[Closed] Why are forks so expensive now??

Brexit

Trump

We're in for a Brumpy ride....

There is no justifiable reason for it. You can buy a spring in two tubes for a push cycle for over £1000 now. There is no reason for that.

Blame that ill-thought out vote last summer with mountains of misinformation on both sides!

Your best bet might be to look at a complete bike, then decide whether to keep new bike and sell the old, or just grab bits you want and sell rest of new bike.

For example, Boardman 29er for £650 with Recon Silver, or Bizango Raidon for £625 (before 10% British Cycling, or 15% Toyota Club discount).

I'm in a similar quandary , not upgrading just needing to replace Rebas on my 29er . I've ordered a pair of X Fusion Slides , people on here seem to like them and the straight steerer version is £320 , tapered £340 . I'm sticking with straight steerer as it's what I've got now .

Something to do with liberation from the evil EU overlords I think?

It's time to buy British, does this mean we all have to ride shitty pace forks ?

Before I tell you, can you let us know whether you voted Leave or Remain; then we'll know whether to laugh or not 😉

Because you've picked the most expensive option. CRC have a Reba 29 RL for £274.99.

I paid about £250 (after BC discount) for a set of X Fusion Traces a few weeks ago.

I originally wanted Rebas but they were out of my price range. The X Fusions seems great though.

I'm sure it's all Brexit and nothing to do with bike bits companies charging the maximum that they think IT middle managers will pay.

middle managers in IT earn shitloads

edit mark has it

It's time to buy [s]British[/s] Swiss, does this mean we all have to ride [s]shitty[/s] perfectly fine [s]pace[/s] DT Swiss forks ?

FTFY

£274.99 is QR not 15mm

I've still got some 4 ride old Rebas for sale 🙂

As Mark90 said 🙂

Fork prices went crazy a long time before Brexit.

Because business is business and people still pay.

[i]I'm sure it's all Brexit and nothing to do with bike bits companies charging the maximum that they think IT middle managers will pay.[/i]

It's bound to be the latter, they weren't legally allowed to charge what they thought they could get away with before June last year's vote.

Fork prices went crazy a long time before Brexit.

That, once looked at the cost to replace the 100mm Factory 32's on my 29er and let out a slight squeal when i saw the £750 price tag 😯

What is it exactly that makes them so expensive from an engineering perspective?

[rose tinted] I paid £300 for my Mag21s plus extra for a 1.25" ahead steerer.[/all this was fields]

Paid £230 for a set of 29er 120mm 15mm Reba's in a CRC sale 6 months ago.

Why are forks so expensive

Because we keep paying.

Some prices are a joke. £500 for a BMX frame???

Plunging pound innit. If you're an importer then you'll be stiffed for the fall in the pound and will need to raise prices to compensate.

Also, it's the start of a new model year. Everything is expensive once the old stock has been cleared...

Finally, this sport is seen as "aspirational" by lots of middle manager marketing people working at the major manufacturers (hello SRAM and Fox!). Aspirational pricing is seen as a fillip rather than a hindrance.

I plan on keeping my existing stuff for longer until such time as the pound recovers. Of course, having a colossal maniac in the White House means that the value of the dollar is about as predictable as a sugared up toddler's temper over the next three and a bit years.

Likewise, if we do completely balls up Brexit then the prospect of tariffs may mean stuff becomes more expensive again.

Worth keeping a watch on Ebay, i was lucky last year to get a set of SID RLT 15mm 27.5 off a brand new bike for £280 the owner was upgrading straight away I did the same with XT brakes just had to be a bit patient.

I'd really like to know the price of forks through the product lifecycle; the factory door price per unit, the manufacturer price to distributor, distributor to retail, etc. The fact that many retailers sell them at massive discount suggests there is a lot of breathing room between each stage, production costs must be tiny, it's just some metal tubes, o rings, shims and a few ml oil, and development costs can't be that high, it's not exactly F1 technology and nothing has changed that much over the last decade or so.

We do get humped by $ exchange rate and tax in the UK too I guess.

prices where high before the EU vote

Not bought a new fork in a long, long time now. 🙁

prices where high before the EU vote

Yep. But compare the value of the pound in May 2016 with now and try to work out the additional cost of importing say 5,000 sets of forks.

You're also going to have to hedge against the possibility of an economic downturn meaning that you have fewer customers for your premium priced forks. If the potential market for 5,000 forks is reduced by 10%, then you're going to have to shift more unsold stock at the end of the year, possibly at or below break even.

where would I be best off looking for a nice 120-130 mm travel 29er fork with 15mm axle.

Also what models would you suggest

I bought some Fox Vanilla 130 about 10 years ago cost 630€ new. They've always been expensive.

I suspect imported volume (lack of) must also matter, as outside of STW who really replaces their forks?

Fox prices were stupid before Brexit, the fall in the pound just makes them even more stupidly expensive. About time that someone in the UK to set up a rival fork company.

Since 2007 we've gone from 2 dollars to the pound to 1.2 dollars to the pound. Since almost everything in the bike industry is made in Taiwan or China, both selling in USD, that pushes UK prices up a lot.

Going to give the forks time to bed in but so far they seem spot on.

You wrote this a week ago. Suppose for you a week is a long time to keep something 😆

I did say Im just browsing at work !!

Renton , take a look at X Fusion Slides that's what I'm going for

its all you high earning middle aged rich kids...the industry knows you've got disposable incomes and they take advantage of that by telling you that you need to have all the latest kit at their extortionate prices and you fall for it....that and the brexit/trump effect 😉

Renton I am waiting to get a warranty replacement Reba fork which I don't need . It will be arriving sometime in April , brand new , uncut steerer , 120 travel , boost , suitable for 29 or 650+ . If you are interested we might be able to work something out .

tbh I'd be buying a set of 29 Pikes instead, they're probably less than 200g heavier (my 29's a 1800g). You can change the airshaft to move the travel between 120mm and 160mm so will go on pretty much any 29er (useful for those folk who regularly change frames/bikes).

Certainly stiffer than Reba's and probably better for a larger 'lad'.

As said before they have been over the top for years paid £320 with a good discount from LBS 5 years ago for some Rockshox recons 120mm.

I clearly remember the early Manitous being £350 in 1992. That's about £700 of modern money based on RPI.

For about 50mm of elastomer travel.

As has been said, fork prices have been nuts for a while now. A long time ago there was a threshold of £500 for top end forks until Fox bought out the first 36's which were way over this and once people started buying them costs seemed to rise.

@Renton

Cotic have some 29er X Fusion Trace RL 120mm Ex Demo for £249, non Boost.(demo Fleet has gone boost)

http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/warehouse-specials

£500++ for forks is bonkers. Sitting here in the shop we have 2 Gazelle bikes. For those not familiar with them they're a BIG Dutch brand, made in the Netherlands and are easily the best quality, best equipped, and best designed bikes I've ever clapped eyes on. £5-600 gets hub gears, Dynamo lighting, integral lock, rack and mudguards. Every little detail is thought out and works perfectly. They're not just a frame with parts specced by accountants. The Dutch buy hundreds of thousands of them and I can see why. Selling a fork for more than one of these bikes is clearly ridiculous.
But 'cyclists' are led my marketing and fashion
'People that ride bikes' aren't. They just want something that works.

My next bike will be a Gazelle. 🙂

But 'cyclists' are led my marketing and fashion

Don't talk rubbish. I have three regular bikes that are ten years old, and one that is a two year old frame with ten year old bits on it.

Must not be a cyclist then eh?

I think RS may have tidied up their distribution a bit. OE forks clearly intended for production lines used to be available at huge discounts from the likes of On-one etc... Not anymore though as it seems to be retail only stuff now. If that is the case then that will also help prop up price levels.

At the risk of making myself an outcast, could it be because they are high tech, better, got lots of machined components, lowish volumes and high development costs?

We're talking about recent price rises for similar products.

If you think it's bad now how does another 20% or so within three months grab you?

To be political for a moment, I wonder if something like a Hope fork could end up being competitve post Brexit?

I'm waiting to see how that Dutch wunderbike of poddys does on the lakes, peaks and tweed valley....

[rose tinted] I paid £300 for my Mag21s plus extra for a 1.25" ahead steerer.[/all this was fields]

But that is expensive. I think relative to earnings that is over £500 for a very basic fork

I think RS may have tidied up their distribution a bit. OE forks clearly intended for production lines used to be available at huge discounts from the likes of On-one etc... Not anymore though as it seems to be retail only stuff now. If that is the case then that will also help prop up price levels.

Possibly the best reason yet

At the risk of making myself an outcast, could it be because they are high tech, better, got lots of machined components, lowish volumes and high development costs?

But people are comparing forks that were developed years ago

My addition will be a different version PJMs theory. People are bringing in less forks as they are expecting a down turn. But we are still spending so the forks are selling relatively well so there is no intensive to off load stock at a discount

molgrips - Member

To be political for a moment, I wonder if something like a Hope fork could end up being competitve post Brexit?

Well if the cranks are anything to go by it'll cost £1000, perform identically to a basic rockshox, and not arrive til 2029. But it'll still sell like hotcakes so that makes it competitive, right? 😉

In 1995 Rockshox top of the line was Judy SL. At the time they cost £500 (I still have them...). Taking a average of 3% inflation for 20 years that makes over £900 today. Then, as now, people never paid retail price if they were smart. The margin in a bike shop is big so always buy last years model in the sale or get to know your LBS well.

