What Are We Paying For?

[reed scott]

How can this:

Be worth 2/3 of this:

Explain it to me.

 

[reed scott]

Not to pick on Trek. Goes for any top of the line ebike.

 

[Captain Slow]

I don't think that's even an ebike. I think it's a Trek Supercaliber which is an XC race bike.

 

[reed scott]

I don't think that's even an ebike. I think it's a Trek Supercaliber which is an XC race bike.

OH darn, I screwed up. But my point remains ... plus a couple thou. What ARE we paying for?

 

[rich c]

You could post a picture of a Tour de France racing bike that costs more than the motorcycle. The answer is the same, it costs what it costs.

 

[Dallant]

It depends on what it’s worth to you. Lots of analog bikes cost huge money before ebikes came along. What we are paying for is what we want. In my case it’s a great investment in my health and my enjoyment of life. I sold my last motorcycle and used that money to buy my Allant+7. Very worth it to me.
Hell, your iPhone probably cost at least a third of most ebikes!

 

[reed scott]

You could post a picture of a Tour de France racing bike that costs more than the motorcycle. The answer is the same, it costs what it costs.

Hardly. It costs what people are willing to pay. Not what it is worth. In my LIFE I have not seen such mass hysteria. It's a wonderful product. I am buying one, maybe two, myself. But I literally have no responsibilities left in life. I'm still not going to dump top top dollar into one of these things. I just can't be that foolish.

 

[FlatSix911]

OH darn, I screwed up. But my point remains ... plus couple thou. What ARE we paying for?

You raise a good point... the value equation is reversed and you now get less and pay more.

Currently, the OEMs charge what the market will bear... until you cannot bear the market!

Things will change after eBikes are produced in larger volumes and costs will drop proportionally.

 

[FlatSix911]

You could post a picture of a Tour de France racing bike that costs more than the motorcycle. The answer is the same, it costs what it costs.

A fool and his money are soon parted... Proverbs 21:20

 

[Dallant]

Totally disagree. Assault rifle buyers are way more into mass hysteria.

 

[J.R.]

The square foot of most good bike shops about equals most MC dealers. Sales staff, support staff and trained ebike technicians all likely make similar wages as their MC counterparts. Insurance, taxes and other overhead is similar. Ebike units sold has got to be less. Manufacturing quality ebikes would be less, but how much less. There's a baseline for manufacturing quality goods by trained personnel. I'm not sure how much can be trimmed. A manufacturer and dealer will have to have a higher profit margin for ebikes just to stay in business.

 

[FlatSix911]

Totally disagree. Assault rifle buyers are way more into mass hysteria.

FUD and more nonsense... stay on topic or take if offline.

 

[reed scott]

The square foot of most good bike shops about equals most MC dealers. Sales staff, support staff and trained ebike technicians all likely make similar wages as their MC counterparts. Insurance, taxes and other overhead is similar. Ebike units sold has got to be less. Manufacturing quality ebikes would be less, but how much less. There's a baseline for manufacturing quality goods by trained personnel. I'm not sure how much can be trimmed. A manufacturer and dealer will have to have a higher profit margin for ebikes just to stay in business.

Thoughtful. Thanks. What does it cost fo produce a top quality front fork, say? Maybe a hundred bucks. What does that fork retail for? 8 ,, 9 hundred? What's going on? There's one or two middle men in between you and the manufacturer making more money than the manufacturer or the retailer ... for doing nothing. Just being in the broker's chair. All these products are Chinese goods. Who's determining the broker?

It depends on what it’s worth to you. Lots of analog bikes cost huge money before ebikes came along. What we are paying for is what we want. In my case it’s a great investment in my health and my enjoyment of life. I sold my last motorcycle and used that money to buy my Allant+7. Very worth it to me.
Hell, your iPhone probably cost at least a third of most ebikes!

It depends on what it’s worth to you. Lots of analog bikes cost huge money before ebikes came along. What we are paying for is what we want. In my case it’s a great investment in my health and my enjoyment of life. I sold my last motorcycle and used that money to buy my Allant+7. Very worth it to me.
Hell, your iPhone probably cost at least a third of most ebikes!

You speak truth. But I bet you didn't spend more than $6k on your present ebike. Probably significantly less. My point is we are caught up in a sort of hysterical moment. But then so what? It's only money. And we can't take it with us.

 

[reed scott]

The square foot of most good bike shops about equals most MC dealers. Sales staff, support staff and trained ebike technicians all likely make similar wages as their MC counterparts. Insurance, taxes and other overhead is similar. Ebike units sold has got to be less. Manufacturing quality ebikes would be less, but how much less. There's a baseline for manufacturing quality goods by trained personnel. I'm not sure how much can be trimmed. A manufacturer and dealer will have to have a higher profit margin for ebikes just to stay in business.

I maintain that is because there is 30 or 40%, or more, padded into the production costs ... going somewhere. After all we ARE talking about a command-and-control economy producing all these goods.

 

[Latitude]

How can this:
View attachment 64859

Be worth 2/3 of this:
View attachment 64860
Explain it to me.

Wow, that Trek is a seriously beautiful piece of engineering! Nice motorbike too.

 

[PDoz]

How can this:


Be worth 2/3 of this:

Explain it to me.

The good news is that 1290 duke is currently discounted by $5900 in oz - enough to buy a pretty good emtb.

 

[PDoz]

So I've been wandering around testing the smiles per $ theory. Taken to the extreme stupidity of over priced top of the price range , what were they thinking land.....I present to you

Specialized turbo levo sl , s works - the ego boosting my accountant is smarter than yours....a measly $21k oz

BMW k 1600 B , officially the only possible use of the phrase " grand america" , and that's arguably because of the extra grand you pay......do we have any takers for $45 k?

I feel a bit dirty for looking at those website, so there had better be a point to this post.

Perhaps " glad I can't afford that" ?

 

[john peck]

I ´occasionally´ break things. Sometimes I´m clumsy. I really can´t afford to be that clumsy! My current ride, $1200.
My previous ride cost more than twice that & became a money pit riddled with down time. The current bike is by far the
better all-around bike, & I would not suffer greatly if I ruined it.

 

[Nova Haibike]

Explain it to me.

That bike has a carbon fiber frame and carbon wheels too. Carbon fiber construction is really expensive. It has to be done by hand. Even if you buy a frame and wheels direct from China, it would still likely cost over $1K just for those two items.

 

[Dallant]

You speak truth. But I bet you didn't spend more than $6k on your present ebike. Probably significantly less. My point is we are caught up in a sort of hysterical moment. But then so what? It's only money. And we can't take it with us.

No I didn’t spend $6k on my ebike. I guess that proves I’m not hysterical about it but then I think that word just doesn’t apply to ebikes. People spend ridiculous (IMO) money on LOTS of stuff that make no sense. At least these make great sense to me in the scheme of things.
My opinion, especially as I get into my later 60s, is that life is short (even shorter now!) and we need to do this while we can. One of my brothers died in his early 50s. Watching him die so young really changed my attitude so I say go for if you can while you can!