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Been after a Liv Tempt 1 for a while, most stores haven't actually had stock since the soft launch in Sept 2020.
It was advertised at £649 all through til last week (last time I checked online). Late December I finally found a localish retailer with one planned to come into stock.
They reserved it for me but warned the price may go up by £20-£30 as they weren't sure if the suspension fork would change (I've read USA posts where some people have received a potentially lower-spec RockShox Judy coil fork instead).
The price on the site is now updated as £729 so that's an £80 increase, and as far as I can tell, the spec remains identical.
Appreciate there's nothing that can be done and assuming the delivery still lands, we'll be getting the bike months earlier than expected, but annoying nonetheless.
I brought a carbon 2021 Trek checkpoint in July last year now has gone up £350 winners and losers even if you can get a new bike a lot of the Treks are gone so the only way you get some of them is to order it in July and it will be a 2022 model crazy Hey.
Glad I did my bike buying and selling at the beginning of covid and pre brexit.
When I was looking at my new bike before purchasing in November, the shop knew the prices were up £500 the following week.
Same happened back in 2016, when looking the bike prices were going up £600 the following week. I was was sceptical and thought it was sales patter, but when I collected the bike, the advertised prices were up!
I purchased a trek emonda sl6 end of last year. I paid £2800, the same bike now is £3200.
I wonder if when unemployment rises after furlough is finished, we will see RRPs fall again or if shops will just discount. The Covid boom in bikes won't last forever, shops must have a concern that they won't have enough physical stock to sell this year, and if they put big orders in and they don't get the sales it'll backfire the other way. Lots of market forces at play. I'd hope that once shipping, Covid, Brexit all settles then we would see a return to pre pandemic pricing but I doubt it.
rob13, Treks are stockpiled in the Netherlands, what you are seeing is a Tariff hit*. The prices will only come down if Trek UK move stocks to ship directly to the UK, which will incur other costs. Prices are very unlikely to be coming down, get used to the new normal. Similar applies to other companies.
* I asked trek the question.
Your right they will not have enough stock to sell they do not have enough now so May to September they could well be in Sh---street.
Yeah, there is no stock of decent bikes just now, everywhere is pretty much down to bare bones, you have a few brands that still have stock of some kit (spesh, giant, trek, etc), but they are the same ones selling at a good rate anyway. Prices will go up with the next lot of shipments, how it's absorbed will be the question, but i doubt with all the 0%, C2W, etc going on just now it'll be an issue for selling in the near future.
It is depressing though, our C2W has gone up recently, so 4k limit, but i'm not even contemplating it, for 4k you don't really get as much as you should, and it'll be even less with the full 2021 stuff, let alone 2022.
I’ve been thinking about an Ultegra equipped road bike. All (Trek/Giant/Cervelo...) gone up by around £500 today. Not that they’re actually in stock.
Nukeproof Scout 290... Was £2099... then bang on New Years day the price changed to £2,450. They even hand the cheek to change the name to the Nukeproof Scout 290 2021 and keep the bike identical!
I spoke to the LBS earlier and credit to them, there’s been a very unclear message from Giant as to when/if the increase is applied to pre orders.
Will wait with baited breath, I’m saving a few quid on C2W anyway and at least they were willing to reserve a bike for me that was 6 weeks away.
Re other points - The small shop most local to me said there was no motivation for him to move heaven and earth for a C2W bike when he could sell it at retail ten times over. I get the sentiment and appreciate the honesty but was worried I’d be stuck with the voucher to be honest.
So if the company has a UK distributor does that make it free of Tariff?
I've actually been looking at UK built bikes but both brands I'm looking at don't have stock. Pre orders don't restart until March so God knows when they'll actually be built and shipped out to cusotmers. Not sure if they will suffer a tariff given that frames are made in far east and the finishing kit is Shimano. I might just after pay inflated used prices instead!
I bought a cnoc 16 in August for 320, it’s now 400!!!
So if the company has a UK distributor does that make it free of Tariff?
Maybe maybe not, Trek has a UK arm but they ship through the Netherlands.
