We cheatin ourselves, Price Fixin or High Prices?

[Guest Big H]

I was paging through the South Africanised copy of the American Buycyling mag (could be that Tim B was on leave with this copy and and he just copied and pasted from U of SA for this issue)  when I noticed (in horror) the following:-

 

Complete bikes and frames

Cannondale SuperSix 1 - R 67 689 (the cheaper SuoerSix?????)

Specialised Tarmac - R 17 850 (Frameset only!!!!! The cheaper Tarmac SL2)

Sampson Diablo S - R 45 000 (another unknowns hitting our overpriced market)

ALL THIS MONEY FOR A BUNDLE OF PIPES GLUED TOGETHER. ALL KNOWN TECHNOLOGY JUST EXPLOITING A NAME!!!!!!!

Components:-

SRam Red Groupset - R20 361 (maybe worth it as some new engineering went in it)

Easton RC 90 TT Tubular - R19 500

Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 - R 25 503

USE Tula Aero Bars - R 7 353

ALL OF THIS ALSO KNOWN TECHNOLOGY AND SO MUCH MONEY FOR A HULA HOOP WITH SPOKES ON IT. WE MUST BE CRAZY!!!!!!

I think we are the stupid people not those who want to increase the prices. How on earth can you pay more for a bundle of pipes and some engineering on the groupset that you pay for a fairly decent second hand car or a spanking brand new Motorbike??????? This just does not make sense. Can somebody please explain the morals as well as the justification behind ridiculous prices such as these?

 

Just think how much these items will cost when they find another way to weasel in the 50% increase in prices.

 

PS. the price fixing thread now stands at 70 pages and 38 500 hits, should we not be more worried about the issues above?????

Big H2008-09-27 03:48:33

[AuctionLamb]

ongelukkig is daar baie ander mense wat bereid is om daai tipe geld te betaal vir 'n hobby. Kyk bv. na ons motor mark in SA....ek kan 'n motor goedkoper koop in UK in ponde en ek verdien maar net in rande....en met 'n onlangse ondersoek op die Carte Blanche program het die motor bedryf mense net ges? dat as die mense so moan oor die hoe motor pryse hoekom doen ons mark dan so goed...dit sal nie sin maak om die pryse af te bring nie want dinge gaan baie goed al is die pryse so "biettjie"  oorbodig. Dit geld ongelukkig dieselfde vir die bicycle trade...

[Guest Big H]

ongelukkig is daar baie ander mense wat bereid is om daai tipe geld te betaal vir 'n hobby. Kyk bv. na ons motor mark in SA....ek kan 'n motor goedkoper koop in UK in ponde en ek verdien maar net in rande....en met 'n onlangse ondersoek op die Carte Blanche program het die motor bedryf mense net ges? dat as die mense so moan oor die hoe motor pryse hoekom doen ons mark dan so goed...dit sal nie sin maak om die pryse af te bring nie want dinge gaan baie goed al is die pryse so "biettjie"  oorbodig. Dit geld ongelukkig dieselfde vir die bicycle trade...

 

You are not realy comparing Apples with Apples

Car = massive engineering, R&D, huge distribution networks and marketing.

Bicycle = a bindle of carbon fibre pipes joint together with the rest of the components requireing no massive R&D, engineering or marketing and sales networks.

 

Yet bikes are massively expensive????? Why..... is that just demand causing this?????

[AuctionLamb]

ongelukkig is daar baie ander mense wat bereid is om daai tipe geld te betaal vir 'n hobby. Kyk bv. na ons motor mark in SA....ek kan 'n motor goedkoper koop in UK in ponde en ek verdien maar net in rande....en met 'n onlangse ondersoek op die Carte Blanche program het die motor bedryf mense net ges? dat as die mense so moan oor die hoe motor pryse hoekom doen ons mark dan so goed...dit sal nie sin maak om die pryse af te bring nie want dinge gaan baie goed al is die pryse so "biettjie"  oorbodig. Dit geld ongelukkig dieselfde vir die bicycle trade...

 

You are not realy comparing Apples with Apples

Car = massive engineering' date=' R&D, huge distribution networks and marketing.

Bicycle = a bindle of carbon fibre pipes joint together with the rest of the components requireing no massive R&D, engineering or marketing and sales networks.

 

Yet bikes are massively expensive????? Why..... is that just demand causing this?????

[/quote']

 

I know you cannot compare BUT it has the same principle. People want carbon frame...they will pay for it...simple.

