I think that’s in large part because of COVID demand and shipping cost increases.
But in the end, people keep buying them. Bike companies wouldn’t be pushing prices and expensive components if people didn’t pay it.
There were several years there where companies offered lots of combinations of disc/rim, mech/electronic, etc and it’s pretty clear which were bringing in more money.
If tomorrow everybody stopped buying $8k+ bikes and stuck with mid range bikes then bike prices would fall pretty quickly.
Everyone was focused on the headtube when it’s the top of the fork that’s what looks really weird to me. I bet it has something to do with leading air onto the downtube smoothly but it still just looks off.
This is exactly it. I was looking at getting a pair of new shoes and was initially interested in a pair of Nimbl. However, after seeing how many pros are wearing them in the TdF its blatantly obvious that their insane price is not due to money being put into R&D and the product but, instead, spent on marketing
I have a pair of nimble since last March, I am aware of the thread and latest posts on the WW forum, but in my experience I had a great experience with them. They promptly replied to my emails and the shoes are great looking / comfy and perform equally great (5000kms on them).
My professional bike fitter recommended them to me as he tried them and many of his clients had great feedbacks on them.
I know a couple of people, besides me, who have the Ultimate as well and they share my experience
I can’t talk about the owner, but the product itself is phenomenal.
I tend to think shoes are such personal and specific to anyone which can be polarising
Nah, 5W faster, 150g lighter - one bike to rule them all… again.
Most of that saving comes from the aero handlebars, that would work on the SL7, too, and probably loses a lot of its’ advantage over a Rapide 2-piece cockpit, once a computer is in front of the fat stem clamp.
I really hope they step up their aero game again and try to maximize the new rule set to match bikes like the Simplon Pride 2 and keep the weight at 7.3-7.4kg.
I’d pull the trigger on a bike like that in no time.
Very unlikely that this Tarmac will be such bike. Deeper head tube, more aero handlebars, maybe a little more aero fork. Seat post and seat stays look less aero though. Same wheels. Clearly not as aero as Simplon, Canyon Aeroad or so.
Yep, there might actually be news tomorrow. Apparently, EU prices on top end DA models might be down a couple hundred bucks, which would be a welcome shift.
That would make sense given that Shimano announced drop in sales and demand recently and that their groupsets are available pretty widely right now at a substantial discount to list price. If full build prices didn’t drop a bit then becomes pretty attractive to buy a frameset and do your own build. Especially with so many brands still being so inflexible on spec with their full builds.
