Telegraph - Why are bikes so expensive article?

[in4]

Assuming that is a rhetorical question here is the article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational-cycling/11056942/Why-are-bikes-so-expensive.html

On another note whilst I think on: has anyone spotted if one of the bikes on the BBC1 Ident cycling sequence has a hub gear? Note to self:  I really must get out more!!!! 

[jags]

yeah a fella would want to be touched in the head to pay that kind of money for a bike.mind you i know of 3 guys not far from me who did.

[ians]

hmm ... "£12000 to the average consumer"  Can't see the average consumer paying £12K.

Back in 1963, my dad bought me a Claud Butler racing bike.  I remember it had Reynolds tubing, Weinmann brakes and a Lycett saddle.  Not campag gear though. So - an average/mid-range bike?

It cost £25.  He was earning £16/week (before tax) which, as it happens, was around the average weekly wage back then.  So my bike cost 1.5x his weekly wage.

The average wage today appears to be £27,000/year which is £520/week (before tax).  So I might expect to pay £780 for that bike now.  I think it fair to say that I'd get a higher spec bike for that sort of money nowadays; so my question is - why are bikes so cheap?

[rualexander]

The article seems to have overlooked possibly the main cause in the spike in prices between 2008 and 2011, namely the financial crisis and the ensuing quantitative easing and the fall in the value of the pound, which caused a surge in the prices of imported goods.

[il padrone]

There have always been 'top end' bikes. Using their prices as anindication of the costs of cycling  is a very flawed approach.

Back in the mid-late 70s when I began cycle commuting and touring I bought a cheap bike for $A110. You could get an average bike for about $200 and a really good model for $300-400.

Down the road in a bike shop we were stunned to see a bike for sale (classic make, can't recall the exact name) for $1,000. This was an astronomic price for a bike then, as much as a decent second-hand car.

[geocycle]

I'd say the market is pretty much where it always has been.  Average bikes cost similar amounts in real terms although quality at the low end might have improved.  I am now much more aware of the very high end 'superbikes' which exceed the cost of new cars. This might be a sector that has expanded as cycling has been taken up by higher income earners.  Ultimately, we all have our own level of what we consider expensive and good value.

[Andre Jute]

What all this proves is that a) there has been inflation (gee!) and b) that the user and usage profile of bikes have shifted from being a workingman's obsession to a "lifestyle choice". Bicycles aren't the only consumer durables which under those circumstances have suffered a price shift disproportionate to inflation, which is calculated on a lowest common denominator shopping basket (and even that is usually ten or twenty years out of sync with Joe Median and his Family). The shift in users and usage makes it a bit difficult to determine whether the disproportion is quite as large as people would have us believe; I don't think it is quite as dire as the reports try to make out.

A Thorn with a Rohloff Speedhub, from the viewpoint of an habitual tourer, looks like a good-value bike, not expensive at all for what it is and does, especially when compared to often more expensive bikes which purport to do the same job. But there are half a dozen other viewpoints from which it looks like a luxury for an elite. (Some prissy-mouths might say "a deplorable elite". Ever notice that the determinedly judgmental are so often also the most ignorant people?) It really does depend on your viewpoint.

[in4]

I guess much of this debate is informed by perceived value and what bike x is worth to someone.  For me the value of a future Thorn purchase rests with an almost 'fit and forget' rohloff hub, an easy on the fingers twist grip gear change, a bomb proof steel frame, long lasting css rims and dynohub of some sort. I reckon that spec might cost me around 50% of what a full on carbon race bike plus fancy lycra might and, for me, is quite justifiable.
That said I can appreciate the priorities and choices of others, as long as the colour cerise is not involved!