[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I don’t think higher end road bikes of the sort you’d be looking out for would have been bought on a lockdown whim. Someone who suddenly wanted to take up cycling would have more likely bought an entry level hybrid or MTB. Those are the sort of bikes that are much more likely to constitute this deluge.

I've been looking for the lowest end road bike in India, the Triban RC100 from Decathlon. As a donor frame and wheelset for a Tiagra groupset transplant to make it into a competent gravel cum bikepacking cum Ladakh tour bike. I'm pretty sure nothing is available either on the local cycling groups or the OLX/Cyclop route (I just found an orange one after months of looking).

Considering this is the highest selling model for Decathlon and it's always going out of stock, they must have sold thousands of these. Yes maybe they are being sold micro locally like in friend circles and societies. I don't know. I'm just pretty sure there is no deluge of what I call chaddi hanger bikes in the market yet. I think this is going off topic on a thread for superbikes, but I only commented when I read about a bicycle deluge which most of us never saw. Now into the end of the second year of the pandemic. Maybe cycling is here to stay.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I don’t think higher end road bikes of the sort you’d be looking out for would have been bought on a lockdown whim. Someone who suddenly wanted to take up cycling would have more likely bought an entry level hybrid or MTB. Those are the sort of bikes that are much more likely to constitute this deluge.

Originally Posted by Sebring

That post-lockdown many are selling their bikes

The only bikes that are being sold in marginally larger numbers (compared to pre-covid) are Hercules and <random_Indian_or_chinese_brand> cycles. And those were always available on used markets in plenty large numbers even before Covid hit us.

Branded options in hybrid and MTB are still far and few (forget about high end road bikes). As for Decathlon bike options, the entry level MTBs (e.g. Mybike and few others) have increased on used platforms (Olx, etc.) but calling it a deluge is hardly the case.

I'd say people are still holding on to their cycles. In fact on the contrary, those cycles are being pushed to slow decay/rust due to non-usage and low/no maintenance. Just check the parking lots of your apartment complexes and you'll see the scene, especially with those local/chinese brand options (and even a few Decathlon options).

[superstarksa]

Originally Posted by Porcupine

A lot of people are moving in favour of 4-wheelers due to the pandemic as they/their families don't want to use public transports and cabs. A superbike sale might raise enough capital for an additional car in the garage maybe?

I am one such individual. Having driven all the while when I was outside India, post my move back home, I had stopped driving cars and was relying solely on my Pulsar 150 & public transport in Chennai.

I switched jobs/cities in August 2019 & had been waiting for my appraisal/hike to get a Interceptor (my trusted Pulsar was 10 years old). Planned to get it in April 2020 & then that got pushed because of lockdown to October 2020.

But seeing how the world had changed in 2020, I dropped my Interceptor plans and focused my attention to getting a car once again. Booked a Nexon in February 2021 and got it delivered in August. I think I still need a 2 wheeler and may be a pre-owned Interceptor (or the CB350) may still come home, if I can convince my wife to start driving the Nexon as well!

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I don't think a lot of those are realistically priced.

I find sellers post very high prices on Team-BHP, maybe with an assumption that enthusiasts don't have financial sense and will pay higher prices.

They don't know we are aware of prices at spare parts level and where to source them from

Totally agree.

Also the other factor, say if I purchase the bike at the exorbitantly high price, will it be that of VFM for me getting a used bike? Secondly after a couple of years if I want to move on to a bigger bike or if I want to sell it(already a 2nd owner), will I fetch a good value? I don't think so. I am causing a loss to myself by purchasing the bike at high price.

However good the bike is, no matter how many accessories one has put on, the price is fairly decided on the age, running, number of owners and spares availability.

[ajs85]

Few observations in my group (that also includes me, point 4 in my case where my bike is just parked since past 4 months):

1. Most superbikes are impulsive buys, once the initial euphoria fades away the bikes are in the market.
2. First purchases are just stepping-stone to superbike category, bikes like RE Interceptor, Triumph Street Twin, Harley 750 etc. Once the owner is comfortable and understands that yes the bike is not my impulse buy and I can handle bigger more powerful bikes they sell the old one to upgrade.
3. Covid Hit us very hard, thus bikes are just gracing the parking lots adding on to that fuel prices do play an important role in middle-class/ upper-middle-class.
4. Cheapest models in the line up leaves a lot to be desired, thus it does creates vaccumm for bigger and better upgrade options.
5. Migration from one place to other place too is playing an important role is sales of these bikes.
6. Some people have multiple bikes this thus adds substantially to maintenance cost and other associated costs like insurances/ EMI and thus people are cutting their liabilities.

It is very normal in superbike category to exhnagehands and thus some bikes have had multiple owners in the past.

