Why are Bikes more expensive than Motorcycles?

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Why are Bikes more expensive than Motorcycles?
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flag sebrios
Posted: Dec 26, 2016 at 14:43 Quote
Even the Aluminum versions... This is crazy!
Every time I talk to my friends, they say Bikes have a lot of technology... but doesnt the motorbikes do so too?

Maybe its a scale market... but, even like that, I think its not logic to have a much much more simple "machine" sold for twice the price of an other, just because they make less units?

what do you guys think?
flag StevieJB
Posted: Dec 27, 2016 at 2:00 Quote
It is stupid - I bought a new Honda CBR600F 3 years ago for a little over £6000 and paid for it over Honda supplied 3 years 0% finance. Makes push bikes seem mental expensive, especially when you break it down and look at the parts you get. Upside down forks, three brake calipers, 3 floating discs, aluminium frame, all up scaled compared to pushbikes, a 6 speed sequential gearbox, an engine that revs to 14000rpm giving 100bhp, all the electronics, lighting, fairings, seriously more tyre.
flag pegie
Posted: Dec 27, 2016 at 2:13 Quote
sebrios wrote:
Even the Aluminum versions... This is crazy!
Every time I talk to my friends, they say Bikes have a lot of technology... but doesnt the motorbikes do so too?

Maybe its a scale market... but, even like that, I think its not logic to have a much much more simple "machine" sold for twice the price of an other, just because they make less units?

what do you guys think?

what price range are you talking about? Rare Carbon\Alu bikes vs common alu motorbike frame?

I cant find any "decent" (not China noname) motorbike here in Poland for price i paid for my Reign 1.5 (2.2k$).
Most of the 10000$ bikes (that i think you are comparing to moto) are bikes that have the abilities and performance of those for 3k$ but are rare/handbuilt and there are people that can afford them, just to stand out from the crowd. You don't stand out with Honda/Yamaha or whatever ordinary brand in motorcycle world. Please compare the price of these, to products that are made for example by OCC, and you will see that bicycles, are still a lot cheaper than motorcycles.

Smile
flag chuckd71
Posted: Dec 31, 2016 at 6:55 Quote
Margins and economies of scale. When you buy something you aren't just buying that thing; you're buying a dealer's time, floor space, employee's pay and showroom rent. The cost of transporting the bikes, advertising and insurance has to come from somewhere too, and most of these costs might not change too terribly much regardless of what item is being sold. That's just my best guess, but then again there is nothing saying a product's cost to produce and it's MSRP need to be the same, just look at luxury brands, Ford/Chevy trucks, etc
flag eicca
Posted: Dec 31, 2016 at 17:34 Quote
Yeah it just occurred to me I bought my car for 1/3 the floor price of my bike...
flag nathan010
Posted: Jan 2, 2017 at 10:35 Quote
eicca wrote:
Yeah it just occurred to me I bought my car for 1/3 the floor price of my bike...

Good to know I'm not alone in that.
flag canadianoreos
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 5:07 Quote
cuz mountain bikes* are the best thing that ever happened to this world. Take any problem, then insert a mountain bike* into said problem, see, problem solved. Does that apply to motorcycles? no:P.



*may be substituted for bacon*
flag OneBanana
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 5:44 Quote
canadianoreos wrote:
cuz mountain bikes* are the best thing that ever happened to this world. Take any problem, then insert a mountain bike* into said problem, see, problem solved. Does that apply to motorcycles? no:P.



*may be substituted for bacon*

You really shouldn't give out reckless advice like that. I had a terrible case of piles so I tried inserting a mountain bike according to your recommendation, and suffice it to say that it really hasn't helped. You'll be hearing from my lawyers Razz
flag adrennan
O+ FL
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 9:16 Quote
One thing I think people forget when this conversation comes up is that the "F1" class of mountain bikes (the fully deced out carbon everything, eagle drivetrain, nicest suspension you can buy) is like 10k brand new. The "F1" class of dirtbikes (if you need top of the line suspension and engine) will run over 50k if you were to buy it. A low end dirtbike still costs what? like 2 grand brand new? the equivalent mountain bike (entry level) is like 500.

You also have to look at production and volume of sales. How many reputable dirt bike brands are there? 10? Each can have a decent market share. There are at least 100 mountain bike companies (making frames and completes) each one gets a much smaller market share, so all the overhead gets paid for out of a smaller volume of sales.

Also I think generally tolerances might be notably tighter on mountain bike frames and components to save weight and such which can drastically increase price.
flag flag-ty
O+
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 12:59 Quote
Also think about how light a bicycle is vs a motorcycle. Yes a motorcycle has a motor, but take the motor out and the bicycle still is way lighter. I think bicycles are expensive because of the material they are made out of. The material has to be light and be able to hold up to the abuse of riding it. When you want something that is both light and strong it's going to cost money.
flag ChukChuk
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 13:39 Quote
flag-ty wrote:
Also think about how light a bicycle is vs a motorcycle. Yes a motorcycle has a motor, but take the motor out and the bicycle still is way lighter. I think bicycles are expensive because of the material they are made out of. The material has to be light and be able to hold up to the abuse of riding it. When you want something that is both light and strong it's going to cost money.

Motorbikes also need to be light and strong as well.

@Adrennan,

I don't think the tolerances are all that different if you consider frame only. If you add in the engine then i think a motorbike edges out in front.

Just one other thing to consider, motorbike frames are usually made of aluminium or steel. Currently there aren't any mass produced bikes with carbon frames (that i know of).
flag flag-ty
O+
Posted: Jan 4, 2017 at 18:04 Quote
Agree to disagree. A 2015 yz450f comes in at 245 pounds with a msrp of 8,590. You can get a carbon downhill bike for around 5,000 and it will come in around 34 pounds. To me that shows that with a bike you are paying for the material it's made out of and the engineering to make them as light as possible.
flag sebrios
Posted: Jan 5, 2017 at 16:40 Quote
Dont you think a Motor, even a 125cc could be as pricy as a whole Mtb?
engeneering a motor ground up must be very very verrrrryyy expensive. Not to mention all the materials involved afterwards when making full production. And even the cheapest Motorbike should have a... Motor....

Thats what things dont seem right. I mean, can scale production lower the price by say 70%? I dont think so.

Also, they all have suspensions aswell. even tougher than the ones used in Mtb... so...
flag Bushamster21
Posted: Jan 5, 2017 at 19:19 Quote
Mountain biking technology has made some pretty big leaps over the last couple of years. And I think these jumps are outpacing the economy. People will pay for it, obviously. If the advancements in technology weren't so large then we wouldn't pay for the difference.

As a caveat, sometimes these jumps have more to do with trends and marketing. Like the push towards 27.5, now plus size, and a bit of a resurgence of the 29.
flag ChukChuk
Posted: Jan 6, 2017 at 5:46 Quote
sebrios wrote:
Dont you think a Motor, even a 125cc could be as pricy as a whole Mtb?
engeneering a motor ground up must be very very verrrrryyy expensive. Not to mention all the materials involved afterwards when making full production. And even the cheapest Motorbike should have a... Motor....

Thats what things dont seem right. I mean, can scale production lower the price by say 70%? I dont think so.

Also, they all have suspensions aswell. even tougher than the ones used in Mtb... so...

The engine is used across a range of motorbike models which helps to drive costs down.
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