mstateglfr 

you must not have looked recently, but may working adults also arent seeing raises that keep up with ever increasing prices.

OHMO

I retired from a steel mill which was shut down by the parent corporation less than a year later. In April laid off employees were being called back and new employees hired to bring the coke ovens, blast furnace, and steel making back online. A week after the tariff announcements those plans were canceled and the nearly 2000 employees - new and old - were, again, laid off. This time it is probably permanent no matter what happens politically.

Hoopdriver

I think bikes have been overpriced for quite some time simply because of increased demand. With their current well-padded mark-up margins, manufacturers and retailers should easily be able to weather this. Those who exploit this issue as a way to raise prices will end up losing in the end.

Marcus_Ti

No they won't. They'll all see the opportunity, and all will leverage it. Same as the gas price spike days.

Cycling being the New Golf, people will still pay the prices.

Lazyass

What is the name of this mill?

AlmostTrick

I highly doubt there will be some industry wide price collusion. Competition will still drive the market. The manufactures who offer the best price/value will capture more market share. Why would any single manufacture not want to do this?

Marcus_Ti

You're welcome to doubt it...but that is exactly what happened during the gas spikes. Everyone had a gentlemen's agreement to raise prices (after all fiduciary obligation to investors), and demand was enough to make investors happy...if not consumers. Prices went up and stayed up....instead of trickle-down tech, as had been the talk all the top-of-the-millennium....Shimano had to debut the "Claris" groupset in 2013, with the very latest in 1990s 8-speed shifting to even have a (crappy) groupset for entry-level bikes at all.

Troul 

sad truth.

philbob57

Actually, gas prices adjusted for inflation came down over the years.

The tariffs just raise prices. Both imported and domestically manufactured laundry equipment went up in price, for example. Arguably, steel makers and others 'protected' by tariffs saw pricing improvement, but users of steel - and that's almost all of us, even if our bikes contain not an ounce of steel - suffer.

Marcus_Ti

There's a big old "but". If you inflation adjust incomes like you do gas prices....incomes have been flat or falling for a long while (decades). Sure gas "costs the same" per unit volume...OTOH people are earning less money. Oh, and cost of living has been going up as well.

philbob57

Oh, sure, the old 'but incomes haven't risen' complaint. The next thing you'll mention is 'wealth has gotten a lot more concentrated over the last 35 years.' Or perhaps you'll argue that beneficiaries of tax cuts buy more politicians who give their buyers even more favorable tax treatment and a judiciary that values corporations' 'rights' over individual rights whenever they clash.

I don't know how to respond except to say it's about politics. Consider when the income distribution started changing in a way that moves us back to the good old days of 100 years ago. Consider who held political power when wealth started getting re-concentrated. And consider how they got voted into power.

coffeesnob

Increase in bikes is minimal when you think how much apple and samsung want for new phones. That is what you call gouging at it's finest.

Maelochs

it isn't even really planned a dn conspiratorial collusion. People who make and sell bikes ... or import and sell bikes ... want to make enough money to life their lives.

if the guy across the street buys a bike for $400 sells a bike for $1000, and you buy the same bike for $400 and sell it for $500 ... you might not be able to pay the rent the first week no one buys a bike. or, you might have to eat Ramen noodles and tell your kids they need to wear hand-me-downs ans forget college .....

If the bike goes up in price to $500 and the guy across the street sells it foe $1200 ... you might sell it for $1100 ... but why leave money on the table? Would you still get the sale if you sold it for $1150? Would you really make up in volume for the lost per-item profit if you sold the bike for $600?

Sometimes a gas station will undercut a competitor by a penny a gallon ... why drop to ten cents less if a penny is enough? But ... sometimes people will pay an extra penny if the station is on the side of the street they are on ... and station owners know this.

And as far as distributors ... I wouldn't doubt that at conferences they make connections, and I wouldn't doubt that as some level collusion might happen. Human nature. "Look, if we fight over pennies ling enough we kill each other. let's set a minimum, and sell to our retail outlets at that price. After all, people are still going to need gas."

Of course, bikes are a luxury item ... so the mark-up on the higher-priced will go up and people will pay it. Look how many people will buy a Trek or a Specialized when a Giant with a better frame and the exact same components costs a little less ... because of the name. Look how few people will buy a much cheaper Fuji which has and does everything the Trek or Spec does ... because the Fuji is cheaper ... it must not be as good.

So, the low-end stuff will increase in price as little as possible, and the bigger retailers will even lose a little profit on the cheap stuff, and make it back on the more expensive stuff.

Troul 

technology is a different beast to use as a comparison. Smart devices really have not been around as much as bicycles. The gadgets/widgets/doodads that are being put on bicycles might see the most impact; especially if the bicycle being bought comes with the technology already equipped from the retailer.

scott967

Want American? Check out Allied. I think that (Alfa) will be my next bike. Or, import directly from China yourself, avoid duties.

scott s.
.

blue192

I am not worried about the price of a bike going up. I am worried that if I do buy another bike, Mrs. Blue192 will grab my scrotum and pull it up over my head. I wish I were allowed more than three bicycles. QQ

AlmostTrick

Wait... what about MSRP? You know, the prices listed by MANUFACTURES for their bikes? Are distributers dicking with this too?

I'm not buying the collusion conspiracy theory. Manufactures set their prices to be competitive. Even the top end bikes have to compete with the offerings of other manufactures.

HTupolev

I'm not seeing what you're seeing.

Sora first showed up on model-year-2001 bikes. It was typical at that time for them to MSRP around $650, such as the Trek 1000.
Entry-level Sora bikes today are not $1200; from major bike-shop brands, offerings like the Specialized Allez Sport or Trek Domane AL 3 run about $950.
And going by CPI, $650 in 2001 is about $930 right now.

coffeesnob

Smart HDTV have sure gotten a lot less expensive since they first came out.

Maelochs

So ... the price of DI2 and eTap is going to skyrocket?

curbtender

We just need to let Bicycle Blue Book set the prices and our problem will be solved...

Lazyass

+1

Cervélo to assemble bikes in Northern California

Published July 16, 2018

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/nort...a#.W0z3CNJKjcc

AlmostTrick

Does Russia make any bikes? US may be able to get favorable deals from them...

Lazyass

I agree, we did hit the reset button with them a few years ago. Triton makes some sweet ti bikes. Look at this chainstay.

Phil_gretz

I agree. Triton is doing superb work, if you're willing to wait for it.

My last three bike frame acquisitions have been vintage: Japanese, French, and French

So...