Bikes are really bloomin’ expensive now: Google knows it, your local bike shop knows it, and your significant other knows it too when you come home with another ‘must have’ bit of kit.

Here’s the question though; is that because the price of everything has gone up over time? Or is it because bike brands are exploiting us and charging more than they should?

We don’t know much about finance here at mbr, but there’s one thing we do know plenty about, and that’s the best mountain bikes on the market. That’s going to help us answer the question, because we’ve reviewed thousands of bikes over the years, and we can even compare prices going back nearly three decades (thanks to our archive of magazines) to find out what’s really going on.

Bikes are better than they used to be

Before we get to the question though, there’s another point to think about. Bikes are more expensive now, but they’re also much better in almost every way. Does that mean they SHOULD cost more? Here’s a little anecdote to highlight the point.

Danny Milner with his first mountain bike, a Muddy Fox Pathfinder from 1989

Danny Milner, mbr’s head honcho, was an early mtb geek. He bought his first MTB in 1989, it was a Muddy Fox Pathfinder with a rigid steel frame, cantilever brakes, 18 clunky gears and some agricultural components. It cost him £330.

Muddy Fox Pathfinder from 1989 with fetching purple and yellow ‘crackle’ paint job

That £330 now would be worth £850, according to the Bank of England’s own inflation calculator. So what could he get now with the same purchasing power he had in 1989? Try the Grand Canyon 7 for size, it’s an alloy hardtail with a suspension fork, hydraulic disc brakes, modern geometry, and 29in wheels. The two are not even in the same universe when it comes to performance.

Our reviews tell the same story. We’ve been testing £500 hardtails every year since 1997, and you could go back to any of those tests and I guarantee the best £500 bikes now will ride better than any of those models. They’ve got better suspension, better brakes, better sizing and geometry. You name it, the performance has improved.

The Scott Lumen is more than £14,000, but with modern tech it’s incomparable with bikes from yesteryear

£14,000 for a bike, is that good value?!

So bikes are better at the entry level, but what about those costing north of £10,000. No one outside private dentistry could consider them reasonably priced.

However, you’ve always had to pay a premium in mountain biking for the latest tech. If you look at the most expensive bikes available in 1997, like the GT STS and the Cannondale Super V 4000 downhill bike, they were four grand (£4k). Adjusted for inflation, that should mean a top-of-the-line bike now would cost around £8k. But most brands are charging another 50% on top. So there’s definitely a new market for high end stuff that has evolved, targeting the one-percenters.

This is arguably a new category of bike we’ve just not seen before. Comparing an e-bike with all the associated research and development costs and the extra parts needed – battery, motor, screens, wires and bracing and so on – to a regular mountain bike isn’t really possible.

A Cannondale Super V 4000 DH advertised in a 1997 issue of MBR for £4,390

The inflation argument

By and large, mountain bikes cost around 10% more than they should be, after allowing for inflation as calculated by the Bank of England. I won’t go back into the details of the bikes I’ve looked at to come to this conclusion because I covered that in a previous article – Are we all being ripped off by mountain bike brands?

We’re being ripped off then? Yes, at the ultra high end there’s no doubt that value for money is at its lowest, and worse than it was in the past, assuming that the Bank of England’s inflation figures are correct (and whether the Bank has it right is a whole other story that’s beyond the remit of this website!). But entry-level-to-mid-priced bikes are probably less expensive than they’ve ever been (and better performing) though, which is a big consolation.

We’re also in the middle of a big price correction, with bikes still being discounted all over the web and in stores. This is exactly how the bike business (and any market, in fact) should work, with prices adjusted when they’re too expensive for people to afford. Yes there’s been an oversupply of bikes and that’s also causing prices to plummet, but that’s all baked into the prices of the bikes, which are now correcting downwards.