Call me tight but!!

[fossyant]

The main thing is about getting something that is good for the job at a reasonable price.

I do have a fair bit of bling, but it's a good few years old, and has worked out pretty cheap in the end.

£2k wheels, on our roads ? Saw a guy on last year's Cheshire Cat with a pair of Lightweights, on the roads we have round here, crikey ? I'm a big advocate of quality handbuilts.

Always worth shopping about for getting some good kit, at low prices.

 

[Bluebell72]

I also opened the thread expecting to see before and after pics of someone's buttocks. Pff.

 

[festival]

Tell me if i am wrong but a lot of comments so far (and in general on this forum) is about stuff that does a job and being happy with it.

And if your happy that the product is serviceable(if that's the right term ) then that's great.

If Contador rode the TdF in lidle kit (forget bikes for the moment) I reckon he would still win it, but I bet he would say it made life difficult.

Is a pair of top of the range assos bibshorts at £ 175 better than say, endura fs260 pro,s at £60. Yes.

But are they £115 better. No.

Are the endura all of £45 better than a pair of lidles at £15 (i am guessing the price here) Yes. I may not have used them but i have seen enough to be sure.

Its got nothing to do with snobbery, there is a level of quality & performance in a product that will not only make you more comfortable but will allow you to perform better, and while it wont turn you into a Contador you can benefit, whatever kind of cycling you do.

I know this will be taken wrongly by some, I don't mean to offend, but even with the better kit you sometimes have to try different makes before you find the one for you.
I believe its a bit like having a high performing, breathable rain jacket, if you wear a cotton t-shirt underneath its not going to work and you will feel uncomfortable to say the least. I am sure no one here would do such a thing but in a more subtle way getting a combination of high performing kit makes a big difference. You don't have to spend big to get things right but, if you have never experienced the right kit you wont understand what you are missing .

You may be happy with what you use but please accept top of the range kit is better.

I do however think in general a lot of cycle kit is slightly over priced, but believe me the margin for the retailer on a lot of products is not that much.

Having said all that, if your happy, great, enjoy.

 

[Nebulous]

Is a pair of top of the range assos bibshorts at £ 175 better than say, endura fs260 pro,s at £60. Yes.

But are they £115 better. No.

Are the endura all of £45 better than a pair of lidles at £15 (i am guessing the price here) Yes. I may not have used them but i have seen enough to be sure.

For you maybe - but not for everybody. We all draw the line at different places, depending on what we see as affordability and value. Otherwise Lidl wouldn't get any trade at all - instead of selling out of the most popular biking items on the day they come into stock.

Probably my most popular item of biking wear is my Lidl sleeveless baselayer. It's a compression top, which holds my heart rate monitor strap in place, and just feels very comfortable and right. At the same time the thing that has caused me most grief since I got my bike is my Lidl computer. It's just about impossible to get it working consistently and it has let me down on two of the most important rides I have done to date, including my first TT.

I'm reluctant to spend money on clothes, either on or off the bike, yet people here keep complaining about the cost of sports drinks and my High 5, 4:1 powder is something I absolutely don't grudge at all.

That's me though - but the world is all the same. Some people ride a cheap bike and believe themselves rich beyond all dreams because they possess a bike at all, other people pay thousands for a bike as a toy for when they aren't driving one of their stable of cars.

 

[al-fresco]

The thing is that few (possibly none) of these companies actually make stuff - they just buy it from factories that do. I used to live near an outdoor clothing factory and I could buy an un-badged fleece jacket for about £15. But if I wanted a Berghaus badge on the same fleece the price would have been £90.

My Aldi jerseys aren't stylish (bloody ugly in fact) - but they function exactly the same as my Endura ones that cost 3 times as much. My £5 Aldi computers ars clunky - but they work better than my friends Cateye Strada Double Wireless which after £90 and 2 replacement sensors got thrown in the bin.

But when I bought a Surly Cross Check I definitely paid more than I should have for a bike of that spec - and it was made in a factory in Taiwan that probably makes loads of bikes for other companies. The thing is, I wanted one, I could afford one and now that I've got it I love the damned thing more than any other bike I've ever owned. Pretty much the definition of a successful purchase.

So while some stuff is more expensive for a reason, it's better designed and made to a higher spec, some stuff is more expensive just because of the badge they put on it and sometimes cheap stuff functions as well or better than more expensive stuff. None of this matters at all. If you like it and can afford it that's fine but it's your money and if you'd rather spend it on something else that's fine too.

