Originally Posted by Maelochs

I suspect a lot of really expensive bikes are bought to ride to the café and parked by the outdoor table. Or, are bought by the hyper-competitive "modern executive" type who eityher spends a lot of time in the gym, or on the golf course, or on a bike, or whatever, to inflate his/her ego and have strong competitive talking points in the expensive wine/ single-barrel single-malt scotch bragging sessions.

I figure the real riders get slightly less bling because they are going to race and know the bike will get torn up, and have a few sets of wheels and a favorite saddle already .... and want their bikes to actually score race results, not just be the first in every stop-sign sprint on the Wednesday-night group ride.