one4smoke

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/s-...ition/p/184043

DrIsotope

Cost more than my first car. And my second car. And my third car. And more than all the money I've ever spent on cycling in my entire life.

What a time to be alive.

ooga-booga

i musta had 20-22 teen surfers pass me heading the opposite direction in san clemente, ca today in the span of three miles...all on e-bikes and all with surfboards
and the applicable surfboard bike racks attached. guessing their parents bought the e-bikes to free themselves from pickup/dropoff of said teen surfers.
seems to be an effective, win-win ploy. the kiddos seemed to be enjoying themselves. these e-bikes aren't going away anytime soon.

DrIsotope

I've zero issue with e-Bikes. I think an e-Fatbike would be fun on a bun. But the "base model" is 9 grand.

ooga-booga

what exactly is the revised ownership formula for e-bikes in coordination with non-e-bikes?? just n + 1 doesn't really apply anymore. is it (e + 1) + (n+1)?
(e + 1) -n? (e + 1) (n - 1)? the electric/quadratic formula?

DrIsotope

I imagine there are some fanatics out there, but I could never see myself advancing beyond e = 1. That said, for years I foolishly believed I could go through life with n = 1. Suddenly, there are three that belong to me. The total is like 7? I don't even know how it happened.

nomadmax 

Somebody at Specialized is smoking crack.

Doc_Wui

Well, when you get old, it might be worth $17K to recapture the joy of cycling that you had when young.

Ha ha, but I can ride like it was 1970 again on a $500 conversion kit,

trailangel

Give me a Haibike with Yamaha motor please. Can get 3-4 of them for the price.

Is the bike a gravel bike.... or a road bike.... CX....? What is it?

Dreww10

I'm by no means a e-biker, but the price of this thing piques my curiosity. For that kind of coin, you can buy a very nice (new) motorcycle if you're a road guy, or a dirt bike if you're a gravel/dirt guy. Surely there aren't enough people out there willing to spend this much money on a bicycle that goes 28 mph to make this profitable for Specialized, right?

If someone is just looking for pint-sized transportation, for half the price of the base model you can buy scooters that go 70-80 mph.

nomadmax 

I should have elaborated.

I AM old and an E-bike is certainly in my future, but it won't cost 17K. I paid less than that for the two Harleys I have in the garage. When a Harley Davidson motorcycle is a bargan by comparison; you have a pricing problem.

The real irony is, older people who want to recapture the speed of their youth are mostly on fixed incomes and can't afford a $17,000.00 bicycle.

MikeyMK

If the paths were smooth enough for a full rigid bike without tyres I probably wouldn't need assist.

Kaskades

You have to admit though, it's a beautiful looking bike.

GeogreHudetz

I agree. I just bought a Diverge and I could totally see getting one of these in the future when I'm a little older. By then hopefully the price will come down, LOL.

one4smoke

I'm afraid nuthin' has been coming down lately, except for my savings account.

chas58

This is nothing new.

Their first e-bike, about 6 years ago, was < $7000 for a 350watt bike. I build the same thing (using a specialized frame) for about $500 + donor bike in my garage. (And had my bike on the road before they came to market, lol)

The good news is that e-bikes have come a long way in 6 years - this integration is great. Much better than almost everything on the market 7 years ago. Like everything they do, this will trickle down to more affordable bikes (not that an e-Specialized will ever be cheap).

restlessswind

And I thought I was foolish to fork out $2900 for a Vado

icedmocha 

It's Halo tech. Five years it's 5k or so. Remember Di2 when it first came out? The bikes look great and are priced like a car, have a fantastic range, cheaper maintenance etc etc. It's a good value, imo.

icedmocha 

Comparing it to motorcycles is not apt. Motorcycles are much more maintenance intensive, cost more in a number of other ways, can't be taken in bike paths etc etc. The idea is to subsidize the technology that trickles down. Fifteen years ago nobody would pay 20k for an I7 chip. Forty years ago 32mb of RAM was ridiculous and unnecessary.

icedmocha 

theTurbo? Wasn't that mid-drive? What kit did you use? Anyway these new bikes are very sleek and no one is building one from a kit. I agree with your premise though.

DrIsotope

You'll be able to get something similar for $5k in five years. Maybe for less, and maybe sooner-- but it won't be a Specialized. They sell fifteen models over $10k without power. They would never price an e-Bike in such a way as to devalue their brand.

No amount of spin will make any of those bikes a value, so long as something that can do the exact same job is available for 1/3 of the money, or less-- even from Specialized themselves. Spending $10k+ for anything other than full-custom is buying for bragging rights.

2old

Specialized didn't get where they are by making bad business decisions. There's a market for the bike line. In the "OC", as I'm sure many other areas, there are individuals who will spend $20K like I would 50 cents.

jeffpoulin 

It's n - e^(i*pi)

sdmc530

but but but they only made 250 of them so they are only going to be worth more right?

I think the colors are pretty sweet on that bike though, I wish I could get a allez in that color pattern.

Archwhorides 

Ebike cutting edge is integration. It’s been happening in Europe, now the US. Welcome! And $$ will drop quickly.