The value of The Bike?

[Baron Blubba]

I recently saw a post where a user said something like, "I don't think any bike is worth $9000, let alone $15,000." This got me thinking, not for the first time, about the value of bikes, or maybe the value of The Bike.

In his story "Lady Windemere's Fan", Oscar Wilde wrote that "a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." I think there are many objects and purchasable experiences in the world for which this is true, which is to say that the value of the object far exceeds the object's price, from both a cost of goods and a cost at retail perspective.

Let's play a very hypothetical game and erase all road bikes from existence except for one. This road bike is The Bike. This bike has a basic aluminum frame and carbon fork, a Shimano Claris 2x8 drivetrain, and otherwise basic but quite functional components. An entry level Giant Contend or Specialized Allez or aluminum Emonda/Domane or something like that. This is the only road bike in existence. It was completely trademarked and patented, airtight, there are no competitors, there are no alternatives.

This bike will not provide the same ride feel or conveniences and luxuries of a modern $3000 bike, let alone a $9000 or $15000 one, but it is capable of providing the rider with the same exploratory experiences, and it will still be a joy to ride, especially since we haven't been spoiled by the alternatives which don't exist in this hypothetical world. It will climb and descend the same hills and cover the same terrain and traverse the same environments under the same sunshine and blue skies as our real-world superbikes. The wind will blow through our hair and the air will move across our skin all the same, albeit at perhaps a slightly slower speed. It's the same sublimity as riding the S-Works, so to speak, only marginally less so.

How much would you pay for this bike, if this bike was the only bike, and the only way to enjoy the experience of road bike riding?

Speaking for myself, the material sum-total value of the bike's components would be immaterial. The cost to manufacture the bike might be $500, but the only limitations on the value of the bike would be how much I can afford to pay for it, relative to my other values and priorities in life.

What I'm trying to say is, The Bike is invaluable. The experience of riding a bike is an irreplaceable and inimitable experiential commodity. Like the perfect slice of pizza, it's worth infinitely more than the sum of its parts.

It's only because we have options that bikes have a less esoteric, more defined value, because that value is relative from one bike to another. It's only because one can have such wonderful bike riding experiences with a $1200 bike that bikes with higher price tags seem so inordinately expensive (and increasingly inordinate as the prices rise).

On the flip side, if one is that enthusiastic, that in love with riding a bike, and wants to have their definition of the absolute best experience every single time they get out on their bike, however often that may be, and if they can afford it, then are those 5-digit bikes really that expensive? Overpriced, yeah, maybe. Worth it? Yeah, definitely.

***Disclaimer***
That last paragraph does not include such Baloney Sandwiches as $1000 oversized pulley wheels and similar pieces of bike bling. Those status symbol objects fall into the same category as other status symbol 'luxury' objects, where likewise they are worth it to the person who buys them, because it makes them feel good in some way. But I don't want to tarnish my point above by including components which, while they might do something for one's ego, do nothing for the quality of how one's bike rides.

Anyway, your thoughts?
If The Only Bike was a Specialized Allez Sport and cost $14,000, would you still be a cyclist?

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

How much would you pay for this bike, if this bike was the only bike, and the only way to enjoy the experience of road bike riding?

Speaking for myself, the material sum-total value of the bike's components would be immaterial. The cost to manufacture the bike might be $500, but the only limitations on the value of the bike would be how much I can afford to pay for it, relative to my other values and priorities in life.

If The Only Bike was a Specialized Allez Sport and cost $14,000, would you still be a cyclist?

What is the value per hour or per mile, something like that?
Or maybe it's more like the value of some (club or gym) memberships where the only value is the experience.
Would I pay $100 per month to be in The Bike club? Yes.

A $14,000 prepaid lifetime membership to The Bike club is an unappealing pricing model.

[Jcgill]

$2,000-$3,000.

I have realized that spending big money on a superbike is wasteful as things change so quickly in cycling it just isn’t worth it to ride a top tier bike.

I built a brand new Rim Brake Moots Vamoots CR in 2016. By 2018 it was already old business with disc road coming out. Then thru axles came along.

The past few years i have been happiest on average alloy or carbon bikes with 105 or maybe ultegra. Spend 2k-4k and ride it a few years and ditch it for the latest tech.

[jm714]

Who cares what someone thinks it’s worth or what its value is. All that matters is what value it gives you. I have a Pegoretti BLE that I custom ordered in 2008 and took delivery on in 2010, I dont know what the current replacement cost is, but if I had to I would pay it because it gives me that much pleasure when I ride it. Recently I blew the head gasket on my 1996 FZJ80 LC. I could have spent $5000 to just rebuild the top end, but I chose to spend $10K for a full engine rebuild because I plan to keep it and I will get another 250k miles out of it easy with proper care. Half my friends think I’m idiot and the other half think I did the right thing. It’s all in how you value/percieve something.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by jm714

Who cares what someone thinks it’s worth or what its value is. All that matters is what value it gives you. I have a Pegoretti BLE that I custom ordered in 2008 and took delivery on in 2010, I dont know what the current replacement cost is, but if I had to I would pay it because it gives me that much pleasure when I ride it. Recently I blew the head gasket on my 1996 FZJ80 LC. I could have spent $5000 to just rebuild the top end, but I chose to spend $10K for a full engine rebuild because I plan to keep it and I will get another 250k miles out of it easy with proper care. Half my friends think I’m idiot and the other half think I did the right thing. It’s all in how you value/percieve something.