Thats cheap baxk in 1941 i paid 600 quid for a specialized fsx fork ....it was absolute shite compared to todays most basic RS forks

There seems to be loads of mediocre to shite stuff around for top money at the moment and all the VFM stuff you actually want is out of stock nearly everywhere 😐

As mentioned above, prices have been creeping up since the original £300 Pace RC35/Rockshox Mag 20/Manitou 1 battle.

The blip came when Rockshox got their game face on, produced the modern Pike and other class leading or competitive fork then allowed the market to be flooded with discounted stock. The rrp was still huge and inline with most others.

The other slight kink came just before when Fox had the market sown up and started putting their prices up an eye watering amount. The Rockshox move took their knees of though.

The price of forks is high, but the amount people pay on modifications to make those same forks work properly always surprises me.

I think the cost of bikes in general are getting ridiculous for what you get. However if we keep buying theyll keep charging.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if it wasn't for Brexit, prices would have been getting a little better - in that you can, halfway through the season get Mattocs for less than 450 quid - those are forks that consistently rate right up there with Lyriks and Fox 36's.

You get rapidly diminishing returns these days on forks when you spend over 500 quid.

The only time it's worth forking out a bit, is if you have specific requirements for a custom tune.

Take a look through the usual continental suspects....we're not blacklisted yet...

[url= https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/rock-shox-reba-rl-27.5-solo-air-120-tapered-ml15-oneloc-black-494976/wg_id-2269 ]Bike-discount[/url]

I own (at RRP) about £2500 in just suspension 😯

2 forks and 1 shock...

I'm waiting to see how that Dutch wunderbike of poddys does on the lakes, peaks and tweed valley....

And why are tyres so expensive? Over £50 for one regular (26x2.2) tyre. Damn brexiters.

Chief groove had it right on the previous page, the pound has lost nearly half its value against the dollar since the crash in 2008.

I'm an awful bottom feeder. Happy to hoover up the slightly older model either NOS or good used. Who'd have thought it, but some of the high end used stuff looks hardly used at all...

I couldn't bring myself to spend £600 on a fork. I have no connection with either shop but jejames and Winstanleys often have terrific deals on.

Well if the cranks are anything to go by it'll cost £1000,

Yes but the rest of Europe will get it for 49.99 €. If they're allowed to, that is.

I couldn't bring myself to spend £600 on a fork. I have no connection with either shop but jejames and Winstanleys often have terrific deals on.

Agreed. JEJames in particular has become my go to shop recently. On a similar note has anyone noticed how CRC has become more expensive than Wiggle recently when it always used to be the other way around for most things. Wonder why 😉

You've had that bike a week Renton get out and use it and judge those suntours after 6 months of hard use!

oh, sorry dad !!

Mattocs for less than 450 quid - those are forks that consistently rate right up there with Lyriks and Fox 36's.

glad im not the only one

Hey, it's your money I couldn't care less if you bought solid gold rigid forks.

Ok, lets put that another way. What is it about the suntour forks that you don't like? What conditions are you finding them ineffective and how have you tried changing their set up to suit your riding style?

Coomber mate I'm only pulling your leg.

As I said earlier in the thread I was only browsing.

Nowt wrong with the Raidons to be honest. Seem like a decent fork.

However I would swap them out for a revelation or pike if they come up at the right price purely because I know they work for me and I'm happy to work on them.

But it looks like you are selling your Suntours?

FWIW anyway i agree they are bloody expensive, It wouldn't be so bad but in SRAM's case they have QC issues. Creaky crowns, no oil or low oil levels. Then you look at some of their other RS equipment. Reverbs big price hike with the launch of the B1 promising to of sorted legacy issues....only for it to be worse! Monarchs failing left right and centre. I dont mind paying for the privilege of the latest kit! But I expect it to have some kind of QC process.

IMO many of the reports of Rockshox "having no oil" are from people who don't understand that the oil doesn't all sit in the bottom of the fork. There should be 5ml in one leg and 15ml in the other, wit a Pike, but when you uncork the lowers you won't get 20ml falling out because so much of it is spread around the fork lowers.

I'm not saying it never happens; my Pikes didn't have the recommended oil level in the damper frinstance so I'm sure it does, but it's fuelled by amateur mechanics seeing but not understanding.

renton - Member

Coomber mate I'm only pulling your leg.

As I said earlier in the thread I was only browsing.

Nowt wrong with the Raidons to be honest. Seem like a decent fork.

However I would swap them out for a revelation or pike if they come up at the right price purely because I know they work for me and I'm happy to work on them.

Fair enough, I would just give them a chance rather than looking for something else when you can't have used them enough to make a call on them. Fair that the revelations and pikes work for you but you don't know yet that the suntour's don't, and from your "what bike to buy thread" I thought you were stuck on a set budget?

Anyway, back on the how much forks are theme, still plenty of good deals as mentioned a few posts back... sektor gold rl 130mm £279 at Je James and I dont think they are that much worse than revs. Less cashback and first purchase offers etc.