had 400k lying around. 

I thought that KTM's were the unit of measure in these conversations 

[IceCreamMan]

45 minutes ago, Paul Ruinaard said:

My 2 cents worth:

Actually this topic is applicable to any luxury good.

R 400k bikes are the poster child for the underlying affliction that humans labour under in a consumer culture. 

A Rolex still only tells you the time,

Louis Vuitton handbags still are only bags.

Diamonds are nothing more than hard stones and have zero to do with love and more to do with industrial aplications where they can be used to cut.

Cars - still only good for transport.

etc ad infinitum.

But I am still a self confessed petrol head, bike geek etc that admires some beautiful cars and loves bike porn and will geek out over technological advances like AI.

We are truly not in touch with or aware of our base motivations as a species and would do well to spend some time understanding what actually drives us once certain of our needs are met.

Once we have a bike we lust after better bikes and the same for  cars, houses, clothes, wives etc. 

And BTW use cases where said cars or bikes are raced is a completely different thing - at the extreme levels of the performance envelope the lightest and fastest machines do provide advantages and help in beating others. We live vicariously through these sorts of events and see ourcelves in the mould of our heroes. Which brings me back to the Colnago. Its all based on Pogacar's success and how we are all watching him. In some way, shape or form owning that bike brings us at least closer to some form of emulation of his success and we can own a part of the glow or magical events he has created. Same as ow(n)ing the Ferrari or Mclaren or Aston ....

if you have the money then who am I to judge you for allowing the dream you have had to be realised. As long as you didnt steal it from Tembisa hospital i am okay with it, but unfortunately in the Saffer sense a large portion of the consumption of these goods is from ill gotten gains.

Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings. 

 

 

It’s this exact mindset that creates great civilisations the motivation and desire for something better than you currently have. 
 

although, consumerism is a dirty side of it. 

[Bro Derek]

37 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

It’s this exact mindset that creates great civilisations the motivation and desire for something better than you currently have. 
 

although, consumerism is a dirty side of it. 

I'd argue that great civilizations are/have been built on people wanting something better for everyone, while many have been destroyed by individuals wanting something better at the cost of others. 

So yes, wanting better roads, systems, public transport, housing etc is brilliant, but the want (read need) for individuals to have better things than necessary is driven by society telling us that is what we want and it usually comes at the expense of others. 

 

[DieselnDust]

2 hours ago, Paul Ruinaard said:

My 2 cents worth:

Actually this topic is applicable to any luxury good.

R 400k bikes are the poster child for the underlying affliction that humans labour under in a consumer culture. 

A Rolex still only tells you the time,

Louis Vuitton handbags still are only bags.

Diamonds are nothing more than hard stones and have zero to do with love and more to do with industrial aplications where they can be used to cut.

Cars - still only good for transport.

etc ad infinitum.

But I am still a self confessed petrol head, bike geek etc that admires some beautiful cars and loves bike porn and will geek out over technological advances like AI.

We are truly not in touch with or aware of our base motivations as a species and would do well to spend some time understanding what actually drives us once certain of our needs are met.

Once we have a bike we lust after better bikes and the same for  cars, houses, clothes, wives etc. 

And BTW use cases where said cars or bikes are raced is a completely different thing - at the extreme levels of the performance envelope the lightest and fastest machines do provide advantages and help in beating others. We live vicariously through these sorts of events and see ourcelves in the mould of our heroes. Which brings me back to the Colnago. Its all based on Pogacar's success and how we are all watching him. In some way, shape or form owning that bike brings us at least closer to some form of emulation of his success and we can own a part of the glow or magical events he has created. Same as ow(n)ing the Ferrari or Mclaren or Aston ....

if you have the money then who am I to judge you for allowing the dream you have had to be realised. As long as you didnt steal it from Tembisa hospital i am okay with it, but unfortunately in the Saffer sense a large portion of the consumption of these goods is from ill gotten gains.

Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings. 

 

 

could not have said it better....

We need "love" reactions and "Sticky" posts, this would hit criteria for both

[Headshot]

23 hours ago, Shebeen said:

That's a good point.

