porky Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 ................were looking a bit worn on the weekends ride and been a woman and impatient took herself off this morning to get two new ones. Calling me from the car, she said she had bought two new "Gatorskins" cos the guy in the shop said they were ideal for her - sounds fine I said, how much were they by the way........................?? R800.00 bucks for two, she said.!!!!!!!!!!! "WHAT".................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I dont know prices, I seldom walk into cycle shops, but is this average? Personally I cant think so I have this sneaky feeling she was "skinned". But before I kick up a stink about predatory shops taking advantage of unknowing consumers,(and I will if need be), I need to ask...................................What is average price,?? - just ball park, give or take, approximate, plus / minus - I want to know, "all welcome to answer".
fandacious Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 thats not too bad. I think if you shop around you can get them for around R360 each...
ASTANA Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 ja that sounds about right. Normally tires range from R300 - R400per tire x 2 = R600 - R800 for tires. Might even get more expensive, but that's my limit to where I shop
Eldron Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Yup - R360 at Tony Impeys fine establishment in Bedford Centre...
FrancoisO Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 I never send my wife to buy bike stuff. She will never allow me to go back to a bike shop again.
porky Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 Hmrph..........so she got "semi skinned" R80.00 bucks on R800.00 - 10% give or take,! Unbelievable, I put tyres on my delivery Bakkie (Dunlops so even a name brand) the other day, R375.00 each including balancing at Tiger, probably not even the cheapest around.!! Its no wonder cycling here is in the doldrums, Bakkie tyre R375.00 approx 60.000 kms per tyre, - bicycle tyre R400.00 and about 5000 kms per tyre.!!
Eugene Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 The question is.............did she really need such expensive tyres? Did she have to buy Gatorskins? Wasn't there a cheaper alternative or another brand? Brings it back to your predator statement.
intern Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Number of bakkies in SA = many many thousand. Number of okes riding 5000 km in a year....I dunno... Economies of scale, supply and demand, competition (Dunlop, Michelin, Kumho, General, Good Year, Yokohama, Continental, Some Wierd Chinese Brand, Another Wierd Chinese Brand, etc and other such strange economic notions at play...
Eldron Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Hmrph..........so she got "semi skinned" R80.00 bucks on R800.00 - 10% give or take' date='! Unbelievable, I put tyres on my delivery Bakkie (Dunlops so even a name brand) the other day, R375.00 each including balancing at Tiger, probably not even the cheapest around.!! Its no wonder cycling here is in the doldrums, Bakkie tyre R375.00 approx 60.000 kms per tyre, - bicycle tyre R400.00 and about 5000 kms per tyre.!! [/quote'] Agreed! Car versus bike tyres has always peeved me no end. Car tyre: 60,000km, at least 10kg of material, steel cable, loads of carbon black - R800 (for an average tyre). Bike tyre: 3,000km, at least 250g of material, about a tea spoon full of carbon black - R300 (for an average tyre). They can yell "technology", "smaller market", "niche application" as much as they want but 250g of material versus 10,000g will just never justify bicycle tyre prices to me...
intern Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 They can yell "technology", "smaller market", "niche application"as much as they want but 250g of material versus 10,000g will justnever justify bicycle tyre prices to me... Haha - don't buy them then! When I was a kid we used to retread our Cheng Shin tyres with shoepatch, give that a go!
porky Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 The question is.............did she really need such expensive tyres? Did she have to buy Gatorskins? Wasn't there a cheaper alternative or another brand? Brings it back to your predator statement. Yah, that was my next point. Maybe she dos 300 kms a month, I think the last set just died of old age, so NO she didnt need Gators, but.............................! I feel a rant coming on indeed!!.
Eldron Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 They can yell "technology"' date=' "smaller market", "niche application" as much as they want but 250g of material versus 10,000g will just never justify bicycle tyre prices to me...Haha - don't buy them then! When I was a kid we used to retread our Cheng Shin tyres with shoepatch, give that a go![/quote'] What? How spoilt were you? We used to tear skin off our arms and stick it to the tyres with used bubblegum we scraped off resaurant tables....
porky Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 Haha - don't buy them then! Well, thats just a dumb answer Intern, I expected better of you. What must she do??, paint the treads with silicone? Theres two points to my statement, Eldron explained the first one and I agree with him, material costs negate ANY and ALL economies of scale. The second point is, I get the feeling "they saw her coming" - She hardly knows the differance between differant tyres, she asked for tyres, they sold her Gators - at a premium - nobody asked how many Kms you do, are you going to race with them, do you ride daily, nothing, they pulled two Gators and said Here, these are ideal for you.! Yah, great sales tactic, works on quite a few suckers - but sooner or later, you run out of suckers.!
DaLoCo Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 I just bought two Vredestein Ricorso's for R170 each. Dragged me up and down Durban just as fine as my bud's Bontrager's. I see lots of glass and crap, living in an industrial town, so nope, I will definitely not justify R400-500 a tyre. I also ride cheap tubes. My bud with his R75 continental tubes has had more issues just in terms of manufacturing defects in the last week than I have had since I started cycling. Leaky valve joints, seams, you name it. yes, he might get new ones back, but the frigging inconvenience. I think your vrou got fleeced into buying more expensive than needed.
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