rydabent

I am a life long mechanical and electronics technician. I tend to be very logical and depend on common sense. In this matter of expensive bikes, first of all I dont care what people spend on their bikes, but I do have a question.

What do you get with a $14,000 bike that you dont get with a $7000 bike??? And is it worth twice the money? Please be specific.

Garfield Cat

Logical and Common sense

Its the wrong approach, that is, comparing one price versus another. The approach is the ride and its intended purpose. That's the starting point, not merely what's the difference in price. Ultimately, its you or me and what type of riding I plan to do.

If you want to put some kind of "objectivity" to determine the "money" spent, it will miss the point.

For example, the following comparison of Specialized Tarmac and Cervelo R-5 goes to this point

Wildwood 

If I bought a $7,000 bike, I wouldn't need to wrench it. What fun is that?
And I would not be able to ride much faster or farther than on a vintage lightweight.

For $7,000 I could ride older Carbon, Ti & a bunch of lugged steel. Far more fun, more variety. And my old body gets an equivalent workout.
I don't get a 16pound bike, e-shifting or e-motor, no thru axle, no disc brakes. But those things do not define my cycling pleasures at age 70.


FWIW, I rode my brother's 5 figure e-bike and was not super excited.
Everyone's cycling experience is different. And that's a good thing.

Probably less than $7K in all these classic rides. Which may not be of any interest to anyone but me!

1970s ^^^ - 1980s vvv

George

Nice collection you have Wildwood. If I knew how to work on the older bikes, I wouldn’t mind trying it. I do know how to work on my roubaix. Plus it’s not hard finding parts.

Mojo31

Bragging rights.

xseal

I have an expensive bike, a Ti Moots. So far, I've met exactly 1 person who knew what it was (he was riding a Moots). I went on a group gravel ride and heard people talking about getting their kit on Amazon and how anyone who spent $50 on a jersey was a dope. I was wearing nice Castelli shorts, but they didn't seem to recognize them either. In short, I don't think bragging rights is the rationale, because unless you actually tell people what you have, most non-bike geeks don't know and wouldn't guess it was a 5-figure bike.

big john

A guy at work a few years ago told me there's no way the bikes in the Tour de France cost more than $300.

DiabloScott

One example: Very nice Ti bike, no frills, Ultegra mechanical - $8300
Same bike with all the frills, custom sizes, Ti stem and bottle cages, custom anodizing, Sram Etap. - $12300

It's worth it if you want it and you can afford it. But of course, it's largely emotional.

I-Like-To-Bike

Probably didn't cost the professional riders even that much in cash.

Wildwood 

Luckily finding vintage parts is no prob and sometimes 1/2 the fun - because vintage components and friction shifting drivetrains are largely interchangeable. Just dumb down your Roubaix wrenching skills and vintage is your affordable variety.

rsbob 

All of us love our rides, whether economical, expensive, high tech or friction. No one needs to justify anything to anyone as long as what they have makes them happy. I would hope that on the 50+ thread most are beyond jealousy, envy or grandstanding to inflate their egos. All of us share a common passion and that is good enough. No convincing is necessary. As the kids say, “It’s all good”.

xseal

Not sure I agree. My expensive Ti bike has pretty justifiable parts: Enve wheels (light, compliant and strong --I'm 200 lbs), carbon stem/bar (compliant/vibration reducing), Di2 (wow, what a difference). I guess you could say the Ti seat post was 1/2 aesthetics and 1/2 comfort. Not sure where I would have cut costs. I demo'd a mechanical GRX with Al stem/bar, but Di2 and carbon bar/stem made huge difference for me. Is the performance advantage worth the $$. Donno for others, but for me, ... definitely.

Before I spent the $$$, I also demo'd a $4k carbon gravel bike. It was fine, but I would have just ridden my fat bike with 29+ wheels over that.

I-Like-To-Bike

― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

berner

People with large amounts of money spend large amounts on their toys. As an example. Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire and keeps a 100' yacht at the Newport Shipyard in Newport, Rhode Island. I worked there some time ago. That vessel likely costs $50,000,000 plus crew and maintenence costs. The crew consists of a captain, cook and other galley staff, deck hands for ship handling. I ask, what does Bloomberg gain from such a boat that he would not get from a boat half that size? I have have no idea of the of the answer but I'm certain logic has nothing to do with it.

If discussing electronic circuits, logic is the foundation. If discussing human decisions, logic is well down near the bottom of the page.

mpath

This.

The latest neuroscience suggests to the chagrin of the Mr. Spocks of the world, our purchasing decisions are dominated by logical or rational reasonings, but emotional and experiential ones. There's no winnable logical argument. And the good marketers have taken advantage of this quite proficiently.

rsbob 

That is the truth. One may think they are being logical, but unless they are a computer, most “logic” is driven by emotion, bias and life experience. Make the facts fit the rationalization.

If we were rational about what we really need to survive at a reasonable level, 80% of our stuff would have to go. Some people take this to the extreme like a guy my wife dated before me. One bedroom apt, old beater car, tons of ancient but well maintained sports equipment, no TV, lots of books, lived a very minimalistic existence and probably had a carbon footprint of an ant. We live rather conveniently in comparison.

