London Bike Show at the Excel

The Consumers Olympic Legacy

Ok, I am going to apologise now but this is going to be a bit of a drip.

http://www.thelondonbikeshow.co.uk

I visited the show today, which on the whole was very, very good.  There was plenty to see, some very helpful people on the stands and some very exotic kit, especially the bikes.  The only real downside to the whole show was the price tags attached to just about everything.

Has anyone else noticed how the price of bikes and bicycle gear has steadily crept up since the Olympics and the Tour De France of 2012?  I will give you an example:  I/we visited the stand of a very well respected American bespoke bike builder who has an excellent reputation.  On their stand was a bike priced at £14,000 of our Great British pounds.  That is not a typo, it was FOURTEEN THOUSAND pounds.  To put that into perspective, across the causeway at the Excel was the MCN Motorcycle show where I could buy a hot of the production line Ducati 899 Panigale for approximately £12,400.  The Ducati has Moto GP technology, an engine, a gearbox, traction control and an onboard computer that can adjust the fuelling, talk to the engine and make you a cup of tea…probably!

So I asked Mr bespoke American bike builder to justify such a hefty price tag and he got the hump.  I even said that if he could prove that as much R&D and technology went into the bicycle as the motorbike I would buy one there and then.  He still got the hump.

It doesn’t end there.  I visited the clothing supplier to team Sky and had my eye on one of the team shirts.  I thought to myself, “that’ll do me and I’ll look good while supporting the team.”  SEVENTY FIVE quid for a shirt that was so teeny tiny I suspect there is more material used in making my underwear.  While on the team Sky topic, their bikes, TWELVE THOUSAND pounds, I could go on and on.

Seriously, do the manufacturers expect us to pay this much money for their kit just because Sir Bradley has dribbled snot all over something similar or the carbon is “made just for you sir”?  Great, that’ll make it worth nowt second hand then.

I love cycling, I really do, but I came away from the show feeling well and truly ripped off by the industry and how they seem to have jumped on the post 2012 bandwagon with big fat price increases.  Unfortunately I think the legacy is they are in danger of driving ordinary folk on ordinary wages away, not encouraging them to take up the sport because, people just plain won’t be able to afford it.

To end on a high, thumbs up to the USE guys and their stand.  I visited them at the NEC show last year and got a great deal on a light and I got a great deal on a charger at this show.  Well done lads, that’s how it should be done.