 

When I played golf I paid R4000 for a Taylor Made Driver and that is just a carbon stick with a metal head!

 

I know what you saying here but it has everything to do with demand.....

[wheelz]

I agree with you Big H.

lets start our own bicycle factory where we can just have a "bindle of carbon fibre pipes joint together" and sell it at a much lower price!!

 

[Guest Big H]

I agree with you Big H.

lets start our own bicycle factory where we can just have a "bindle of carbon fibre pipes joint together" and sell it at a much lower price!!

 

 

You are missing the point my friend...... there is no comparison between the R67 689 you are paying for the Cannondale and a brand new Mx bike or a four wheel drive quad bike. I may be wrong but you can buy a Kia or a Tata for the same price (or roughly thereabout) The effort in producing this bindle (sic as per your post) of pipes and the bike, quad or car cannot be compared.

[Ox_Wagon]

I have to agree with Big_H.

 

I thinking of getting a small commuter motorcycle again.  So I have been window shopping a bit and came to the conclusion that you can get a decent small commuter for less than a mid priced full susser MTB bike.  <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

There is a lot more R&D in the bike and a LOT more raw material.  In short it doesn?t add up.  

 

As the old cycling saying goes ?In cycling you pay more to get less?   

 

Or maybe it is just mass hysteria.

[Red Zone]

Its simply capitalism, the marketers spin some storey of the stiffest lightest fastest stuff and decide on a price that they think that people with more money than sense will pay. As long as there are funriders who want a set of R25k wheels the prices will stay high. We cyclists are fueling the demand.

[jmaccelari]

 

When I played golf I paid R4000 for a Taylor Made Driver and that is just a carbon stick with a metal head!

You paid four grand for a flippin' golf club? Are you mad!!!

 

You could have bought a nice set of wheels, a nice wheel, a nice pair of rims for

that price!!!

 

Like all things: what is the value of an object? It's as much as people are

prepared to pay for it...

 

[Ox_Wagon]

What is even more mind boggaling is that you pay more for a Conti road BICYCLE tire than a conti CAR tire.

 

As the saying goes " a Fool and is money is soon parted"

 

No wonder I have no money!

Ox_Wagon2008-09-30 01:17:08

[shaunh]

If I am not mistaken (please correct me if I am), carbon fibre production was going well and keeping up with demand.

 

Then the Airbus A380 project started and the demand for this composite material sky rocketed. Apparently (again I speak under correction) parts of the massive wings, tail fin & aelorons (spelling) are made from carbon fibre. This demand upped global prices significantly and hence the prices of Carbon fibre Bicycles.

 

This is what I understand the situation to be. Please correct me if I am wrong.

shaunh2008-09-30 01:30:24

[GoLefty!!]

demand for carbon fibre has been projected more than 2 yrs ago.

 

Two things have driven raw material cost up:

 

1) Crude oil prices

 

2) 7-10% year on year price increases when inflation in Europe and the US has been <2%. Theymake the bike lighter using less material but charge you more based on marketing spin.

 

The airbus A380 is not  factor in the cost of carbon fibre production. It is a factor in the share price of the companies building it.

[Kal-El]

I say make some of the stuff from plastic - like levers, derailer plates etc - those things don't suffer the same torque / stress as the carbon frame and therefore can be substituted with cheaper plastic parts (remember the mirage / xenon campag lever)

 

 

 

[TokenFreak]

Strangely enough the demand for carbon products have kept the price increase low at 5% increase on carbon products against the 15% increase on price for the aluminium equavalent.

[TNT1]

 

I say make some of the stuff from plastic - like levers' date=' derailer plates etc - those things don't suffer the same torque / stress as the carbon frame and therefore can be substituted with cheaper plastic parts (remember the mirage / xenon campag lever)

 

 

 

[/quote']

 

I used to have a set of plastic/nylon Ofmega down tube shift levers... Damn right one broke off, had to ride about 20kms home with only two gears

 

[Guest Big H]

Its simply capitalism' date=' the marketers spin some storey of the stiffest lightest fastest stuff and decide on a price that they think that people with more money than sense will pay. As long as there are funriders who want a set of R25k wheels the prices will stay high. We cyclists are fueling the demand.

[/quote']

 

"Fuelling the demand" ..................... or our on ego's and spurred on by our unnaturally high testosterone levels that make us think irrationally...... other things come to mind like swearing at motorists, skipping red lights etc etc