[COMMUTER]

There is a high possibility that these are riders who planned to use these bikes for regular commute and found that they are being stumped by the high engine heat, high fuel consumption, high service costs, sparce and pricey spares and the poor condition of our roads which wont let them exploit a fraction of these bikes potential choosing the pragmatic way out of the mess they have got themselves in in the first place.

The problem of vandalism or theft too is pretty high for these machines. The average speed is not very high compared to regular 150cc machines either, especially when ridden in city traffic.

Finally, they would have come to terms with the fact that people don't give any attention to bikes like they used to a decade ago. This would have compounded the buyer's guilt.

When I was looking to buy my first vehicle I had to let go of biking because of these issues and Thank God I didnt fall for a bike back then.

Originally Posted by Mafia

By 2025 electric scooters will be the norm.

I would give cycles and bullock carts a abetter chance than battery bikes.

[AirbusCapt]

We need to understand that these sales/sales advertisement reflect the true state of our economy at the moment. The very fact that well to do people are letting go of their indulgences reflect that times are hard. Superbikes, expensive gizmos, the second home/holiday homes are all expenses that one can bear when things are great. The moment earnings are down, people begin to eliminate all non required expenses. All big shocks to the economy ( like the pandemic) will invariably have a recession in their wake. Right now we are entering the period of post pandemic recession post which we will enter a period of growth.

[no_fear]

+1 to the points above.

Another issue that many owners are facing now - lack of spares, tires, batteries. Many have not ridden their bikes for the past 2 years due to lockdowns. With the added service repair bills, and longer wait times, there is trend to just to sell the bikes and be rid of all headaches.

Got several queries in the past few days from folks who want to sell their bikes for the above reasons.

[wheeledwanderer]

Below could be potential reasons as I have some friends who are going through this.

1. Covid-19 has reduced the salaries of some and I know that there is cash crunch in households because of which people are disposing assets.

2. Some have realised that Investing so much on super bikes and then leaving them in the garages without riding is a dead investment. So they are on the classified section

3. After the HD wind up many think spares are costly to procure, no clear road map on how Hero would do it for HD service and spares and hence nobody wants to take risks.

4. Some are also considering reducing the debt burden due to uncertain future in terms of business, job etc. which the Covid-19 virus has brought to the forefront. There might be recession in sight is the prediction and hence most want to reduce the debt burden viz. EMI’s going on monthly basis.

[drift87]

It never struck me until last week that a 300 km ride costs me 48% more for the fuel cost as compared to what i had to pay one 1.5 years back. I am never contemplating selling my bike, but I can surely empathize with people whose ride routines would have been affected drastically. In case of cars, the petrol consumption per person is much lower and is relatively cheaper as compared to riding down individual super bikes.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

I dont think a lot of those are realistically priced.

I find sellers post very high prices on Team-BHP, maybe with an assumption that enthusiasts dont have financial sense and will pay higher prices.

They dont know we are aware of prices at spare parts level and where to source them from

Hehe, if you check OLX you will have a larger shock. The prices that they are quoting for 4/5+ year old bikes are same as what they paid for then on-road

The bike will obviously not sell and hence stay on OLX for many months or even a year at times. They don't understand what depreciation or time value of money means, so forget about getting a VFM deal easily. Even for unnecessary accessories, they expect a full or almost 80% price

Their rational -- current on-road price in 2021 - which simply makes them look like Rahul baba

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by Hoopoe

I noticed a strange thing today. In the Team-bhp for sale section 5 out of 20 bikes on the first page are Interceptors—all ridden below 10k.

This is common for RE interceptors in my opinion. One of the many reasons is that owners put up higher listing price just due to low odo readings and when it doesn't get sold they post again with minor price change.

Just for the record, none of these highlighted bikes are considered as 'Superbikes' in Team-BHP parlance; this thread should have been in 'Motorbikes' section rather than in 'Superbikes' sub-section. Many members have posted valid reasons for Superbikes though.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Their rational -- current on-road price in 2021 - which simply makes them look like Rahul baba

This is especially comical with Kawasaki's, which didnt have ABS as standard upto last 2 years or so.

[AirbusCapt]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

This is especially comical with Kawasaki's, which didnt have ABS as standard upto last 2 years or so.

My 2017 versys has abs as standard, over 4 years back.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

I believe
ridiculously high petrol prices could be one of the reasons Normal petrol is retailing at 110₹/lt in Maharashtra, I can not (don't want rather) imagine how much the high octane petrol costs now.

I was shocked to see that the amount of fuel that went in for the 740 Rupees I asked the attendant to fill my 12L tank up with was just 5.99L.....then I sort of got a heart attack upon looking at the price on the receipt - 126 Rs./L! (Normal petrol was 117 bucks).

As it turned out, it was the Premium petrol that Shell was pushing on unassuming two wheelers at this particular bunk! There was no label indicating this on the machine where I fuelled up. But since I was anyway going to fill in higher octane fuel to clean up the engine since I was facing issues due to bad fuel from HP, I let go.