Originally Posted by
guadzilla
It is very much true that bike prices HAVE escalated significantly over the past 5-odd years - and that's not factoring in the current COVID-fuelled spike. You could get a very nice mid/upper end carbon bike with Ultegra for around $3000 at one point. How common is that these days?
When I bought my first road bike 10 years ago, the going rate for a 2nd-tier CF frame, 10sp 105 and place-keeper wheels was $2k. Currently, most manufacturers (I've only checked with Trek, Spec and Giant, but would imagine that most are similar) are selling their 2nd tier carbon (which is better than top tier from 10 years ago), 11sp hydro disc 105 for $2200-2500. That seems totally reasonable to me. Giant is one of the few manufacturers offering a rim brake 105 model, and it's currently going for $2050.