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Ridiculously Expensive Cycling Stuff

(34 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from Smudge

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12

  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    It's clearly a sign that cycling is becoming fashionable when prices for seemingly ordinary things go through the roof. I'm putting together a short 'For the cyclist who has everything...' piece for cc tomorrow.

    Rapha are an obvious choice (£400 softshell), but I was sent a press release for a company called Quarterre recently - they are 'first and foremost a London-based, multi-disciplinary design agency', supplying the luxury market.

    Which might explain why this bike stand

    is £350

    "Shadow is perhaps our purest piece of bike furniture, representing a simple solution to a complex problem.
    The freestanding, cantilevered form needs no mounting and can accommodate most wheel sizes. Crafted in steel, it is finished with leather trim for hanging a helmet and a high friction base to aid bike stability.
    As with all our products it is available in a variety of colours and finishes, specially chosen to provide a balanced accent to any living space    "

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. cb
    Member

    "Shadow" lol

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. wingpig
    Member

    "...available in a variety of colours and finishes..."

    Amateurs. Choices of colours and finishes is the second phase. First, convince people to buy it when there are no variants, insisting that what you have designed is the apogee.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. Darkerside
    Member

    Canter round the brooks site. They've got a cycling jacket at close to a grand, from memory.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Cheers Darkerside, I'm on it!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    Reminds me of this -

    http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/inside-website/daily-finds/9-magazine-organizers-00000000019839/page7.html

    Could probably make it hold 3 bikes - $10

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. crowriver
    Member

    Maybe not ridiculous, but as the Stella ad used to say, "reassuringly expensive": Gilles Berthoud cycling bags. Lovely, hand crafted, but a bit steep.

    Perhaps Sir would like to try this traditional handlebar bag?

    Only £120.

    Or maybe Sir needs to carry more? These large panniers will perform the task admirably, I'm sure.

    A snip at £255 the pair.

    Of course one needn't cross the Channel to find quality. Chinese British manufactured bags are astoundingly crafted and thoughtfully designed. For example, this ingenious handlebar bag from the renowned Brooks stable:

    Naturally, quality like this can't be put in the reach of all and sundry. Still, a modest £240 is certainly affordable for such an indispensable purchase.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. Darkerside
    Member

    £473 the pair, perhaps?

    Brooks panniers

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. Dave
    Member

    I think the premise is good (when enough people do something, the proportion who will pay for a premium product becomes large enough that someone will start supplying it), but it's not surprising - you can easily find non-cycling bags which make Brooks bags look cheap.

    Ditto for Rapha and all other stuff. Think about it the other way around - why would companies *not* sell a product that people want to buy?

    Ford will charge you nearly £1.5k to trade in your ordinary seats for slightly fancier leather ones in a new Mondeo, for instance. Makes a £350 bike stand seem like chump change...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. Stepdoh
    Member

    What's amazing is that it's maybe a lovely design, but it's still a ghastly wheelbending device, second only to those weird little paperback sized butterfly things in the canon of crap bike parking design.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. Morningsider
    Member

    I could almost be convinced that "Quarterre" is some elaborate hoax at the expense of well off hipsters - certainly judging from their website:

    http://www.quarterre.com/

    I'm not against paying for quality gear and I love good design, but much of this high end cycling kit is nonsense - heavy, impractical, difficult to clean etc. It's almost as though the designers had no real experience of cycling.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. steveo
    Member

    This is a good product, but a grand seriously!!
    http://www.quarterre.com/products-page/branchline-3/branchline-buy/

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. ruggtomcat
    Member

    oh yeah and you have to wait at least two months to get one!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. Darkerside
    Member

    Just spotted a "paramedic bike proposal" on their studio pages (fancy popup thing, or I'd link to it). Spectacular in avoiding a single good idea - wide, trispoke wheels; weird shaped fixed containers that wouldn't fit gas cyclinders or a normal defib; a blue light beacon thing that couldn't be seen from the front and it looks like it would be unbelievably heavy. Fancy...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. Instography
    Member

    Would those canvas and leather panniers count as chic or bike-specific?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. Stepdoh
    Member

    I think the rule is, the more expensive your bike is, the more cyclechic you are.

