Originally Posted by
guadzilla
Seems to me with Spesh, atleast, that the $2000-2500 price point gets you their third tier carbon frame. And a lot of the tier 2 frames I am speccing out these days end up closer to $4k than $3k. I got a second tier carbon Ridley with a mix of Force/Ultegra for well under $2000. Even allowing for inflation, it seems that you get less for your money for the price - or rather, the gap to the top-end has widened a lot more. Some of it could be because of how much higher the top end has gotten - that leaves more room in the middle for additional tiers.
Definitely agree that the top end has gotten higher. On that note, Spec *just* released their new uber fiber - I don't think that it's fair to hold that against their other CF bikes at this point. For that matter, it's probably most fair, when talking about value, to look at it from the other direction, not down from the top carbon offering, but rather looking at the entry carbon offerings (which are, again, considerably better that a few generations ago). Typically the frames for a manufacturer's 105 and and more affordable Ultegra offerings are just one step below their their very best, but not always.
What kinds of builds are you pricing up? I have a fair idea of your tastes - you might see more price point deviation with smaller/boutique manufacturers, so for the purposes of comparison and with the lens of value, it's probably best to stick to the big players; whether you look at it from the top down or the entry level and up, players like Cervelo, Factor, Wilier, or whomever, is going to skew things, typically towards the more expensive. So no, I don't think that it's fair to categorize a Caledonia as entry-level, even though there's the Cal5 above it.
I would love to see the original MSRP of that Ridley. When I'm actively in the market, I'm a world-class hand-wringer and smaller brands appeal to me - I wouldn't think that pricing like that would escape my attention.