Cost of bikes

Its not that expensive, you can get really nice stuff at pretty low prices if you look around. Buy used, buy in the fall, buy the black one when blue is the hot color, buy 10sp on closeouts when 11sp is new, dont buy new stuff thats unproven, keep your bikes longer, only have bikes that you actually ride quite often, dont buy stuff that the pros ride when an equal generic version is half price etc etc…

And ask yourself, whats biking worth to me? If youd rather have a grand or two in your pocket each year instead of going biking then quit and I'll offer you 30% of the full msrp that you paid for those carbon parts

Its not that expensive, you can get really nice stuff at pretty low prices if you look around. Buy used, buy in the fall, buy the black one when blue is the hot color, buy 10sp on closeouts when 11sp is new, dont buy new stuff thats unproven, keep your bikes longer, only have bikes that you actually ride quite often, dont buy stuff that the pros ride when an equal generic version is half price etc etc…

And ask yourself, whats biking worth to me? If youd rather have a grand or two in your pocket each year instead of going biking then quit and I'll offer you 30% of the full msrp that you paid for those carbon parts

word to this. If you amortize the cost of a mid grade bike (lets say $3500) over 3 years, learn how to do your own maintenance, learn how to ride a bike so you don't kill parts left right and center and don't get caught up upgrading with the most expensive parts just cos you think you need to have em then sell that bike, even in a totally clapped out state, to someone for $1k when you're done with it you're looking at a pretty low cost of entry for a great sport.

Personally I could afford to buy a new super bike every season or two but would rather spend the money on taking biking holidays and making the time to actually ride my damn bike :)

But the cost to produce the older out of date bike is really no different than today's modern rig. Handlebars few inches longer, frame tubes a few inches longer and a few degrees different angles are no justification for much higher costs. Dropping the front shifter should bring costs down not up. At least for mid range bikes.

I disagree. Anyone climbing on one of the newer bikes will tell you the angles are one of the biggest differences. A lot of R[HTML_REMOVED]D time goes into adjusting the geometry and testing it to make sure they get it right while maintaining (within certain parameters) strength and durability).

prices are absolutely ridiculous these days but it's only if you're caught up in having the best componentry, alot of the low-end/mid-end bikes have good enough components for 99+ percent of riders these days (maybe more actually, there's alot of people who don't really know how to ride bike but definitely know how to buy the image).

fact of the matter is that even the low-end parts on entry level "quality" bikes have surpassed the performance of high end stuff from even a couple years ago. you might pay a slight weight penalty but big deal, bikes are already really light these days.

If you get caught up in needing the latest and greatest bike/components, worry about having matching kit and showing up to the trailhead in a new Tacoma then yes, mountain biking is very much a really lame sport.

But if you just get a bike and ride it and tune all that shit out mountain biking is still as awesome as it always was.

This is very true, there are some great prices on 26" bikes to be had.

I disagree. Anyone climbing on one of the newer bikes will tell you the angles are one of the biggest differences. A lot of R[HTML_REMOVED]D time goes into adjusting the geometry and testing it to make sure they get it right while maintaining (within certain parameters) strength and durability).

do you know how easy it is to weld up a steel frame for testing.
If I remember correctly, when Santa Cruz was testing/designing the V10 each bike was super expensive. Today with solidworks and other engineering software, testing is way better, easier and cheaper. rnd is getting cheaper all the time.

This is very true, there are some great prices on 26" bikes to be had.

yeah but tough market to sell in I have 2 I am trying to part with .

https://dirtmountainbike.com/bike-reviews/trail-enduro-bikes/unno-bikes-exclusive-first-ride.html

5k bikes? so yesterday, it's now 5k frames!

That is almost understandable, since they're all made in house and are beautifully crafted.

https://dirtmountainbike.com/bike-reviews/trail-enduro-bikes/unno-bikes-exclusive-first-ride.html

5k bikes? so yesterday, it's now 5k frames!

Trek,s are over $4k for the frame and are mass produced

so hot, those are.

Thats $7400 cad

I'm not so sure too much has changed since I got into the sport. In 1991 I bought an S-Works FSR for $5200. Using the BOC inflation calculator that comes to $8059. That bike was a complete, non custom bike that had some specialized house components on it (like that sweet 120mm polished Ti stem) and the Specialized Carbon "mag 21" fork. At the time you could easily have added a great deal to the cost by adding some Chris King bling, or perhaps some Ringle anodized parts and ceramic rims and got that sucker up to $6400 easily, and BAM, there's your $10K bike in today's dollars. Adding discs (I think there was one option and it was not hayes yet) would have pushed that price drastically more skyward.

Let's also factor in that in 1991 the USD to CAD was 87c rather than 75c, and you don't even need to bling it out to get close to $10K.

I don't think much has changed. Apart from the fact that a $4600 bike today ($3000 in 1991 dollars) is a mighty fine dual suspension bike, whereas $3K in '91 got you a steaming pile of shit dually, or a nice full rigid.

Let's also ponder my $440 purchase of dual beam 32 watt halogen Niteriders which is $681 today.

I think what we can learn from all of this, is that I was a fool with my money just as much when I was 21 as I was until I started reading Mr Money Mustache last week thanks to Heckler. For sale ads are pending. Time to downsize.

Thats $7400 cad

So about the same as a S-Works Demo.

It's not that bikes are so expensive. It's that every bike looks like a Trek and is priced the same now. Very few companies offering anything outside of the norm right now.