(Though I'm amazed that anybody spends money on energy drinks when there's beer!)

 

[festival]

To the last 2 posts, al-fresco & nebulous, I agree with your sensible and considered comments in the main. e.g. under vests, factories etc

I would pay extra to look stylish though,(not fashionable )but that must always include function & performance.

Working in the the cycle trade means I am not well off.

Question... how do you make a million in the cycle trade ? Answer... Start with 2 million.

Lastly, if you can fit into the better (higher priced) stuff it does generally work better IMO.

 

[Cush]

When I buy clothing wether it is intended mainly for cycling, walking or to be used in the gym I look at how functional it is. I will often wear the same vest in the gym and then after it has been washed as an undershirt for walking or cyling and I will use the same jacket for checking a footpath as I will for a twenty mile ride. As for popular fashion and style I give that up years ago. I am my man (with the permission of SWMBO) and I wear and do what suits me providing it is not offencive. And it is the same for branded clothing, if it is at a sencible price and does what I want I will buy it.

 

[VentureBikes]

I'm sorry but as "Cyclists" how can you not understand that the cycle industry must produce new product and new innovations whether you agree with them or not (or more to the point want to open your wallet to buy them) in order to keep the industry alive and bike shops afloat etc. If every cyclist was happy enough to ride round on "an old 531 frame" and cheap kit, the industry would be done for. At least the leisure market would be!

 

[Alembicbassman]

When I see £1000 bikes discounted to £450 I assume the profit margins are too high.

It's even worse with clothes that are knocked out in the Far East for pence per garment and sell for £50-£100

Decathlon seems to offer best bang for buck. Their stuff is guaranteed for 2 years and their warranty is no quibble. Their 5 series cycling garments are superb.

I've had stitching fail on some Aldi stuff, never on a Decathlon garment.

 

[lulubel]

For you maybe - but not for everybody. We all draw the line at different places, depending on what we see as affordability and value. Otherwise Lidl wouldn't get any trade at all - instead of selling out of the most popular biking items on the day they come into stock.

The other issue here (for some people) is how long you're going to be wearing it for. My Aldi cycling gear is great for an hour or so, but if I'm going to be on the bike for half a day or more, I want something that keeps drier (regardless of how much I'm sweating) and doesn't leave me suffering from soreness and chafing for the next few days. That tends to be more expensive gear that uses higher quality materials.

However, to agree with some other comments, a few years back, my OH and I bought matching zip-up hoodies in Primark for less than a tenner each. We still have them and, apart from being faded, they're just like new in every other respect. A few weeks after we bought them, we saw the same fleeces, with a different dye job and a bit of extra trim, for £60+ each in Fat Face.

 

[avalon]

No Aldi or lidl around here, although I am still using gear that I bought from them a few years ago. No longer buy the magazines as they are too expensive and there is more than enough information on the internet. If I need bike parts I can compare prices online and most of the time get them at a good price either from e bay or from one of the online bike shops.

 

[sadjack]

I subscribe to cycling+ and have for a while now been considering cancelling. My last issue is under the coffee table looking sorry and neglected

There is a place for expensive kit, and there is a place for value for money. But I am finding more and more that flicking through cycling+ and other mags for that matter, that the content does not reflect my outlook.

I would love to find a mag that is a bit more "general" in its outlook.

I am a lard a*s* and I cycle for fun, I think of myself as a rambler on a bike, we ride out dressed in Aldi and Lidle gear to some place through great countryside. We don't tear about trying to see how fast we get there.

Now I have read this thread I must really get round to cancelling that subscription

 

[bigjim]

Our local library stocks cycling plus so I always have a good read for nothing. It was me suggested they should stock cycling mags as they had walking mags. car mags etc.

 

[Oxo]

My wife recently returned an expensive branded waterproof walking jacket which, after five years of regular wear, had started to let water through when caught in a heavy downpour. The shop immediately offered her a replacement coat, her choice of any item in the shop up to the value of the original jacket, or her money back. A result for buying branded goods where the retailer has a reputation to maintain.

 

[VentureBikes]

You will never find a mag on which supermarkets to find cheap garments or second hand bikes, as mentioned before...this outlook will kill the industry thus it has no interest in advising the public to do so. generally speaking you do get what you pay for and just like the motor industry the hight end/competition side of the market is what eventually filters down to what the leisure cyclist uses. its very much necessary to keep it all alive and well for all sectors of cycling, therefore this is whats pushed and advertised....it makes sense when you think about it.