BIKE PRICE COMPLAINERS AND BIKE SHOPS

[swoosh1973]

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There?s a <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Chinaon> man selling brand new mountain bikes for R650 around the corner in Somerset west. I know there?s one in Edenvale as well. For the price of a bottom of the range Raleigh/; Silverback; Specialized etc u can get a new bike every month

 

Now I know the bike is ugly but how is it possible they can sell bikes that cheap and his not even a dedicated bike shop?

The serious bike shop around the corner has mountain bike tires for between R250 and R400 for just a tire.

Can someone explain that to me?

 

Somehow something does not ad up. sure I expect people o tell me about quality and engineering blablabla. However the entry level best known brands are R4000-R6000. Why buy a R30 000 bike if you can?t come close to the leading pack with it in a race? It seems lots of people complain about the recession and high prices but still p$ss their money away

 

Anybody paying more than R7000 a bike clearly has loads of money and should stop complaining. You can ride a brand new Chinese bike every month for the next 4 years for R30 000! No one is forcing you to fork out your hard earned cash. U still have freedom of choice. The bike prices are high because you the consumer are prepared to take one up the naught

 

If Raleigh and any other bike brand can sell you a R30 000 rand bike GOOD FOR THEM! SORRY 4 U. Your R30 000 bike won?t make you win the race at best it will move you a few a couple of positions up the field.

[Mudsimus]

Any bike shop can sell bikes for R650. But they dont, because its a load of crap and they tend to fall apart after a ride or two.

[Guest Agteros]

What kind of components are on these 'mountain bikes'? do the compare with the R4000-R6/7000 rand bottom of the rangers? or do they compare with the Makro / Dunlop bikes?

 

details ... details...

 

[Johan Bornman]

I dare you to buy one and ride it for one month, putting in just 400 kms in that month. If it is still safe and intact after a month, I'll refund you your R650.

 

There are three conditions to this offer.

 

1) The bike must remain safe (if indeed it is safe upon delivery) with all its original equipment. The brakes must work and there must be no other dangerous defect after a month, including tyre wear and tear to a dangerous level. I'm not worried about minor defects.

 

2) You must put in 400 kms of which 60% must be off tar.

 

3) I'll nominate someone to ride those 400 kms with you at your pace. He/she will merely chaperone and guard against cheating.

 

 

 

 

[perp]

So i take it you are happy with your Chinese bike?

I have ridden everything from a entry level, even rode someone else cheaper FS (nogal) Chinese bike and in no way can compare them.

I wouldn't want to buy X amount of 'cheaper' bikes for the one I currently ride.

Yes 'Name Brand" bikes are expensive and IMO we do pay too much for them, but I work hard for my money and I enjoy riding.

I do not buy my bikes new, it is like buying new cars.

They are over priced, but I would rather search the Hub for a good bike at a reasonable price.

We might not place in the top ten but we enjoy riding.

Should we also complain about the price of other sports, food prices, the price of petrol?

 

 

[swoosh1973]

Who cares its some or other chinese brand and looks cr%py and the rims will buckle on the first pothole it whacks never mind a mtb trail. The point is a R4000-R6000 mtb with Deore/LX components will still do the job for someone riding 3-5 hours a week. Why pay R30 000?

[perp]

ok so wat we are actually comparing is the difference/price jump from a entry level HT to a racing FS then?

[Guest Agteros]

 

 

Who cares its some or other chinese brand and looks cr%py and the rims will buckle on the first pothole it whacks never mind a mtb trail. The point is a R4000-R6000 mtb with Deore/LX components will still do the job for someone riding 3-5 hours a week. Why pay R30 000?

 

So what does R30 000 and Deore/lX MTBs have to do with the original post regarding cheap chinese imports?

 

You argument (or rant) seems to have quite a bit of fluff...? What are the REAL points you want to debate/bring across? What is your REAL  argument, and what are your REAL conclusion(s)?

 

Or do you just want to vent?

 

or did your teenager (who does not really do any cycling) con you into a 5 digit MTB?

Agteros2009-05-03 03:19:14

[epoh]

Let everyone decide for themselves what they want to ride.

 

I ride an expensive road and mtb because i can.

 

What however p1sses me off is the bike shops that are ripping us off. I was quoted over R4k for a pair of Specialized shoes at a shop in JHB and I just paid R2k for it here in London. WTF!!!!

 

 

 

[wiMPers]

Who cares its some or other chinese brand and looks cr%py and the rims will buckle on the first pothole it whacks never mind a mtb trail. The point is a R4000-R6000 mtb with Deore/LX components will still do the job for someone riding 3-5 hours a week. Why pay R30 000?

Ride a R 30,000 bike and you will understand...

[mudda]

Gear shifting on better components is hugely better. This is something that you can only appreciate after experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[perp]

My wife who thinks we spend too much money on bikes would not ride a Chinese/entry level bike for that matter anymore.

You just cant compare the 2.

 

[leet22]

I ride a R7500 2nd hand MTB which was a upgrade from a R1200 makro specila  and let me tell you there is a hell of a change. And yes a more expensive bike will make you a better rider.

The shocks on your R650 will not be of any use to you , you might of as well ride a rigid bike.  So straight away a decent bike will hep you on the trails. Then Disk brakes or decent v brakes compared to R650 brakes hmmm you do want to stop dont you? Changing gears with a XTR set is like heaven, Ur bike is a push and pull affair that hits and misses.

I agree that a R45000 bike wont make you a better rider than your R20000 bike but it sure will help u ride better and you will enjoy it more than a R650 bike.

 

[Sammajoor]

Made in China

 

Keep in a cool dark place.  Use only once.  Keep out of reach of children.  This is not a toy.

 

Batteries not included

 

[ChopMan]

You do have a point but it's slightly flawed.

 

I am pretty new to MTB racing and am enjoying the sport very much, in fact I think that I may be slightly addicted to it and my addiction is growing as we speak.

 

Car brands such as Geely, CHANA and the likes all make cars that will do prettty much the same thing as say a Toyota or VW but there is quite a large gap in the safetly and quality with the VW and Toyota brands being much better in both departments.

 

I do however feel that we get a raw deal on bikes here in SA, it's quite a large sport and it's growing very rapidly but the prices seem high when you compare them to other countries, my mate just came back from Spain and the UK and told me about how cheap most of the kit over there is, he said that he would have bought a whole bunch of stuf for his bike if he had more time while overseas. We seem to get a raw deal on price when compared to other countries.

 

It also pisses me off when I hear from well known bike shops that all most of the bikes are made in the same factoris over in CHINA anyway, they just get different designs and components and are then branded with various names. That's like a CHANA bakkie being branded a Toyota Hilux.

 

So we are paying Toyota prices even though the bikes are in fact made by CHANA, if you get what I mean??

 

 

Just my 5c

 

And don't get me wrong I do understand that there would be a huge gap in quality when you compare a R1500 bike to a R30k bike but why the hell do some of these bikes cost as much as a second hand car? Seems crazy.

[ChopMan]

Quote:

 

What however p1sses me off is the bike shops that are ripping us off. I was quoted over R4k for a pair of Specialized shoes at a shop in JHB and I just paid R2k for it here in London. WTF!!!!

 

This is what I am talking about, shoes for R4k, that's mental.