when I worked in Halfords BITD we had more people coming in for the £99.99 Apollo than anything else. I usually managed to talk them up a little, to at least get canti brakes etc so they had a chance of lasting more than 1 ride. The calliper ones were shocking and we had to bend them to make them work in our PDIs, and it didn't take any strength to do this.
Most people don't care, they want a bike to ride to the shops, and tell their mates it's an MTB, the fact it would fall apart just at the thought of mud doesn't come into their thinking. Look at ebay, how many people have great bikes, and put them up for 99p starting price, and don't even put the model, let alone the bling it's dripping in?
We are the select few that get it, that love our bikes as much as we like riding them. We use them for what they were built for, and need the equipment that will take it, and even then we brake them sometimes. Unfortunately / fortunately most people don't, which is why we can pick up deals, but also why the good stuff is so expensive when new. If everyone got it, more would buy, and the price would come down.
Back in the day, the best bikes were £2-3000, now you need to spend that to get something half decent. Why? I don't know, think modern bikes are way overpriced, especially when you can buy a retro for a fraction of the price, and it be higher specked, and outperform the modern price equivalent
Most people don't care, they want a bike to ride to the shops, and tell their mates it's an MTB, the fact it would fall apart just at the thought of mud doesn't come into their thinking. Look at ebay, how many people have great bikes, and put them up for 99p starting price, and don't even put the model, let alone the bling it's dripping in?
We are the select few that get it, that love our bikes as much as we like riding them. We use them for what they were built for, and need the equipment that will take it, and even then we brake them sometimes. Unfortunately / fortunately most people don't, which is why we can pick up deals, but also why the good stuff is so expensive when new. If everyone got it, more would buy, and the price would come down.
Back in the day, the best bikes were £2-3000, now you need to spend that to get something half decent. Why? I don't know, think modern bikes are way overpriced, especially when you can buy a retro for a fraction of the price, and it be higher specked, and outperform the modern price equivalent