time for a new downhill bike??? went to the lbs and.....

[ALEXIS_DH]

so, my trusty gambler is in need of some love. needs or will need so many new parts soon (brakes, fork, drivetrain, wheels) that maybe a new bike is in order for next season.

walked into SC lbs.
v10 carbon with enve carbon wheels.
$12000

walked into trek lbs.
trek session 9.9
$13000

walked in transition lbs
tr450 full x9/fox40 kashima
under $6000 (somewhat reasonable, considering the reigning insanity)

now, wtf????????????
2 years ago, i thought the demo was ridiculously overpriced at $7g. my jaw dropped when my lbs of choice said the top of the line 2012 gambler was in the $10k region....

now, 2 major retailers have largely broken the $10k barrier. now, this is for pret a porter bicycles, no fancy custom **** in here.
walked 6 blocks away to ktm dealer, and a 690 supermoto goes for about the price of a session. hell!, the cheapest bmw bike goes for $500 more than a session, and it comes with ABS brakes, heated grips!.

wtf happened? i got into bikes, because i thought motos were too expensive/dangerous.
now, my buddy at work, who rides moto, rambles about how much money and upkeep his yamaha needs. i asked for exact amounts... and it seems my bicycle habit is more expensive than his moto habit.... and yet, his cost per saddle/hour is far smaller than mine... as i get less than 60 minutes of actual saddle time for full-day i go out to ride, and he gets 4-5 hours of actual riding done per full-day outing...

seems i need to re-think this whole downhill thing.... hell, at those prices, i might go back to my vintage-car habit; or motor racing.... its cheaper!

[gemini2k]

I got my 2004 yz450 with a brand new engine for less than my DH frame...without shock...that I got for EP pricing.

[dropmachine.com]

They cost that much because the market supports it.

[gemini2k]

They cost that much because the market supports it.

Because the market is fragmented. If giant was making 10x as many glory's and companies like yeti and other boutique brands weren't around, prices would be A LOT lower.

[time-bomb]

I don't know if you have any "hook-ups" but have you considered building your own bike up or buying used? I haven't bought a complete bike in over 12 years now. I have always managed to save significant money buying a frame and then parts. Sometimes I recycle parts but usually buy new when I start w/a new frame. I also enjoy having something that is somewhat "custom" since I chose the parts for it. If you shop around you will find deals. Some manufacturers sell direct and I have been able to negotiate deals depending on how many components I was buying at a time. Good luck.

[Dogboy]

Economy of scale. You can't compare DH bike/frame pricing to motorcycles.

[shirk007]

Uh not everything needs to be bling and carbon to have a good time.

Build a solid mid grade bike and ride the piss out of it.

[woodsguy]

Economy of scale. You can't compare DH bike/frame pricing to motorcycles.

What are the prices of the top end motorcycles?

[Huck Banzai]

I find that any bike that RETAILs for >~7000$ is really really trying to be expensive.

You can hit the high end except for absolutely mega status <=7g.

Now get deals, EP and bro status - and we're back in business.


If I knew anyone that paid 10,000+ for a bike, I would probably tease them endlessly, even if they were buckets of rich. Just because.

[benny_mech]

I just bought a 2000 Yamaha WR400F for $1600, and it runs like a champ. That's less than I paid for my first used DH bike 10 years ago. I understand economy of scale and all that, but the fun/dollar and fun/hour ratios of the dirt bike beats the snot out of the DH rig. That's the reason I bought it, and I've got no regrets.

I still enjoy DH, and nothing will replace mountain biking for me. I'm also still faster on a DH bike than the dirt bike, but I understand why dirt bikes are so popular. As mentioned above, I get a solid 4-5 hours of hard, fun riding in on the dirt bike. Same amount of time gets 3 runs on the DH bike, unless there's a chairlift, and those are further away than the ORV park for me.

[OGRipper]

Pretty much all my bikes are worth more than my moto and my car.

[kazlx]

Dirt bikes also don't change much year to year. Little tweaks here and there but not many 'major' revisions, except the 4 stroke revolution and fuel injection in the last couple years. It's not really a fair comparison, because you could also buy a reliable car for what most of us spend on bikes. It really is economies of scale. MTB, especially DH, in the grand scheme of things, is very niche.

There is no reason to spend 10K on a bike, unless you shart 100 dollar bills.

[tabletop84]

Economy of scale. You can't compare DH bike/frame pricing to motorcycles.

In europe I know far more people that own a higher end mountainbike than a dirtbike. Mountainbiking is far bigger than the dirtbike scene over here will ever get.

They cost that much because the market supports it.

That's the truth. The clientele who buys mountainbikes is usually better educated and has a higher income. Therefore the steper pricing. This has even got so far that if a brand like yt offers reasonable priced bikes people get mad at them because they can't believe that they can get away with selling a bike with better parts for less than half the amount of money they paid.



I sold the deemax ultimate and in the end this did cost me ~ 3000$

[Dogboy]

In europe I know far more people that own a higher end mountainbike than a dirtbike. Mountainbiking is far bigger than the dirtbike scene over here will ever get.

2 things: it's a worldwide market, I'm not just talking US or Europe. We are talking about DH bikes, not mountainbikes in general. DH is a much, much, much smaller market.

[tabletop84]

I think the market for high end mountainbikes in europe is far bigger than for dirtbikes. Maybe normal Motorbikes play into that too but development costs must be way higher for a motorbike like tests and stuff, safety certificates etc.

But something must be wrong with the pricing. A dh tire costs more than an average car tire.