Cyclists blame "utterly ridiculous bike prices" for brands' ongoing struggles, after Giant's sales slashed again; Visma–Lease a Bike's cursed 2024 continues; Devastated Arsenal fan turns to... Lance Armstrong; Bargain hunting + more on the live blog
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Welcome one and all to the Wednesday live blog where Dan Alexander will be bringing you all your Giro updates, news from the wider cycling world and, of course, plenty of the usual silliness

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/19380579

Cyclists blame “utterly ridiculous bike prices” for brands’ ongoing struggles, after Giant’s sales slashed again; Visma–Lease a Bike’s cursed 2024 continues; Devastated Arsenal fan turns to… Lance Armstrong; Bargain hunting + more on the live blog

  • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    I can believe that.

    I hadn’t bought a bike for years, and a few years ago managed to pick up a cheap second hand bike for £60. It wasn’t a bad bike, but obviously nothing special. After the lockdowns, when every man and his dog seemed to take up cycling, I looked at getting a cheap new bike. The cheapest ones I could find were a few hundred pounds.

    I looked at ebikes earlier this year, and the magazines and websites reviewing the cheap bikes were setting a minimum price of £1500 to avoid the cheaply made junk. Even second hand bikes were going for £800+

    To put this in perspective, I can get a second hand motorbike for the same price range, and a car for around £1000. Obviously these are not going to be the best motorbikes or cars on the road, but they run, and will last for at least a few years.

    • I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      I wonder if ebay ebike conversion kits are still a thing. Did mine 15 years ago with an electric front wheel and it’s still going today.

      • JohnSwanFromTheLough@lemmy.world
        1·
        4 months ago

        I did one a few years back to my mountain bike…mid drive motor driving the rear wheel. It was a nice little project.

        Bafang make the kits and it had lots of power…I could cruise with throttle only at 40kph!

        I sold it to fund a motorbike in the end.

    • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      They’re putting out bikes that are well into nice used car territory, it’s absurd. Shit, some of them are even brand new car prices. A lot of these manufacturers are smoking crack.