Trying to put this simply, if the bike comes from Taiwan(etc) to the UK, it gets a tariff applied, if the bike goes from Taiwan to the EU and then to the UK, it gets a tariff applied on entering the EU, then because of rules of origin it gets another tariff applied when it goes from the EU to the UK.
If the bike was, for example a campgnolo equipped Condor it is tariff free, campagnolo and condor both come from Italy and thus by Rules of origin count as EU and are tariff free under the agreed trade deal.
Problem for MTBs there is very little coming out of the EU to avoid tariffs, but it could be done If you're looking at high end stuff.
So glad I did all my bike buying between 2014 and 2015. They're both still perfect for my needs and cannot see any reason to upgrade and especially not during this period of inflated prices. Back in 2015 the pound was strong and I took advantage of it. The Euro was at the lowest it had been against the pound for a long time and I'd imported both frames and many of the components from abroad; China, Belgium, Italy and Germany. One of the bikes I bought then for around £2000 its equivalent is almost £7000 now. Just bonkers.
I'm in a similar position - not buying on C2W but I have ordered and paid a 10% deposit on a Liv Devote which has now gone up £200 overnight. Surely if I've paid a deposit and have a receipt for an order at the original price they can't just change it now? Bike is due in in 2-3 weeks, I've heard nothing form the bike shop and, as someone else said, Giant aren't being at all clear about pre orders. Someone in another group has been asked to pay £200 extra for the same bike as me that she ordered from Giant Twickenham - she's refused and found a different bike from a different retailer (no easy task these days) but I'm not clear if she'd actually paid a deposit or not. Feeling very peed off tonight, didn't want or vote for Brexshit and this was all sooo predictable.
My parents ordered an E bike in the Autumn, I thought the dealer had pulled the wool over their eyes when they said they'd paid in full rather than a deposit. The shop claimed that was the only way he could guarantee the price.
The bike isn't due until about about March time, but sounds like paying in full might have been a good decision. Let's just hope it turns up this year/the shop doesn't cancel/refund, or back pedal and try and demand extra.
Theres a perfect pricing storm going on:
Strong Taiwan Dollar
Shipping costs up
Production output overall down
Sudden lack of continuity in supply at shop levels means no discounts
All of these adding a few % each (The strong TWD caused an 8% jump in MY22 stuff from one supplier that goes on a lot of bikes this week just on its own)
Brexit will only effect companies that have warehousing in the EU to supply the UK. And that surely won't last more than this year. Opening a dispatch warehouse is surely better than a 14% surcharge on your bikes.
Is this the place to also ask -
How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?
Will the 2020 lockdown bike buying mean fewer sales or might we see more people continue to ride?
I'm seeing the newspapers start with the 'staycation bike tour / walking / head to nature / yoga retreat in Wales type stories, this might really keep sales and maintenance demand write high. On the flip side, there has to be thousands of lightly used lockdown bike languishing unused in the shed...
Brexit will only effect companies that have warehousing in the EU to supply the UK. And that surely won’t last more than this year. Opening a dispatch warehouse is surely better than a 14% surcharge on your bikes.
Isn't it more that Brexit affects any company importing products that are not predominantly produced in either the EU or the UK, and then wants to send them across the Channel? If a UK company wants to import directly into the EU to avoid the extra tariffs, do they need to register the business over there or can they simply rent a warehouse? I can see it making sense for some UK companies where a lot of their sales are in the EU, but for a large EU company, would it make financial sense to register/setup a base in the UK for 5% of their sales...especially when the end customer is paying the tariffs anyway so the only advantage would be able to trade more competitively.
I’ll report back if I hear any clarification on whether it’s payable or not. I put a 10% cash deposit down at the time (which they’ve still got) and I’ve got a Cyclescheme voucher worth £700 so one way or another it’ll get resolved.
Just slightly annoying that it’s upping the cost of a bike that will likely never see anything tougher than a gravel path, but wanted a 1x10 and decent level components so that’s how we arrived at this one.
I think while gyms remain shut, demand will still be through the roof. I’m a fair weather rider myself (unashamedly) but put the turbo back up in December and resubscribed to Zwift, and making use of my Pinnacle Arkose with some road tyres.
My partner bless her is having to make do with my old 2011 26” Hardrock Disc Sport with some semi slicks on the turbo, hence wanting this Liv ASAP.
How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?
Finger in the air here... We're still selling at 4x normal rate for this time of the year, and given stock constraints I can't source 4x more than normal in terms of frames and stock, so its just a case of buying as much as we can to service the number of frames we can get made.
Lack of holidays abroad is likely to create sustained demand for this year at least.
@spooky_b329 I was relating specifically to why say a Trek bike (and other bikes) went up so much in price - they go via Holland as I understand it. You're right the trip the other way adds price too but there's relatively few bike companies importing into the UK to service the EU market.
How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?
Remember that demand isn’t confined to the UK… riders all around the world are buying bikes with the same forks, shocks, shifters, gears, drivetrain… etc.
If say a bike was assembled in an EU member state from a frame and components from the Far East, then shipped to the UK from said assembly / distribution facility it would be subject to tariff, VAT and handling costs, hence the jump in RRP?
@Steve_b77 - yes it would. It would have to have a decent slug of EU manufactured parts for it to avoid duties when entering the UK, despite having paid them once already entering the EU.
@benpinnick pretty tricky really when you consider the popularity of Shimano / SRAM and their associated component brands.
@steve_b77 to use one example, a Bianchi gravel bike with campagnolo might not see a price rise, whilst a sram version would. Simply comes down to how much of a bike is EU, the more it is, the less likely tariffs will be an issue. A similar thing plays out with uk bikes into Eu.
I can't help feeling that the whole market is going to implode. The prices even prior to the current jumps had increased massively compared to wages over the last 8 to 10 years, whilst some of that has been exchange rates I can't help feeling the bike companies have just got greedy.
can’t help feeling that the whole market is going to implode. T
There does seem to be a bit of p*$$ taking going on. Even with all the additional pressures. Sonder, e.g., which as I understand it warehouse in the UK, have bumped the prices for frames by 25% over this time last year. That's far more than currency/brexit etc issues could justify.
I agree that there does seem to be piss taking going on with some of this pricing but its just supply and demand. At the minute stuff is disappearing as quickly as it comes in some of it probably FOMO. The bit that bites is when the demand drops and suddenly all these retailers then have to put sales on to get people to buy their stuff. Can't help thinking that there's going to be a fall for a lot of people this year due to a number of factors, furloughs ending, unemployment, inflation etc.
Was looking at a cube cross bike for 3.5 k seemed a bargain with force axs carbon wheels etc... jumped to 4.1 overnight... probably worth it but peed me off!
Just bought a Forme Kinder for the small person. The price stayed at £330, but the gears and brakes have been downgraded from Shimano to micro shift and from Tektro to some random make. That could just be due to supply I guess as they were due in the country back in October.
Gave the LBS a call, it's been delayed another three weeks. They're holding off on price rises for now/suffering them, themselves, but will be passing them on from the middle of next month. Nip and tuck as to whether it will get delivered in time.
Delivered in time before they put the price up? Offer to pay in full now
There is no piss taking going on. The buying public just haven't cottoned on to the scale of the cost implications of all that is going on. Transportation prices are through the roof. Alternative sources of components and production are having to be sought. Getting stuff in and out of the UK is a lottery. The burden of additional admin and paperwork is substantial. Most brands are soaking up what they can for now, but still having to pass on some of the extra costs.
It's Cyclescheme unfortunately so not sure I can do that without taking physical posession of the bike.
I hold no grudge against the store; he was quite forthright in saying that if it's after the deadline they can't honour it as they'll be losing money because of the price increase and the 10% cyclescheme cut (was a bit surprised to hear the latter mentioned as thought it was just smaller stores that tended to take umbrage as per a comment of mine much further up - this is a main Giant dealer). They did say they're only expecting around 1/4 to 1/3 of the bikes they need for this year.
