Originally Posted by Koyote

If you willingly pay the price, you obviously found the transaction worthwhile; if you don't find it worthwhile, then walk away. But if you are going to claim that something called "gouging" exists, you've picked the wrong market, given that the market for new road bikes is very competitive. With so many choices, it's unlikely that any particular manufacturer's pricing is far out of line with all of the others', or with the production cost plus normal profit.