livedarklions

It's the law of diminishing returns, not exactly unique to bicycles.

veganbikes

They have a certain intoxicating aroma that other numbers just don't have!

Did you know 5% of Bike Forums members wear blue socks on Tuesdays but only 1-2% of those are light blue. Also over 1% of the world is water but under 99% of the world is land. Pound Sign: ButtNumberFacts

livedarklions

I think humans have an innate tsk-tsk drive that requires them to find reasons to assail other people's choices.

genejockey 

Of course! If you can't find fault with other people's choices, how can you possibly feel superior? Duh.

livedarklions

veganbikes

It is also a very good looking bike with minimal branding. It is also not designed to be a race bike for professionals. I remember when our rep brought his lower tier bike in and it was still stupid light.

We can also look at Dangerholm's bikes he has made many lightweight bikes for serious riding and hasn't had any issues. He is not a tiny guy and his downhill bike is under 30lbs and probably cost well over 14k if all the labor is added plus really top end fancy parts at full pop. Not bad for a downhill bike. He makes some other stuff which is also quite impressive weight wise.

Chuck M 

People will pay what they will pay if they have what other people are asking. By the way... Does anyone else remember the games they played on the price is right where people had to guess the price of the new car with 4 figures and they defaulted the first number to 3?

Camilo

Actually I had a pleasant surprise when I saw a podiatrist for the first time ever. I was having a pain in the ball of my foot that was getting to be a disability and limp when walking, XC skiing (classic style) or hiking. Didn't really bother me when I was riding or skate skiing though. For the appointment, I brought in one each of all the shoes I commonly wear: regular shoes, two type of hiking shoes, two types of XC ski boots (classic and skate), two bike shoes (MTB and road). I thought he might have some ideas. I was fortunate in that he thought they were all good quality, that wasn't the problem. But he did admire my bike shoes and said they were really nice. All my foot gear is pretty nice, I never skimp on that, no matter what the activity.

Turns out he's an avid cyclist, both commuting and recreational. Fit looking guy. He readily identified my issue ("feels like a pebble under the joint of your second toe?") and gave me a simple and cheap modification to my insoles that I could do at home, that solved it within a week. I also bought a some good quality OTC insoles from him that he recommended based on my arch, and what my Superfeet and Oboz looked like. He showed me why he thought they were better structurally and they were just a bit more expensive than Superfeet, etc. and cheaper than the same insoles on Amazon. I had a set of customs made too. He said it wasn't crucial, OTC's were fine, but they'd last much longer. It was fun doing the electronic mapping thing of my feet!.

Anyway, cycling doctor FTW.

rsbob 

^ You are demonstrating emotional security and maturity in saying you are stoked for your friend buying a really nice bike. Sour grapes or disparaging comments on the other hand demonstrate a decided lack thereof. Well done sir and may others follow your example.

retswerb

Yep, and ultimately I think this is the argument vonfilm is making, right? - that the returns have long-since diminished by the time you get to $14k. I tend to agree, but whether or not others agree with the specifics of that claim, each of us recognizes diminishing returns as a real concept.

The overton window expressed by the majority within this thread includes $14k as a "reasonable" price for some folks to spend on a bike, but for most of us there's a number out there at which we would say that spending that on a bike is ridiculous or even immoral - it just may have a lot more zeros on the end for some than for others (and may be a number significantly larger than whatever the world's most expensive bike currently is).

Rolla

Ha. You do little else here.

Koyote

The inability to understand that one’s preferences are not universal has always struck me as a particularly childish fallacy.

big john

I'm not a great mountain biker and I'm not a Specialized fanboi but I would ride that Enduro. Never to it's potential, obviously, but if I had the cash, game on.

Hell if I had the cash I would probably get a new car or 2. A new road bike, too. Maybe even a $14K road bike, why not? Or would that be stupid? I wouldn't want to be stupid.

3alarmer 

.
...I just read here, that Tesla is selling all their cars at a 20% discount right now. So you can now buy a base model Y, and get $13,000 off.
That will just about cover the price of a $14,000 Specialized wonderbike. So all things are possible in this, the best of all possible worlds.

tomato coupe

How can a $53,000 car possibly be worth the money?

Germany_chris

People buying on the high end pay for the R&D and the like for those of us that ride normal bikes.

Sy Reene

fify

beng1

If I had $14K laying around I did not need, I would not be able to do anything with it other than give it to some people who needed their gas bills paid, groceries or had other problems it could solve, that is what I have done in the past with extra money, thousands of dollars gone that way. My current road bikes initially cost $10, $3 and $20. My last two sets of really nice 27" tires I got from a local scrapyard and a local garage-sale for $5-$10 per set. And I rode about 3000 miles last year.

bblair

But if you had $28k "laying around......?"

livedarklions

By lower-casing "i"? I don't get it. Otherwise you didn't change anything.

livedarklions

Don't even get me started on the circularity of the Overton Window concept, but I think that making the issue a moral one rather than just an economic one is really a p&r topic.

The point is that from the consumer perspective, the value of any given marginal improvement is subjective, as is the willingness to pay the price for that improvement--I could believe that a $14k bike is "worth it" but that I'm not willing or able to pay that much. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone else should care if that's what I think unless they want to know if they should invest any effort into trying to sell me a $14k bike.

Obviously, enough people will pay $14k for a bike for a handful of manufacturers to produce $14k bikes. Equally as obvious, the vast majority of bikes sold are sold at prices significantly below $14k. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone on this thread has said they've actually bought a $14k bike, they've just stated that the premise of the op question is really beside the point since "worth" is subjective and $14k bikes are obviously being sold to someone. Inevitably, people who are invested in the idea that their sub-$14k value is somehow "objective" will then attack the motivations/judgments/morality of the people who actually buy such bikes, but it's just silly nonsense.

livedarklions

You realize that #1 doesn't actually answer op's largely meaningless question, right? All you've done is push the question back another level to "why are people willing to pay for Dura-Ace and the labor for internal cabling?". And sorry, but why the hell is subsidizing a team an argument " for" paying the money? And if $5000 (about 35%) of the cost of a Tarmac is the Dura-Ace, calling that "handmade in the USA" is a bizarre redefining of handmade.

Show your math for #2, that's a bunch of assertion masquerading as a question.

The premise of the question is faulty. It's not up to the people responding to it to fix it.

rydabent

If I showed you a $5000 bike and a $14000 bike could you tell the difference between them???

big john

$5000 bike

$14000 bike

jadmt

most likely, yes I could. now if I were able to ride blind folded and could I tell the difference in how they rode? probably not.