I certainly rationalized the he!! out of my ‘need’ for the last bike but still shopped mid-range since I could never live up to the high end models.

rydabent

Yes I am coldly logical. If I spend more, I expect to get more. So again what more would I get on a $14,000 bike that I wouldnt get on a $7000 bike.

GlennR

I buy replacement parts that are the same or better quality.

Koyote

I suspect you are being disingenuous...But if you are actually interested in answers, they have been provided earlier in this thread - I saw that just by scrolling through a few pages. In fact, you were given a good response in post #558.

As for the original question: I have money and ride a lot (semi-retired), and so I do want nice bikes. But I also get much satisfaction from my older and less-expensive bikes. For instance, I have perhaps $500 into my SS commuter, and I am often amazed at what a good bike it is, at least for it's intended purpose.

5 mph

Everyone has a different Lense on Life I am an Engineer. Like you I'm pretty practical and I buy my bikes used. I have a Bianchi Pista SS and a Giant Toughride. They're both $1000 new, but I bought them both used and overhauled them. Through my lense, I can't see buying a $ 6 K bike, because I paid 5500 for my last car, a 2011 Camry.

That doesn't mean mean I am right. People have different perspectives on Life

GlennR

Actually you get less, as in less weight.

I have a rather expensive Emonda SLR with Red eTap and Zipp wheels. I also vacation and have rented a Emonda SL with Ultegra and there's a noticeable difference. The SL is about 1/3 the price of mine, so is mine 3x better? Well it depends.

If you have the disposable income then it's well worth it. if you don't and need 3 bikes then buy the SL.

If you never road a "pro" level bike, you should. Only then will you feel the difference. Whether you then feel it's "worth" it to "you" is up to you.

I've driven a Porsche and it's amazing, but I drive a Subaru because the extra cost is not worth it to me. We all make decisions based on out own needed and goals.

Ride on.

big john

You're right if it's right for you. Spend whatever you want on a bike, car, watch, whatever. It's your money and it doesn't matter what others think.

mpath

This.

GlennR

Want vs need.
You didn't need an expensive car and you didn't want an expensive bike.

In 2015 I had a 2001 Civic with 240,000 miles. I needed a new car but wanted a new bike. I knew if I bought a new car i'd never get the bike. But if I bought the bike, i'd get the car when I needed to... so i bought the bike.

14 months later the head gasket went for the 2nd time and the car had 260,000 miles... so I bought a car.

Then i had both.

There's a difference in not being able to afford both , your hobby should not put you in debt. But if you can afford both and it's your decision to buy or not buy.

When I bought my car they did have a performance version. I drove both and really like the sportier version, I just couldn't justify it even though i could afford it.

We all make decisions based on out needs, wants and life style.

CargoDane

Since "it depends" on what bike you're talking about, I thought I'd mention mine.
My bike, as it stands, cost me around $6500. Now, what would an additional 5 grand or more get me? Here's an idea:

A CF cargo platform (rather than the alu-one I have) - my estimated price: $600 if I do it myself

A custom titanium fork - - my estimated price: $1000

Two upgraded headsets (because I need two): - my estimated price: $300

Assuming I didn't have to work with the frame I already have (i.e. if I had to order from scratch), I'd have a couple of strategically placed bottle cage bosses, including on the top tube and two sets on the headtube: - my estimated price: $300

Some strong CF wheels (rims) (currently have Andra 40 rims): - my estimated price: $800-$1200 (i'd be reusing the Rohloff, obviously)

Titanum cranks if I could get a spider to fit a small Gates front sprockets: €1100 - with spider (Cane Creek eeWings)

Custom titanium seatpost: - my estimated price: $400

Titanium axled pedals (full price, as I transferred my old pedals to this one): - my estimated price: $350

Hydraulic shifters: - my estimated price: $500

Bits and bobs: - my estimated price: $500

That puts it at an additional $5850-$6250. And it could get much higher if I wanted some external gearing with ultralightweight carbon wheels, a carbon seat, seat post, and what have you. Not to mention that if the frame was made out of carbon and done in an ultralight layup.

Would even some of those things be worth it? Yes, to me, they absolutely would be. But I have to admit, that although it would mean less weight, some of the things such as a carbon frame (as opposed to the titanium) would not. I don't think the eeWings would be worth it either (I'm very happy with the stiffness and strength of my Saints crankset), and so on.

What would be worth it to me is the following things:

Hydraulic shifters (if they reboot their project - pusher.ch).

Titanium fork

CF rims if they're strong enough for my (ab-)use.

The extra bosses if I didn't already own the frame, and;

The CF cargo platform if it was strong enough to take abuse.

I know, I know, it's not a racey road bike, but quality costs good money, although not all that cost good money is good quality.

Is the incremental improvements worth the extra dosh? It thoroughly depends on one's wallet, priorities, and so on. I don't think all of the above is worth it with my wallet and priorities, while others most certainly is if and when I can afford them (and in the case of the hydraulic shifters: If they ever become available for me to buy), I will buy them.

A lot of people will probably also say it is not worth it to even consider a titanium frame or some of the components for a frigging cargo bike, but it is what it is.