Fingers crossed anyway but if it costs more, it costs more, just want the bike (and that's the positive message I gave the chap).
Take the Scandel for instance. It's now £1400. They don't seem to be able to get Rockshocks and so have had to source an untested new fork that probably cost more. That's on top of all the Brexit factors stated above in the more knowledgeable posts.
There's not going to be a glut as production is way down and anyway there isn't going to be a post Covid. It's going to reduce travel and production for a few years yet. There's not a magic wand as some of the less informed here seem to fondly imagine.
So for those in the know, if we consider the price rise in a run of the mill bike with Shimano Rockshox etc what percentage of it is Covid and what is Brexit? Id be interested to see which is the bigger problem which has caused all this.
All the idiots who voted for brexit should be ashamed of yourselves
The idiots that voted for brexit are too stupid to be ashamed of themselves.
its someone elses fault init
People thought we would stop giving hundreds of millions to the eu when we left, seems we've ending up more out of pocket and now the tories will start chiselling away our rights that were protected under eu laws. The hell has only just started.
Speaking as someone who works in importing, right now, Brexit is ten times the problem Covid was and we haven't even seen the worst of it yet.
These aren't 'teething issues' either, they're hard baked into the trade deal and were inevitable the minute Theresa May came up with her 'red lines.' We didn't have to do it this way, this was a choice.
Either as a country we grow up fast and realises that leaving the single market was the dumbest single thing this country has done since Suez or we lose a generation to economic implosion as the UK disintergrates around us.
We were lied to, spectacularly.
As the US is not part of Brexit and they have seen the same increases in prices.
Aluminium is up 15% since the start of 2020, rubber up 50%, steel 20%, cardboard 10%, container shipping forward year 40% spot container up to 250%.
Then you add shortage of labour in Taiwan because they can't bring in cheap labour from surrounding countries, so lobour costs have risen.
On top of that some US companies, because of Trumps tariffs of Chinese goods had shut some of their production and moving it elsewhere.
On top of that there is a boom in sales 60% UK and over 100% USA, that means a shortage, a shortage nearly always sees prices rise.
And finally can some people stop name calling others because their views are different from their own.
The islabikes creig I got for my eldest daughter in October is now 22% more expensive to buy. At this rate I might actually make money if I sell it 2nd hand in a few years.
On top of that there is a boom in sales 60% UK and over 100% USA, that means a shortage, a shortage nearly always sees prices rise.
prices went up on the 1st January due to Duty that had to be paid because of Brexit. Yes there are other factors,
“ And finally can some people stop name calling others because their views are different from their own.”
Re: Brexit. I will when someone who voted for it gives me a quantifiable benefit of it. It seems that sadly Project Fear was actually Project Reality.
And finally can some people stop name calling others because their views are different from their own.
It they volunteer to fill in all the customs declarations, and pay the additional transit costs, buy all the spare seafood, and retrain to work in care or the NHS, then we can all make up and be friends.
As the US is not part of Brexit and they have seen the same increases in prices.
The USA's exports didn't collapse overnight on Jan 1st.
Yes there are short to medium trends that are affecting everyone, but these are situational, Brexit is structural and we will be suffering from it when other economies have long since put Covid behind them.
Delivery date has gone back a further fortnight so looks like we’re stuck paying the increase. Never mind
TLDR: channel overstock (ie the reason why you could get nice cheap OEM forks, brakes etc) has been exhausted as a result of COVID issues. Now we're getting the Brexit fallout.
I'm a massive cheapskate - think OEM forks being bunged through online merchants like CRC or Bike24, sticking with 10 speed and so on. I'm very happy to pay full whack at my local bike shops for parts or service, but to get the most bang for my buck, I buy some of the bigger ticket stuff at discount or second hand. There's very little stuff out there of this ilk at the moment. I'm also looking at the EU merchants suddenly getting prohibitively expensive as a result of Brexit.
