Ask the Trade: The bike price is right?

The RRP of bikes is under the spotlight, but the ‘are bikes too expensive?’ debate is only the tip of the iceberg. Customers are price and deal orientated as the cost of living crisis endures, while the UK’s newly formed Trade Remedies Authority is recommending relaxing high tariffs on China eBikes which – if enacted – will bring more cheaper eBikes into the market and has further ignited the bike price debate. But will cheaper bikes actually going to benefit the trade?

POST-BREXIT, THE UK’S TRADE REMEDIES AUTHORITY RECOMMENDS THE REDUCTION OF ANTI-DUMPING TAX ON CHINESE EBIKES. NOW IT’S EXAMINING WHETHER LEVIES ON NON-ELECTRIC BIKES AND CERTAIN P&A FROM CHINA SHOULD BE RELAXED… DO WE NEED CHEAPER EBIKES AND ‘NORMAL’ BIKES (AND ‘CERTAIN’ P&A)? IS PRICE REALLY WHAT’S HOLDING THE INDUSTRY/ CYCLING BACK RIGHT NOW?

Gavin Hudson, Butternut Bikes
There’s no doubt that cheaper eBikes would sell in big numbers, but it wouldn’t be through bike shops, and it wouldn’t be bikes of a quality that could be repaired and used for years to come. P&A can be bought very cheaply at trade prices, so other than benefiting D2C channels (eBay, Amazon), I don’t see that it would help a lot. If people can buy a cheap bike really cheap, they probably won’t spend the same money on a quality bike, they’ll just spend less, and it will make the genuine quality bikes look more expensive. It’s not an issue that is particularly on my radar, I’d prefer to make it easier to import from Europe, perhaps some sort of trade bloc…

PLAYING DEVIL’S ADVOCATE – BIKE OWNERSHIP IS PRESUMABLY QUITE HIGH IN THE UK RIGHT NOW, AFTER COVID LOCKDOWNS AND SUSTAINED BIKE SALES TO CLEAR STOCK. THIS HASN’T APPARENTLY RESULTED IN A BOOM TIME FOR THE INDUSTRY, OR HIGHER NUMBERS OF CYCLISTS… SO CHEAPER BIKES AREN’T NECESSARILY THE WAY TO GROW THE MARKET? WOULD YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THAT?

Gavin Hudson, Butternut Bikes
There are a limited number of cyclists in the UK, perhaps something that the trade could do to encourage new bike sales is to find better ways of recycling used bikes? People are reluctant to throw away a low-quality bike, or one that is beyond economic repair. Perhaps if we
could tell people that there are genuine, good recycling/reuse schemes in place, it would free up some space in people’s lives for a new bike? Here in London the number one thing holding us back is the risk of theft. People are crammed into flats, upstairs and don’t have spare rooms, garages or even gardens. They don’t want their bike to be stolen from outside the house or when they are using it. Insurance and locks can only do so much, but they don’t want the emotional distress of bikes being nicked, let alone feeling that they will be jacked for their £5,000 eBike.

CONSUMERS ARE PRESUMABLY MORE PRICE CONSCIOUS THAN A FEW YEARS AGO, SO ARE CUSTOMERS COMPLAINING ABOUT PRICES (MORE THAN USUAL) AT THE MOMENT?

Gemma & James, RedSky Bikes
Customers are all so deal driven at the moment. Yes, they want to spend as little as possible but they also want to know that they are getting a deal. We see so many customers with new bikes that are the wrong bike for them, perhaps wrong size or wrong spec for what they want to do with it. But they bought it on the internet because it had 50% off and it was a bargain it should have been £8,000 and it
was reduced to £4,000.

I don’t think this is helping create lifetime cyclists. Your local bike shop is there to make sure you get matched up with the right bike to make sure you have years of enjoyment on it because it’s the right bike for you and your adventures. We do get asked a lot at the moment if we offer finance so customers can spread the cost and more uptake on cycle to work schemes recently.

Gavin Hudson, Butternut Bikes
The process of offering finance seems to be more hassle than it’s worth. Having said that, cycle to work schemes are still driving a lot of business. My gut feel is that people are making the most of them before they are watered down. You can’t listen too much to the people complaining about price. Let’s take an example of charging £100 or £90 for a service. If at £90, all ten customers go ahead, you’ve
got £900 in your till. If at £100, one customer turns it down, you’ve still got £900, but you’ve dodged the price conscious customer, and only had to do 9 services instead of 10.

WITH A SIGNIFICANT CHUNK OF THE YEAR’S TRADING NOW UNDER 2024’S BELT, HOW ARE THINGS COMPARING WITH 2023? JUST AS BAD, OR JUST ABOUT BOBBING ABOVE THAT DIRE YEAR?

Gemma & James, RedSky Bikes
We are trying to remain optimistic as bike enquiries have increased this year, but despite sales turnover and volume of bikes being up 30% vs the same time last year the profits are down due to the high discounts we have been forced to offer to try and win the sale.

Gavin Hudson, Butternut Bikes
Everyone likes to complain, it’s in our nature. 2023 was a record year for Butternut Bikes, and 2024 is 43% up on that, to date. So not
so much bobbing above, as surfing the storm. Any business can do well in nearly any market conditions, it’s all about how you adapt and market yourself. We don’t do nearly enough marketing locally, there’s loads more we could do. If every LBS spent one day a month doing some good quality marketing and not just managing the day to day, we could probably all do a lot better.

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