Why are 'bents...

.... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

--
Chris

Chris Smith wrote:
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

I asked myself this when my friend turned up with an ironing board in
his car (appently called a Kingcycle, a mere 800 for the frame, Lloyd
loom chair and a couple of wheels). I imagine it's like hi-fi, they all
think they have their own design down to a tee so don't pool resources.

"Chris Smith" wrote in message
...
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

--
Chris

Prolly no serious economies of scale as it's a niche market compared to the
vast number of uprights sold. Mind you, prices are a bit better than wot
they woz...

Cheers, helen s

Chris Smith wrote:
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

Because they are made by low-volume producers, not makers who turn out
identical bikes in thousands from big factories in China.
Because the distribution chain is also low-volume, so the price per item has
to be higher.


They cost similar sums to bespoke or near-bespoke up-right bikes.



You get bargains appearing on ebay from time to time, or if within
travelling range of the Netherlands, there are a lot sold there, and thus a
fairly large s/hand market.



- Nigel


--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

"MartinM" wrote in message
oups.com...

Chris Smith wrote:
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

I asked myself this when my friend turned up with an ironing board in
his car (appently called a Kingcycle, a mere 800 for the frame, Lloyd
loom chair and a couple of wheels). I imagine it's like hi-fi, they all
think they have their own design down to a tee so don't pool resources.

I reckon it's more that there aren't any out there, so it's close to them
all being custom. And they are probably built by enthusiasts rather than
people with marketing telling them to cut corners to hit a certain price.

cheers,
clive

Chris Smith writes:

... so bleedin expensive?

Small market and typically hand-built I'd guess.

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

I'd love one too but a Windcheetah is a bit more than I'd like to pay
right now. Maybe I should do some overtime ;o)

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck
MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk/
UKRA #1108 Level 2 UYB
Tripoli UK Member #9527 LSMR

Clive George wrote:


I reckon it's more that there aren't any out there, so it's close to them
all being custom. And they are probably built by enthusiasts rather than
people with marketing telling them to cut corners to hit a certain price.

like "real" hi-fi manufacturers (envious NAD owner)

Chris Smith wrote:
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

KMX-X ykims. Someone posted info on TW-Bents a while back, but they
dont seem to be easily/at all available in the UK.

On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 21:54:22 +0100, Tosspot
wrote:

Chris Smith wrote:
... so bleedin expensive?

I'm half tempted by the Dark Side - but I'm ver ver poor...

KMX-X ykims. Someone posted info on TW-Bents a while back, but they
dont seem to be easily/at all available in the UK.

You might be thinking of Actionbents, a distributor based in [i think]
Washington [state].

http://www.actionbent.com/index.html

For the money, reports from people that have bought these are very
favourable. But they are very much absent over here....might be a
money, import/duty thing... no idea.

Garry

On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:33:20 +0000, Chris Smith
said in :

... so bleedin expensive?

Ahem: I think you mean *exclusive*.

Answer: small-scale manufacture, often complex frames, and usually
high-spec components.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken