Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
Directly from Cervelo themselves, "It’s time to change the paradigm of gravel bike design from hauling gear slowly to empowering athletes quickly. Leveraging vast knowledge from road racing, the Áspero frame is designed with world tour stiffness for greater pedal power transfer, using less and lighter material to aid climbing and accelerating, while maximizing speeds with aerodynamic shapes critical to efficiency at speed."
It's a race bike. Some people race. Some people also take $10k Madones on group rides to the microbrewery. So I think it has a market one way or the other.
I don't know much about the gravel racing scene, had thought it was mostly adventurous types on thin budgets but maybe that perception is outdated. OTOH I think most buyers will be the middle-aged upscale fitness guys. I just don't get the conspicuous-consumption trend among casual bikers. An expensive bike has limited use as a status symbol unlike a fancy car or house that everyone can recognize.