State of the industry: a running thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
The bike "industry"...
At one end of the scale, Function. Working bikes where cost per mile, reliability and all- round usability are important.
The marketing bods aren't very interested in these people, they don't buy a new bike every 2 years, they fix what they have and value it for still being there on the bike rack after a night shift.

At the other end of the scale, Consumerism, where the latest graphics, complex frame shape and bold design (and loud clicking noises🤣) serve to advertise to others in the car park just how with-it and wealthy you are, and of course just how much fun you are going to have in your Fox pyjamas or Team Sky gimp suit😄.
We are all on this spectrum somewhere. Maybe even several places depending on mood/ time of day etc😉
I've seen £1000 wheels worn out in 2000 miles, tyres that last a week max - I remember killing an xtr ti cassette in a muddy weekend race😪 - suss frames in the scrap bin - really the branded end of the business is mostly interested in consumption not function, so ruthlessly drives forward with "innovation" (hydro hoses routed through your £6 headset bearing anyone🤯?) and the magazines, print and online, need to keep up with their advertisers, the main source of their income.
But in the immediate postwar period, a bike was for life, and the manufacturers were with this. The transition came gradually, and by the mid to late 90s imo the consumer end was ahead.

The timing with the MTB boom might just be coincidental.

And why we love 90s mtbs might be a coincidence too🤫
 
The 90’s was just as bad a time for consumerism and idiocy.
Colourful anodised parts and bolts, machined parts costing hundreds that performed worse than the alternative. We’ve devoted an entire website to it for gods sake. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I, for my sins, had a set of Onza Chill Pills. Fiddly to set up, wouldn’t take a Shimano oversize straddle and not better function than the XT one I had. Still, shiny blue. Accounting for inflation they would be £56 in today’s money!
Ringle seat QR without the clamp would be the same. I also bought one of them damn it. 😡
 
Quite apart from the ridiculous 'standards' that they're always bringing in,

I'm not liking the prices of things lately.
Everything is going up in price. Well fine but things aren't worth that anymore.
Especially compared to new old stock. Why would you buy new?

Back in the day, things cost more because they were made of better materials.

Now it seems that it's becoming more normalised that every category of bike component or accessory is getting into the $500+ range.
It just seems to be getting more 'acceptable' (for want of a better word). Then they surpass that it it goes into the $1000 range.

I'll talk in Aussie dollars cause that is what I know and don't have to convert currencies.

I'm talking $780 for a pair of shoes now. No.
$689 for an all-steel cassettes, not a gram of titanium in them. Ouch!
There is just no way I am paying that.

Then, look at the price of a Campagnolo Bora Ultra WTO wheelset.
Let's look at the specs of it:
$6,299 and 1425g

I just built a lightweight disc brake 26" carbon wheelset using a primwon carbon rims, SRAM new old stock XO hubs (nothing really 'special' or exotic there like tune or extralite or whatever), and pillar Ti spokes. I won't do the exact price breakdown but the whole thing cost pretty much exactly $2000 (including getting everything shipped separately by airmail from all over the place). That's about the most I'm willing to pay for ANY wheelset.

And guess what it weighs? 1030 grams. For two grand.
Now granted, it's a smaller wheel. And the profile is not as deep.

But still, I just don't understand how a wheelset costing 6 grand still weighs 1425g.
Fuckin' heliums weighed 1560 grams and they are 30+ years old now! Well the tubular versions did anyway...

I've just seen now when I went to check pricing, there are wheelsets costing 10 grand now.
Some "princeton" rubbish that I've never even heard of before today. No brand heritage at all!
 
jonnyboy666 said:
apparently the only companies that "lost money" from orange not paying them were companies where the debt/money/invoices were insured, so techincally no one in the bike trade actually lost, only financial factoring companies.
Click to expand...

Maybe not, but that insurance isn’t free and may well now cost them more in the future, which is passed onto consumers.

I’d a look through the administration report and the only people paid in the administration are the bank, presumably from sale of the property. I doubt some all of the smaller companies had that kind of cover and they are ones that even smaller sums can hurt. I’m looking at £1200 in advertising to the guys at Misspent Summers as an example.
HMRC were owed £170k.
Uncle Steve is out £900k! Hopefully new Orange thrive and he gets some repayment, but the truth is legally that debt is wiped out.
In fairness, Ash was also owed £350k that he put into the company.
The saddest part for me is they were listed as having £3.5 million in stock, that was sold for £350,000.

I’d mentioned earlier in this thread that I’d been looking at a P7 that had been on sale in a shop before administration. Well I bought it a couple of weeks ago and now I’m hoping that Winstanley’s weren’t one of the ones that hadn’t paid for their bikes. Then again, Orange owed their far east frame builder £900k, so in reality who didn’t get paid for my frame? Or as suggested, was everyone insured and no one lost out? Do I or indeed should I even care? After all it happens all the time and every time there’s any fire sale, someone somewhere is getting less than they should. I’m being deliberately provocative here and am open to any correction or criticism that comes.
 
I dont think you're being provocative enough!
Let's say it plain:
Just shopping with the likes of chain reaction, many online discount sellers and high Street chains and offshore online tax dodgers makes you complicit in the kleptocracy.
In return you get Bezos and Musk posting as prophets of the consumer religion.
 
bikeworkshop said:
Let's say it plain:
Just shopping with the likes of chain reaction, many online discount sellers and high Street chains and offshore online tax dodgers makes you complicit in the kleptocracy.
Click to expand...

Problem is, no LBS can afford to keep the stock and size options needed to cover everyone. I was a team rider for my LBS as a junior and we’ve been friends for over 30 years, but I don’t shop there anymore, other than picking up some lube or sealant when I pop in to catch up. Anything I want would have to be ordered in, clothing especially. Sizing varies so much I may be a large or XL. Get it wrong he’s stuck with it or has a hassle returning to his suppliers. He has minimum order values to reach with most suppliers, so orders can take weeks to come. As a compromise I try to order direct from companies or their UK distributors. That said, I’m not immune to the allure of the discounters. I took advantage of crazy low pricing on DT spares on CRC and Merlin is my go to for drivetrain parts.
 
The time will soon come when anyone using a nukeproof ht2 bb will be stopped by the Morality Police and taken in for "questioning" - probably on an orange sub5😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top