Why are dumbells so EXPENSIVE!!!???

Like here for instance:
[url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/fixed-dumbells-stainless-steel-c-23_28_39.html[/url]

I'd looove to find some fixed weight dumbells at a "reasonable" price.. am I dreaming?

I know meng,

My friend just dropped 4 bills on a set of 110lbers. REDICULous

Whoa...200bucks for a 10kilo DB?

Are they made from gold?

EDIT: the rubber hex are a lot more reasonable 170 for 20kg...still pretty bad though.

[QUOTE=iDarren;320741901]Like here for instance:
[url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/fixed-dumbells-stainless-steel-c-23_28_39.html[/url]

I'd looove to find some fixed weight dumbells at a "reasonable" price.. am I dreaming?[/QUOTE]Stainless steel thats why. Amazon has better deals.

Btw..Any of the Aussies here ever bought something from gymandfitness? What did you get and what sort of quality is the product.

[QUOTE=HardKore79;320743761]Stainless steel thats why. Amazon has better deals.[/QUOTE]

Yeah but ALL their fixed weight sets are expensive...

e.g. [url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/fixed-dumbells-chrome-bells-c-23_28_40.html[/url]

[QUOTE=joe--;320744261]Btw..Any of the Aussies here ever bought something from gymandfitness? What did you get and what sort of quality is the product.[/QUOTE]

I bought this:
[url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/muscle-motion-bench-press-lat-pull-system-p-592.html[/url]

Overall OK quality BUT the barbell pins are dangerous IMO, as they are easily knocked/bumped out of position, and may even come off.... they do not lock solidly into position.

[QUOTE=iDarren;320741901]Like here for instance:
[url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/fixed-dumbells-stainless-steel-c-23_28_39.html[/url]

I'd looove to find some fixed weight dumbells at a "reasonable" price.. am I dreaming?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=joe--;320743291]Whoa...200bucks for a 10kilo DB?

Are they made from gold?

EDIT: the rubber hex are a lot more reasonable 170 for 20kg...still pretty bad though.[/QUOTE]


One piece machined stainless steel. very expensive to make. very cool looking.

One piece fixed weight will be cheapest if you build your on pro style dumbbells. there is no other way to make them cheap.

[QUOTE=strength_77;320742241]I know meng,

My friend just dropped 4 bills on a set of 110lbers. REDICULous[/QUOTE]

that's crazy- what style dbs did he get? i think they are around $1/pound around here and i thought that was expensive.

[QUOTE=Wildtim;320786611]One piece machined stainless steel. very expensive to make. very cool looking.

One piece fixed weight will be cheapest if you build your on pro style dumbbells. there is no other way to make them cheap.[/QUOTE]

i would think if you buy new, hexes are the cheapest. used would be the way to go, but it's kinda hard to find the weights you need if you are building a set and have some already. there was a set of hex up to 70# listed last week for $500 or something like that in my area. i found a set of 100# on craigslist for $25. :D

[QUOTE=animalfan;320814671]

i would think if you buy new, hexes are the cheapest. used would be the way to go, but it's kinda hard to find the weights you need if you are building a set and have some already. there was a set of hex up to 70# listed last week for $500 or something like that in my area. i found a set of 100# on craigslist for $25. :D[/QUOTE]


^^ thats right, all metal hex are the cheapest new.

There was an ad on craigslist for pairs of 25s, 50s, 70s, 75s, 80s and 85s for $100!!!
I emailed the guy, but I must have been too slow! I only needed the 25s, 50s and 70s. and could have resold the rest to make the $ back.

[QUOTE=buffbrown21;320842911]^^
There was an ad on craigslist for pairs of 25s, 50s, 70s, 75s, 80s and 85s for $100!!!
I emailed the guy, but I must have been too slow! I only needed the 25s, 50s and 70s. and could have resold the rest to make the $ back.[/QUOTE]

At that price in today's market! Mine were 39 cents a pound back in the mid 80's. They have held up very good. As far as why they are so expensive, if you can find USA, like WildTim said they are very expensive to make. But I heard that we actually ship the steel over to China, by cargo ship , they make the DB's and plates , then ship them back across to us by cargo ship, then it's freighted to the stores. Who's thinking this stuff up? You are paying 3X more for freight than you are for the steel!

[QUOTE=Crush505;320849971]At that price in today's market! Mine were 39 cents a pound back in the mid 80's. They have held up very good. As far as why they are so expensive, if you can find USA, like WildTim said they are very expensive to make. But I heard that we actually ship the steel over to China, by cargo ship , they make the DB's and plates , then ship them back across to us by cargo ship, then it's freighted to the stores. Who's thinking this stuff up? You are paying 3X more for freight than you are for the steel![/QUOTE]

You'll find that shipping the steel to china and them making something and shipping it back is cheaper than having them made totally in the USA. That is the reason for out-sourcing labour. Some one in china will work for a pitiful wage, far below western standards.

If your chinese labour works for 1/10th the pay of a US citizen, the shipping pays for itself and your profits increase.

Governements try to counter this with import/export taxes, I have no idea to what extent the US does this on sports equipment/raw steel, but it's usualy not enough to stop out-sourcing being the cheaper option.

[QUOTE=Essexlad;320855901]You'll find that shipping the steel to china and them making something and shipping it back is cheaper than having them made totally in the USA. That is the reason for out-sourcing labour. Some one in china will work for a pitiful wage, far below western standards.

If your chinese labour works for 1/10th the pay of a US citizen, the shipping pays for itself and your profits increase.