    Plus points for cargobikes
    Minus for drops, unless you have:
    A) only one gear
    B) no brake levers/brakes
    C) no bar tape
    As they force you into an aerodynamic position and you may ruin the lines of your linen trousers.
    Plus points for fancy luggage.
    Plus points for tiny weeny sawn off handlebars on which you can barely fit two hands.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Come on folks, we surely must have some more examples of daftly expensive cycling stuff? (and yes, I am using you as a focus group... ;) )

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. amir
    Member

    Leather handlebar tape to give a bit of chic to your drops (see above)

    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cinelli-imperial-leather-bar-tape/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&utm_content=Cinelli-Cinelli_Imperial_Leather_Bar_Tape-Black

    I haven't got this but I have got Stella Azzurra Eleganza tape with the advertising text "Have you ever noticed the seating in many high-end European luxury sedans?"

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. wingpig
    Member

    @Insto How much were your shiny Lezyne tyre levers from Ronde?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. Baldcyclist
    Member

    I'm the first to admit I am insanely hypocritical when it comes to this. I regularly go into bike shops and think... 40 quid for a cycling top, really! Yer avin a laugh. Oh nice bike, £3k, hmm not bad??

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. steveo
    Member

    Parts ok?
    http://www.totalcycling.com/a-z/headsets/titanium_nothreadset.html

    http://www.totalcycling.com/brands/chris_king/HB_CHRIS_KING_R45_RED_R.html

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. amir
    Member

    "I'm the first to admit I am insanely hypocritical when it comes to this. I regularly go into bike shops and think... 40 quid for a cycling top, really! Yer avin a laugh. Oh nice bike, £3k, hmm not bad??"

    "Gold bicycle is world's most expensive at £55,000"
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6009428/Gold-bicycle-is-worlds-most-expensive-at-55000.html

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Crikey, you can find pictures of it here...
    http://www.aurumania.com/

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. Instography
    Member

    @wingpig
    About £25, if I remember correctly. But they're tyre levers and track nut spanners so a bargain really and they have a nice neoprene thing around them that keep them together and stop my wittle hand from getting bwuised.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  25. thebikechain
    Member

    Just another brand attempting to imbue cycling with some sort of elite mysticism and heritage/culture that simply is not there and using price as a tool in doing so.

    No wonder people think people who use bikes are daft.

    Yes, we sell expensive things. But expense is all relative. I would like to think what we sell is good value - not always cheap but good value for what it does.

    Furniture like this simply isn't. Seriously.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  26. crowriver
    Member

    I think the rule is, the more expensive your bike is, the more cyclechic you are.

    Plus points for cargobikes
    Minus for drops

    Ah, but you're forgetting the whole (largely US/UK) obsession with randonneur/light touring bikes. These can also be chic, especially if you live in the US and go for the 'rando' look with some nice Berthoud panniers, VO bar bag, VO stainless steel rack, Nitto stem and bars, etc.

    Yes, these are all functional and quality items designed to last. Also comparatively reasonably priced. So not "ridiculously expensive" in my book. But they are playing on a retro chic look favoured by 'real' cyclists as well as 'young hipsters'.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  27. ruggtomcat
    Member

    http://www.dobi.nu/yourscenesucks/fixedgear/

    Posted 13 years ago #

  28. splitshift
    Member

    then theres the BMW?audi?(insert your own make ) that you have to buy to support your roof mounts and endless journyes for half an hour on the bike !
    stuck indoors ALL DAY ! with a sick mrs !

    Posted 13 years ago #

  29. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Fed up with your weighs-a-ton steel bicycle bell? Need those critical µ-seconds on your canal towpath timetrial? Never fear, the MKS titanium racing bell will help.

    Only £32.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  30. Arellcat
    Moderator

    The Birkenstock Butterfly is only £22,500. Looks cooler than the MKS ti bell, too, and is actually aerodynamic.

    Posted 13 years ago #

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