Cycling UK Forum

Has anyone else noticed the rise in the price of Might just be 8 speed, notice the prices seemed to have just about doubled recently last SRAM PC 850 was £6 12 months ago now £11 pounds.

I've noticed 8sp stuff going up in price a bit. The cheaper chains (like the KMC Z8S) seem to be out of stock everywhere and I've noticed that 8 speed cassettes have been a bit more expensive too. I think the spring bike boom, especially people digging their older 7/8sp bikes out of the shed and getting them back on the road, might have led to lower stocks and less need to discount for the manufacturers.

Is that preassembled?

Jonathan

Jdsk wrote:Is that preassembled?

Jonathan

Probably.

Until IKEA start selling chains.

Shimano 8 speed are under £7 including postage, but not seeing the problem tbh for something that costs so little, prices were really under true value for a long while and hadn't shifted for 7/8 speed so around the £10-£12 mark is probably where it should have been anyway if they'd have increased in line with inflation over the years.

By contrast the entry point price for 11-speed chains has been going down. The going rate for a SRAM PC-1110 from the usual online suspects is now around a tenner.

AndyK wrote:By contrast the entry point price for 11-speed chains has been going down. The going rate for a SRAM PC-1110 from the usual online suspects is now around a tenner.

Economy of scale. There are more 11 speed setups requiring chains now, so they make more, and the price reduces.

Yes I have noticed the price of humble 8 and 9 speed chains going up, particularly from the likes of chainreaction, who have long been more interested in more exotic stuff.
Luckily I have good stocks.
But KMC 8 speed chains here from Bike 24 at a tiny whisker over 6 EUROS.

https://www.bike24.com/p2328749.html?menu=1000,2,83

Fairly hefty postage of course, but can be offset by savings on other stuff, or indeed just by buying several chains at a time - and leave chainreaction to their margin boosting.

edit
and Rose
£6.31
https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/kmc-z8-8-sp ... in-2677488

Sweep wrote:Yes I have noticed the price of humble 8 and 9 speed chains going up, particularly from the likes of chainreaction, who have long been more interested in more exotic stuff.
Luckily I have good stocks.
But KMC 8 speed chains here from Bike 24 at a tiny whisker over 6 EUROS.

https://www.bike24.com/p2328749.html?menu=1000,2,83

Fairly hefty postage of course, but can be offset by savings on other stuff, or indeed just by buying several chains at a time - and leave chainreaction to their margin boosting.

But not much in terms of range of chains.
I suspect Covid and Brexit will mean prices in general will increase! Presumably parts from Bike24 will have an import tariff.

FWIW part of the reason the Z8S is 'out of stock' may be because they don't call it that any more. Z8.1 and Z8.3 models are similar to the old Z8 series.

But prices are up; that is what happens when currency is weak and supplies are less than normal.

cheers

^
probably will be the first thing stolen off your bike if left any where

Marcus Aurelius wrote:

AndyK wrote:By contrast the entry point price for 11-speed chains has been going down. The going rate for a SRAM PC-1110 from the usual online suspects is now around a tenner.

Economy of scale. There are more 11 speed setups requiring chains now, so they make more, and the price reduces.

Yup. Though I doubt 11-speed chains ever cost that much more to make, it's partly that they were charging what they thought the market would stand. And to be fair there's an initial investment in design and tooling.

Meanwhile 8-speed is slipping slowly from "mass market" towards "only on old bikes" and will eventually end up as "vintage/retro" so the chains will cost three times as much.

I suspect there is another factor too: judging by the number of special offers in the trade, I think KMC were deliberately running their stocks down over many months before they launched their new, shiny, revamped range. (Which seems to be much the same as the old range but with even more confusing names and stupid plastic cases.) Anyway, that forced SRAM to shave their prices to match, so the prices of chains were pushed down for a while. As some retailers took the opportunity to stock up, that still means some cheap chains are around if you look for them, like Sweep's example.

Brucey wrote:Z8.1 and Z8.3 models are similar to the old Z8 series.

Though not identical to each other, as I recall finding out the hard way.

Sweep wrote:Yes I have noticed the price of humble 8 and 9 speed chains going up, particularly from the likes of chainreaction, who have long been more interested in more exotic stuff.
Luckily I have good stocks.
But KMC 8 speed chains here from Bike 24 at a tiny whisker over 6 EUROS.

https://www.bike24.com/p2328749.html?menu=1000,2,83

Fairly hefty postage of course, but can be offset by savings on other stuff, or indeed just by buying several chains at a time - and leave chainreaction to their margin boosting.

edit
and Rose
£6.31
https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/kmc-z8-8-sp ... in-2677488

I'd rather have the Shimano IG51 over that Z8 having used both, the Shimano is cheaper and widely available in UK cheaper including postage.

enough fake KMC chains out there that they have this page on their website

https://www.kmcchain.eu/Fake_chains_The_price_of_succes

cheers