7-9 K Bikes? WHY???

Muaythaibike said:

OK, I have seen a lot of bikes priced in the 2500-3000 range. I can understand why they are so expensive? Frame, components, etc.

But what do 7-10 thousand dollar bikes come with?

The 3K bike already has the best components so why would somebody spend 3x that????:p

That's a lot like asking why someone would buy a $200,000 sports car when a $50,000 car is made really well and goes plenty fast. Sometime's it's specialty components like titanium fasteners or really trick wheels with their small markets and small manufacturing runs. Sometime's it's the cachet of a custom builder or exotic materials. Heck sometime's it's a unique paint job but I can't think of many human endeavors where somebody doesn't make or sell ultra expensive high end products that appeal to certain folks.

Do you need to spend that much to ride long or fast, heck no but there's always someone out there who wants the ultra high end stuff. FWIW one of the road bike mags recently ran a piece on a race ready sub 10 pound german bike. IIRC the price tag was somewhere around $15,000 US. So even those 7-9K bikes aren't the high end 🙂

A guy just spent the bucks on a brand new ultra expensive bike here in the shop I work in. total cost with all the he decided he wanted it kitted up with was about 9500 USD. To bad he'll never have it over 15 mph

The top end bikes provide the very best of what is currently technically available and that's important to some.

It really boils down to personal choice, like buying a HiFi, most are happy with the quality of the cheaper ones but some want the very best they can have.

At the end of the day, its what you enjoy riding.

I enjoy riding cheap bikes and fully appreciate experienced riders buying expensive bikes. I do cringe when I hear stories like Martin's where cashed up inexperienced riders spend big on bikes where the focus should be on improving their fitness, as its really the nut behind the handlebars that makes the difference, also an experienced rider will customise their ride to suit their abilities and objectives, where an inexperienced rider is yet to learn what will suit them best.

Martin, I've heard a similar story in Sydney, a guy had a few grand and then his girl friend gave him some more and in the end it was something like AU$6,000 (I forget the exact amount), so he went to the LBS to buy a bike and selected one, then he found out it didn't come with pedals, so he got some $10 flat plastic pedals and a $10 lock. Apparently he is just going to ride it from home to the gym.

10 grand and up for a bicycle still blows my mind but I had an experience recently that makes that number pale in comparison. A friend invited me to shoot skeet with him at a local gun club. Of the dozen plus guys we ran into, two had custom made over/unders that cost over $25,000 one of which was valued at around $40,000.

fleshbroiler said:

10 grand and up for a bicycle still blows my mind but I had an experience recently that makes that number pale in comparison. A friend invited me to shoot skeet with him at a local gun club. Of the dozen plus guys we ran into, two had custom made over/unders that cost over $25,000 one of which was valued at around $40,000.

That might be what they cost but doesn't mean that's what they're worth. :p Unless there's significant prizemoney, then all bets are off.

A top end CF wheel can take $4000 off that. So that leaves $3000 for all the rest including frame. So to take those other components up to the top level, you are at the $9K mark. 🙄

Hopefully someone get pleasure out of knowing exactly what they are getting when the spend top-end dollars. I have nothing against someone buying top o' the line, even if they are "slow". Heck my Ducati has a top-end bikes worth of modifications on it and believe me that doesn't make me one of the local fast guys at the track.

It does make me cringe when it is clear that someone spent the money just because they can, without knowing why the thing was cool, cutting edge or special. This applies to a lot more than bikes.