Governements try to counter this with import/export taxes, I have no idea to what extent the US does this on sports equipment/raw steel, but it's usualy not enough to stop out-sourcing being the cheaper option.[/QUOTE]

Chinese labor and mfg costs have caught up a lot in the last year, factoring freight and taxes it is now cost effective to make the stuff in the States

[QUOTE=ctgblue;320864491]Chinese labor and mfg costs have caught up a lot in the last year, factoring freight and taxes it is now cost effective to make the stuff in the States[/QUOTE]

Economic recessions do have some benefits then lol!

[QUOTE=ctgblue;320864491]Chinese labor and mfg costs have caught up a lot in the last year, factoring freight and taxes it is now cost effective to make the stuff in the States[/QUOTE]

If we hadn't sold all the machinery to make stuff with to China years ago:(

if your willing to spend about 4 bills get some nautilus click weights... I think I paid a little over 400$ Canadian for them and they work amazingly well and barely take up space.... the only downside is that they only go up to 52.5 lbs... so they aren't very effective if your benching a lot, but for curls and what not they're a great buy.

you mean these? [url=http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/][img]http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-confused-smileys-718.gif[/img][/url] I've never heard them called "click weights".
[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZN096WRHL._SL500_AA280_.jpg[/img]

These are the worst pieces of crap out there.

Chrome dumbbells have always been 3-4x the price of fixed and hex dumbbells. The cost of the materials used to make dumbbells has gone up something like 300% in the past few years. Glad I bought most of mine before they skyrocketed.

yeah i mean those.... I don't think they're crap personally, but I don't know what kind of experience you've had (maybe your set broke?).... They're good for space and are quite durable.... I have used em for over a year now with no issues.. They don't compare with gym quality weights but who has the space or money for a whole rack of freeweights? weight is weight unless your throwin up over 52 lbs in curls then they are useless, but I can't curl that much so I'm happy with them.

[QUOTE=wifi;320955971]yeah i mean those.... I don't think they're crap personally, but I don't know what kind of experience you've had (maybe your set broke?).... They're good for space and are quite durable.... I have used em for over a year now with no issues.. They don't compare with gym quality weights but who has the space or money for a whole rack of freeweights? weight is weight unless your throwin up over 52 lbs in curls then they are useless, but I can't curl that much so I'm happy with them.[/QUOTE]

No offense, but durable is about the last thing you should call those things. I actually got nearly a full set of hex weights (20-100 w/ a few holes) for less than the cost of those. And the rack I have them on is only about 2x the size of that Bowflex dumbbell stand.

Tim responded the way he did not because his set broke, but every set he has seen has broken. I have the same experience with them, including display models at several sports stores.

But seriously, if they are working out for you, great, keep using them. What works for one may not work for another, but I do agree w/ Tim's comments.

@OP - Keep an eye out for gym auctions in the paper. The guy I bought my dumbbells off said he bought heaps of equipment from there over several years.

Labor in China is cheaper, but that's not the biggest factor -- environmental regulations are. Simply put, complying with American environmental regulations is ungodly expensive. Put a factory to make cast iron weights in the US, and you'll have to spend a fortune capturing everything besides water vapor and disposing of it in sealed containers. Put a factory to build the same weights in China, and you'll add yet another smokestack belching black smoke into the (always) gray Harbin or Chongqing sky (think: Pittsburgh or Detroit circa WWII).

China today is where America was in the 1940s. 10-20 years from now, they'll be demanding the laws we had in the 1970s (the ones that cleaned up the worst and most visible pollution at fairly reasonable cost). 40 years from now, people in China will be worshipping the earth mother, hugging trees, demanding incredibly expensive laws against increasingly theoretical and abstract harms (like the mess RoHS has made in Europe), treating old cans of lead-containing paint found in sheds and basements as if it were nuclear waste, and exporting THEIR industry to brand new factories and sweatshops in Africa.

Don't forget we're also from Australia so our market isn't as competitivie as the American hence prices can get skewed and our dollar is also down which further compounds this. 2007 was probably the best time for us to stock up on equipment..

[QUOTE=Wildtim;320952441]you mean these? [url=http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/][img]http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-confused-smileys-718.gif[/img][/url] I've never heard them called "click weights".
[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZN096WRHL._SL500_AA280_.jpg[/img]

These are the worst pieces of crap out there.[/QUOTE]

I have seen them called junk weights.


[QUOTE=wifi;320955971]yeah i mean those.... I don't think they're crap personally, but I don't know what kind of experience you've had (maybe your set broke?).... They're [b]good for space and are quite durable[/b].... I have used em for over a year now with no issues.. They don't compare with gym quality weights but who has the space or money for a whole rack of freeweights? weight is weight unless your throwin up over 52 lbs in curls then they are useless, but I can't curl that much so I'm happy with them.[/QUOTE]

Durable? I'll drop my Ironmasters on those. Those will be destroyed. I will pick up my Ironmasters and use them because they will be perfect.

[IMG]http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr249/yankeemarko1/t_2.jpg[/IMG]

seriously they are running for 100 for a pair

OP, quit looking at stainless steel and chrome dumbbells as they will always be expensive.
These pro-style sets are are reasonably priced.
[url]http://www.gymandfitness.com.au/dumbbells/dumbell-sets/prostyle-dumbbell-sets.html[/url]

Gym equipments are costly but it can boost your confidence & transform your fitness. That you can take the challenge.

[QUOTE=loadedliftingAu;1478283041]Gym equipments are costly but it can boost your confidence & transform your fitness. That you can take the challenge.[/QUOTE]

Im going to pass the torch to you for be the most useless person on this forum...I used to hold that honor. Congrats.