On top of that, people are buying some pretty complicated stuff in bike form these days; I'm seeing a *lot* of new ebikes and Santa Cruzes out there. People are't necessarily buying a decent hardtail as their first 'proper' mountain bike - they're getting a carbon FS bike or FS eBike. This ain't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that price comparisons have shifted. Entry level is pretty high end compared to five years ago. The interesting thing to me is how 'house' brands like Vitus etc are keeping costs relatively low - if you can find stock
The idiots that voted for brexit are too stupid to be ashamed of themselves.
While it's tempting to agree with this - and it's undoubtedly accurate in many cases - I think a fair few people are probably ashamed and embarrassed at what they have done. And that's why they'vbe gone so quiet this year.
Of course there's still the odd fundamentalist saying "just Buy British then, simples" - but they probably fit into the category quoted above.
Just lost my post, dunno if it's the adverts but how annoying.
I’m a massive cheapskate – think OEM forks being bunged through online merchants like CRC or Bike24, sticking with 10 speed and so on.
I can sympathise with that, I upgraded my old 2011 Hardrock Disc Sport back in 2016 and getting various bits either discounted or from the likes of CRC as a pull from brand new bikes meant it cost very little to go to a better 1x10 setup. (I started out messing about on the bike and have since progressed to doing the maintenance on the car, so I'm reasonably confident doing my own spannering)
Shimano Zee derailleur: £30
HG81 cassette: £22
One-up single chainring: £25
Shimano M355 front & rear hydraulic brakes: £35 (CRC pull)
KMC chain: £13
Rockshox XC28 TK26: £56 (+£20 to fit by the LBS that originally supplied the bike).
Think the bike was originally about £450 back in 2011.
Point being, I've toyed with replacing it but I don't think I'd get something comparable without spending £600+. This current shortage means that new 'mid' priced bikes are dropping back to old 3x8 setups, mechanical disc brakes etc :/
Definitely a shift in people admitting they made a mistake, though they seem unwilling to actually admit that and rather attempt to shift the blame to something else.
About last year, anyone querying whether brexit was a bad idea would often see 1000+ or so negatives in newspaper comments or social media, but now a similar post on it the negs have dropped down to a couple of hundred.
Give it another year and it will be like nobody voted out.
There'll be a cock crowing too i imagine.
Yep, thanks to all the Brexit uncertainty last year I changed my MTB a year or so ahead of planned and I'm glad I did as I just noticed the other day that the exact Orbea Occam I bought this time last year is now £700 more expensive.!! Assuming you could buy one, which you can't, I think delivery is into August.
I have a great deal of difficulty holding onto my temper when encountering a Brexit voter.. although they are becoming as rare as in stock bikes these days in my experience.. seems a lot, if not most, are more than a little reluctant to admit to it these days, IME anyway.
Do you think that there are companies just upping their pricing more than they had to and just blaming Brexit?
I have a feeling that a fair bit of profiteering has been going on during Covid too, not sure how you'd demonstrate it though.
I do think there are a number of factors at play here -
Our LBS sold out of bikes (and i mean - not a single bike left) last summer - he reckons a global surge in bike sales completely screwed everyone's manufacturing plans - with the big players working on a 2-3 year look-ahead.
Raw materials have been going up, as has the cost of transport and shipping globally.
Brexit has caused us massive problems - we ship things to/from Europe regularly at work and it has been a total nightmare since Christmas - 'overnight' transport to France/Holland can now take up to 5 days due to vehicles being stuck in customs, which is just driving up costs.
The Global impact of COVID will settle down through 2021 and into 2022 - the sh*tstorm caused by Brexit is here to stay.
I've been looking for a new road bike - '105 with discs' price bracket.
In 2017 i bought an Arkose with 105/hydraulics for £999 - now you're looking at £1600 upwards for something with similar spec - if you can find anything.
I’ve been looking for a new road bike – ‘105 with discs’ price bracket.
In 2017 i bought an Arkose with 105/hydraulics for £999 – now you’re looking at £1600 upwards for something with similar spec – if you can find anything.
Just incase you hadn't already looked, Ribble Endurance AL Disc with 105 is £1299, available on c2w and technically 'in stock', delivery is July 17th. I notice though that when I looked a couple of days ago, delivery was 12th June.!!!!!
