why are they so expensive?
 

everyone says that single speed costs less, but I have seen many that often cost three times as much as a geared bike.

They generally do cost less compared to geared bikes of similar quality.

Seriously?

How long have you been a consumer?

12-10-16, 09:15 pm

With anything, you can buy junk, and you can buy the good quality stuff. A lot of it out there is junk, but to get the good stuff, you have to pay.

In all fairness to the OP, it is true that many singlespeed "fixies" are grossly overpriced.

TreyWesgate: Rambling Random Threadstarter Extraordinaire.

When I first got into single speeding the bike shops couldn't find nothing not in the 800$ 1000$ range. My first bike was a used 250$ bikes direct bike which I traded for with my geared bike.

Shops don't usually deal with the cheap garbage fixies. They go with the brands they carry, usually Specialized, Trek, Giant, Cannondale, Felt, Cinelli, etc. If they are associated with Q, then All-City plays in there as well. That's why. There is a reason that most of them don't do the garbage fixies, because they are garbage.

Or are you just being a nattering nabob of negativism?

I'll buy you a latte if you can tell me who said that without googling it.


-Tim-

No clue.

Cheap stuff is generally cheap for a reason. It is in the name. Paying $250 for a used bikes direct bike unless it wasn't actually used is overpaying. I would rather spend $800 on a good quality bike (not just something overpriced) I am going to ride a lot and enjoy than overpriced used garbage.

Basically you are wondering why Pepe's Pizza in New Haven Connecticut costs so much (it doesn't but it is the best pizza) when you can go down to Little Ceasars and get a pizza like object for $5 bucks?

People these days are getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper to the point that unless it is putrid garbage they won't pay for it.

I cut my teeth when high-end bikes were made of Reynolds and Columbus. The "cheaper" bikes had Tange when that came on the market. The "cheap" bikes came with lead pipe frames it seemed. Many of the fixed bikes that I see on the market now in the $750 to $1,000 dollar range don't have name-brand high-end tube frames. I can't see paying that kind of money for no-name steel frames. I'm sure they are great but I just won't buy one.

Both fixed bikes I have are made of high-quality Reynolds frames and are brazed/welded. One was $750 the other was $900 and I can see hanging on to these for a very long time, and, maybe never selling them. They are great riders and beautiful as well.


-

That pizza analogy is spot on. Several people have asked me how much my TK2 cost. No idea I tell em, it was pieced together and built at a bike shop (the truth). Even if I knew, I wouldn't say. They would be like, hell, you can get a sweet bike with suspension at Wal-Mart for like $129. They understand nothing about the quality of that bike, and are absolutely blinded by the price. Quality comes at a price regardless of what it is that you are buying.

Thank you. It is so true. Plus that TK2 is your baby and you had a direct hand in it beyond just the handing over of credit card info.

You don't have to get tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil flown in directly from Italy to have a nice pizza but you also shouldn't relegate yourself to tomato flavored sauce product and imitation hydrogenated corn oil.

Who needs to google that? Spiro Agnew... one of the more memorable VP quotes.

I always equate bikes like shoes, or cars, because most non riders will be able to relate. You can get either at a wide range of price points. Some is fancy, some is crap. But there is a point in between where durability, comfort, cost of maintenance, and value for money seems to be. You'll pay more than the bottom barrel price, but come in way less than the fancy luxury brands.

It's the difference between a Toyota Corolla and a Lada.

Products and services are priced according to what people are willing to pay. That's all.

Starbucks charges $4.50 for a cup of coffee because people are willing to pay $4.50. If people were willing to give them $7.50 then that's what the price would be.

Alex Rodriguez got a contract for $165 million dollars because the team was willing to pay him that much. People were unwilling to buy pies from Martha Stewart for $5 but when she raised the price of the same pie to $15 she sold out.


-Tim-

I'm afraid it's not as cut and dry as you've explained. There is a lot more involved that.

What I really came to say was that it shouldn't have taken this many responses to answer such a naive question.

This thread isn't complete without:

#kilott

:foo:

Starbucks Prices
Freshly Brewed Coffee Tall $1.85
Freshly Brewed Coffee Grande $2.10
Freshly Brewed Coffee Venti $2.45

And not listed, but available, is a little one for a Buck

.

Hint: Nixon administration, VP, indicted and resigned. :twitchy:

edit: Given away in post #16.

For extra points:
Who actually wrote that diatribe, and many other, memorable Agnew speaches?

-Bandera

http://i.imgur.com/tyTc1Nl.jpg

No.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ot_compare.jpg

This thread is rife with intellectual snobbery.