If the bike is worth R300k, but some knob with more rands than cents buys this for R400k without questioning it, then win win all round.

What you guys think this is worth - wonder what starting price was too?

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/road-bikes/753577/collectors-item-giant-t-mobile-price-drop

 

 

Thats a dope bike.

[Headshot]

2 hours ago, Bro Derek said:

I'd argue that great civilizations are/have been built on people wanting something better for everyone, while many have been destroyed by individuals wanting something better at the cost of others. 

So yes, wanting better roads, systems, public transport, housing etc is brilliant, but the want (read need) for individuals to have better things than necessary is driven by society telling us that is what we want and it usually comes at the expense of others. 

 

I think there is also an argument to be made that ludicrous high end prices drive up the cost of lower end bikes because even though they are also overpriced, they look cheap in comparison. 

At least with an italian sports car you may actually be buying supreme performance  because of the tech on offer and some even increase in value.  The push bike for R400k is just a waste of money.

[IceCreamMan]

3 hours ago, Bro Derek said:

I'd argue that great civilizations are/have been built on people wanting something better for everyone, while many have been destroyed by individuals wanting something better at the cost of others. 

So yes, wanting better roads, systems, public transport, housing etc is brilliant, but the want (read need) for individuals to have better things than necessary is driven by society telling us that is what we want and it usually comes at the expense of others. 

 

You hold mankind in higher regard than do I.  
 

Consumerism been there since the first Apple , just not been called that. The term is just a modern day word for it. But the ego motive been there through most wars etc.. 

Edited October 15, 2025 by IceCreamMan

[Bro Derek]

11 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

You hold mankind in higher regard than do I.  
 

Consumerism been there since the first Apple , just not been called that. The term is just a modern day word for it. But the ego motive been there through most wars etc.. 

Exactly

That is my argument to your statement. 

Wars come at the expense of others so a few can benefit.

It isn't modern, but many 'civilizations' or cultures that thrived were based on some form of Ubuntu or people being a part of the whole. Most of those failed when 1 or a few people took more than their share or continued to want more than they needed or already had.

So owning a bike is cool. I'd suggest we should all own bikes and use them more than we do our cars. But as soon as one wants to own a 400k bike, it is where greed/ego/perceived status etc enter and skew the equation. 

I hold mankind in very low regard. Don't mistake my acknowledgement of past success for any sort of belief in current humans.

 

[Bro Derek]

1 hour ago, Headshot said:

I think there is also an argument to be made that ludicrous high end prices drive up the cost of lower end bikes because even though they are also overpriced, they look cheap in comparison. 

At least with an italian sports car you may actually be buying supreme performance  because of the tech on offer and some even increase in value.  The push bike for R400k is just a waste of money.

Well there are blurred lines here.

An Italian sports car is still unnecessary and only worth something because people are taught to believe that going fast and looking cool are, well, cool

Separate it into daily/urban car use and sport. In the former that car can't legally drive fast enough to be appreciated so you're either speeding and endangering the lives of other road users while making a terrible amount of noise or you're peacocking. 

In the sport aspect, motorsport is an archaic fossil fuel burning waste of resource. In a time where we have little maneuverability in terms of climate change, burning excessive amounts of fossil fuel is 100% unnecessary and should be frowned upon instead of glorified. 

But, people still love the idea that Marlboro and James dean sold them so they 'love' the growl of a V8 etc... Motorsport should be systematically shut down and boxed in the same vain as gladiator battles to the death have been. 

Something that was thoroughly enjoyed in the past but in todays climate isn't justifiable. 

I know I will be called a lot of things for this, but societies that have done their best to reduce the use of combustion single person private cars are far better for it. In many ways, but one overlooked aspect is the social and space usage side. 

I do agree that a 400k push bike is a waste of  money, but I think any 'performance' car is also a waste of money 

 

[splat]

This headline slots right into this chat

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/campagnolos-new-super-record-13-ultra-groupset-is-evidence-that-luxury-neednt-make-sense/