Santa Cruz price increase of 10% from 1st April apparently. Heard from a UK rep from one of the bigger brands that you'll be lucky to get a carbon 105 disc equipped road bike from the "big", non-direct players for much under £3k for MY2022!
Same story Bought a Trek checkpoint at the old price of £1700 , this was about a month after brexit. Sorted the finance and took the bike the following week its up £175 . Im guessing mine had been in stock before the price increase. Trek Slash 8 are now £3500 mine was £2800 but they have got a lyric and not a yari.
Still haven't got the bike :/
Supposedly within the next 3 weeks, no point cancelling now but it'll have worked out as a 4 month wait and a 12% price increase.
The current price hikes are probably going to fully price me out of the ebike market, I’d decided to buy one late last year but would hold out until we moved, we’ve just made that move but now the bikes I was looking at (if they were actually in stock) have jumped that bit farther out of reach.
Will see what happens in a year or two but I can’t see them coming back down so I presume I’ll just keep on being the slow guy at the back.
I think it's real shame when obviously keen mountain/Road bikers are being priced out of new bikes. God knows what new cyclists make of the prices at the moment. I know a lot of them just want bargain basement models but even those are probably more than they want to pay.
The after shocks of the Ever Given are going to further disrupt supply for several months
Ah yes bikes cost more and turn up later but we've taken back control.
Can't you just feel all that lovely, palpable control that we all have now?
TBH I'm less interested in how this affects whole bicycle prices at present and more concerned about the impact on parts, kit and clothing...
As noted on other threads the apparent shortage and following price hikes for "minor" consumables like SP41 or branded brake fluid tells a tale I reckon.
Any smarty pants in bicycle retail will obviously be trying to stock up on bikes, but I bet they're also trying (or already have) to bump up their holdings of accessories, clothing and service items in anticipation of some scarcity.
At least some of those who couldn't score a new bike going into spring will now be trying to "make do and mend" or spending what was their new bike budget on some nice new shoes/lids/shorts? Sticking 30-50% on say a rear mech is probably a viable option if supply is limited...
There does seem to be a bit of p*$$ taking going on.
If I was involved in the UK bike industry I'd be cashing in now too. The lack of foreign travel this summer will cause a spike in demand. 2022 will be a different story when the UK's economic recovery from covid tanks due to Brexit and the job losses mount.
There's going to be a lot of 2nd hand bargains out there in a year - so many that there may even be a sizeable market for whole bikes to be broken down if their components are sufficiently new.
I've thought about selling my full suss as I'm not really using it at the moment and the £2-2.5k it should sell for could be better spent but the fact that a replacement with lower spec parts would cost £5.5k now stops me. I really can't see a time in the next 10 years where I'll be able to justify over 5 grand on a bike as 0% to 1% payrises won't keep up with bike prices. My current frame is a 2020 btw so hardly old!
Just hoping this covid lark buggers off so I can get back to riding with mates further afield.
anticipation of some scarcity.
Already happened. One distrbutor I know is at 25% of their normal stock holding.
Pushed out another 3 weeks and they’re getting no info from Giant. Guess I might see it this summer.
There’s a stack of stuff held up on the Evergiven, plus they get the bonus of sharing the $900million costs the Egyptians are levying.
I bought a Spesh Diverge last year, retail was £2200 and exact same model is now £2600.
Still haven’t got the bike six months+ after reserving :/
Have to say I’ve tried to stay calm throughout but the shop has made zero outbound effort to contact me.
Anyone know of something similar ~£700, 1x10, lady’s dimensions for geometry, retailer/manufacturer available on ‘Cyclescheme’ (so Halfords is out of the question)?
Hate to leave a thread unresolved, so just to say, finally picked up the bike today.
If I overheard the member of staff taking to another customer correctly, they (main franchised Giant dealer) only have a further three (3) bikes allocated to them for the remainder of 2021, that aren’t already spoken for. With no option to request anything further.
Good article over here: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/Why-Are-Bike-Prices-Going-Up-And-Up,3095