We’ve all seen the rapid escalation of bike prices in recent years.
We only need to look back through the BikeRadar archives to see how much things have changed over the past decade.
In 2014, I awarded the £1,849.99 Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 a full 5 stars, praising its full Shimano 105 groupset, Shimano wheels and a complement of quality components, which made it a superb all-round bike. It wasn’t cheap, but it was very good.
Today, a 105-equipped Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 – which doesn’t have a full 105 group – has an RRP of £3,200. In 10 years, the price has risen by £1,350. That’s a 72.97% increase.
I’ve singled out Cannondale here, but it’s an industry-wide trend – bikes have simply got much, much more expensive.
Even online big-value specialists such as Canyon are affected.
Canyon offered the Ultimate CF SL 9.0 in November 2013 for £1,899, replete with a full Shimano Ultegra groupset and Mavic’s legendary Ksyrium wheelset.
Today, the equivalent Ultimate would be the CF SL 7 with 105 Di2 and Shimano wheels for the princely sum of £3,999.
Yes, there have been improvements in tech over the intervening years that will have had some effect on pricing, but in the case of the Canyon, more than double? It hardly seems justified.
It’s a similar story at the high end. When I tested the pure superbike Specialized S-Works Tarmac Disc in 2014, it was £8,000 for the Dura-Ace Di2-equipped flagship. An astronomical sum at the time.
Now, an S-Works with the same specification level will set you back £12,000 – that’s a 50 per cent increase.
A small caveat
To be fair to the bike industry, recent external forces have had a negative effect and the fallout from the pandemic is still being felt, although stock shortages and then overstocking could be viewed as somewhat self-inflicted issues.
The huge increase in shipping costs is not. In the UK, the fallout from the dreaded B-word, and other political and economic uncertainties have all had a negative impact.
More recently, there have been new, punitive tariffs, too. That said, prices were on the rise before all of this upheaval.
Who’s bucking the trend – and how?
Thankfully, it’s not all bad news.
A handful of brands are bucking the trend and offering excellent value for money.
But how do these brands achieve such competitive pricing?
We first need a primer on how the bike industry works.
In the traditional brand-distributor-retailer model, a bike manufacturer will make a bike for a set price. A profit margin is then added to this before the bike is moved on to a distributor and/or retailer and another margin is added. All of this influences the final price consumers pay.
With no distributor or shops to ‘pay’, direct-to-consumer brands have a big advantage, with a whole layer of margin cut out.
There’s also a semi-direct-to-market model.
Here, brands either own their retail partners or are an in-house brand for a much larger retailer.
Again, the manufacturer can avoid a whole layer of margin usually headed to the third-party retailer.
Cube surprises with impressively affordable prices
SQUIRREL_TEXT_13194528
Distributed by Oneway, Cube operates on a traditional model and has brought out a range of bikes for 2025 that put many direct-to-market brands to shame. It seems Cube and Oneway are happy to make less profit in order to better serve consumers.
The Attain C:62 SLT is a carbon endurance bike with a full Ultegra Di2 groupset and carbon wheels by house brand Newmen that costs only £2,999. It is a great bike – I know that for a fact because I’ve been testing it.
This pricing is completely unheard of these days.
I checked my archive of tests and found the last time I’d reviewed a Cube with a similar specification for this sort of money was back in 2015. It’s a remarkable feat.
Cube’s top-end race machine – as ridden by Intermarché-Wanty – the Litening C:68X SLT, comes with full Dura-Ace Di2, 60mm-deep Newmen Streem carbon aero wheels and full carbon finishing kit for an amazing £7,299.
That’s £701 less than the 2014 S-Works Tarmac. On the gravel side, the Nuroad C:62 SLT with Newmen carbon gravel wheels and the latest SRAM Red AXS XPLR groupset is £5,999 – an astonishing price for a serious gravel bike.
SQUIRREL_13194528
Brilliant Boardman
Boardman Bikes – the eponymous brand of one of the UK’s greatest-ever riders – operates on a semi-direct model, with its bikes available only through nationwide retailer Halfords or online via Tredz.
Boardman’s price list is impressive – the new range-topping SLR 9.8, with Zipp’s 353 NSW wheelset and SRAM Red AXS, is priced at £5,500.
I tested the 2012 Boardman SLR 9.8 with Zipp wheels and SRAM Red. It cost £4,999.99 back then – £500.01 of inflation in 13 years is something I can stomach against the backdrop of the rest of the market.
Boardman’s gravel offerings are great value, too, as is the remainder of the SLR range. I look forward to Boardman rolling out more updated bikes, especially if the pricing is this keen.
Value from Van Rysel
Van Rysel – which is sold exclusively through sports supermarket Decathlon – claims to have the cheapest bike in the WorldTour, with the RCR Pro Team Edition at £9,000 (although Cube may have something to say about that with the Litening).
That shows a commitment to serious bike design without the serious price tags.
Direct-to-consumer still has an edge
SQUIRREL_TEXT_13194529
Ribble dominates in the UK for riders looking for a budget build from a direct-to-consumer brand.
Originally, Ribble’s extensive range was peppered with open-mould/catalogue designs. With no bespoke R&D or moulds required, that helped keep prices keen.
However, for more than a decade, Ribble has been designing in-house, making some bold and intriguing bikes along the way – see the Ultra and the Ultra-inspired AllRoad SL R for proof.
That has seen a small uplift in prices, but they’re still very keen.
You can’t argue with the Ultra–Aero SLR Hero at £7,999 with Dura-Ace Di2 and Zipp 303s, for example.
SQUIRREL_13194529
The global market
Internationally, I’d single out Rose as offering great bikes in the direct-to-consumer arena. Sadly, post-Brexit, we can’t get them here in the UK, but if I was in Europe, the race-ready XLite 6 with SRAM Red AXS (and power meter) and carbon wheels is impressive for €7,499.
Over in the US, State has some great options at the lower end of the market and a very good-looking machine in the shape of the State Titanium All-Road.
The base price is unbelievable for a quality titanium frame and carbon fork, never mind a complete bike. It comes with State’s own groupset and alloy wheels.
State offers build options with SRAM Apex XPLR AXS, and wheel options from manufacturers such as ENVE. So you can build your own bargain.
Will anything change industry-wide?
We can but hope that if challengers such as Cube in brick-and-mortar stores, Boardman and Van Rysel in the hybrid space, and direct-to-market challengers such as Ribble, State and the performance-pitched Rose can sustain these keen prices, it’ll shake up the competition.
New players entering the global market such as Elves, X-Lab, Winspace, Wiawis, and many others, will also be more keenly priced.
I’d like to think the entrance of Asian bike brands into the pro tour, with China’s X-Lab and the XDS bikes being ridden by Astana, could shake things up somewhat.
That said, entering the hugely costly world of professional sponsorship could blunt some of X-Lab's edge.
A few other brands seem to be taking price concerns from consumers seriously too.
Early glimpses at ranges from the likes of Ridley, Argon 18, Focus and Canyon suggest more of an emphasis on price, or at the very least maintaining prices in the face of escalating costs.
If players such as these start to take market share from the big four (Giant, Specialized, Trek and Cannondale) something will have to give. Then we might see a return to bikes being merely expensive rather than unattainable.