What is FZJ 80 LC? In what climate and conditions does it operate?

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by jm714

Who cares what someone thinks it’s worth or what its value is. All that matters is what value it gives you. I have a Pegoretti BLE that I custom ordered in 2008 and took delivery on in 2010, I dont know what the current replacement cost is, but if I had to I would pay it because it gives me that much pleasure when I ride it. Recently I blew the head gasket on my 1996 FZJ80 LC. I could have spent $5000 to just rebuild the top end, but I chose to spend $10K for a full engine rebuild because I plan to keep it and I will get another 250k miles out of it easy with proper care. Half my friends think I’m idiot and the other half think I did the right thing. It’s all in how you value/percieve something.

This is spot on correct.

No matter what you pay or are willing to spend on your hobby you can find plenty of justification for either side of the coin.

Cycling, at the end of the day, even if you buy the very most expensive bicycle you can find, is a cheap sport to participate in and enjoy.

[benb]

I am assuming Baron means there is literally only that 1 bike? Not that Giant made a million Contends but that's the only road bike model?

I think the value people would put on that would depend on what else exists. Do motorcycles exist? Do cars exist, do mountain bikes exist?

If I think back to the first time I got on a road bike of the conjectured quality level some of the excitement was there because of anticipation of what it was going to be like compared to riding mountain bikes.

It's definitely worth more than $100/month for me. I just dropped a $100+/month gym membership (climbing) after a few years because I'd gotten bored of it and was just biking all the time again.

My most expensive bike is 8 years old and if I had to pay it off equally over that time it'd be about $60/month and maybe $70/month for TCO if I add up all the money I spent on maintenance but didn't count my time.

Very cheap indeed. When I had a motorcycle the insurance alone was more than that, even at the end when I was getting really excellent rates.

I mostly don't need anything super fancy. I've had 3 pretty fancy carbon bikes in the past 24 years plus my Ti Serotta which was right up there in price. But the majority of what I've rode has been aluminum, and my steel All City might be the bike I've put the most miles on. There is definitely still *something* about getting on a fancy bike though.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by benb

I am assuming Baron means there is literally only that 1 bike? Not that Giant made a million Contends but that's the only road bike model?

I mean that there is only one bike model available for the general public to purchase. Plenty enough to go around, although MAP is strictly enforced!

[benb]

OK, doesn't necessarily change my answer.

I think the other thing is the sense of pleasure you're talking about is still something that a lot (the majority?) of people can't even feel.

Maybe a majority of kids can get on a bike and have "the feeling" but an awful lot of adults probably can't.

My first road bike was a Trek 2200 (aluminum, 9-speed 105). It would be really, really interesting to get to ride one again and see if it still elicited that reaction after all the years of experience.

[bikinchris]

There is nothing in the world that a critic can't dismiss as worthless. Or worth less.
In my opinion, just getting on a steel framed comfort bike with well adjusted, decent components and good wheels will make anyone want to be a bike rider, but especially if they have previously tried to ride a junky department store bike. But some people just don't have the money to get a decent, much less nice bike.

[cgolvin]

As I read your question, the details of the bike are irrelevant. The question you're posing is: if the cost of entry to become a cyclist is $14,000 (not counting shoes, helmet, clothing, etc.), would you do it? I don't know what other bicycle options exist in this hypothetical world that would provide a context for what it means to be a "cyclist" -- are there Schwinn Sting Rays for kids? Townie/cruiser bikes? MTBs?

I'll assume that yes, I am someone who has experience riding a bicycle but am not a "cyclist." In that case my answer is certainly "no, that's too much money." There are far too many other sporting activities that I enjoy that I'd choose to spend my money on.

[OtayBW]

Early signs of winter approaching.....

[nmrt]

Hah! I was that user who said, "I don't think any bike is worth $9000, let alone $15,000." Right after this sentence I did say, "But then again, "worth" is such a hollow term."

What I meant was, I do not think a $15,000 bike gives me a lot more enjoyable experience than a $3000 bike. What I mean is that having owned (and currently owning) both $3000 (MSRP) and $15000 (MSRP) bikes, if I only had $3000 to spend on a bike, I would not be missing out on much. Given proper fit and proper gearing for my terrain, a carefully selected $3000 bike would bring just as many smiles.

Lastly, it is only in the last 12 years of so that prices of bikes have reached stratospheric levels. If you think about this, it is in itself, revelatory. Now, it is as if, if we do not purchase a $15000 bike, we are losing out on an essential element of the riding experience.

My dear riders, we have effectively drunk the First World's Kool Aid.

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

I recently saw a post where a user said something like, "I don't think any bike is worth $9000, let alone $15,000." This got me thinking, not for the first time, about the value of bikes, or maybe the value of The Bike.

In his story "Lady Windemere's Fan", Oscar Wilde wrote that "a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." I think there are many objects and purchasable experiences in the world for which this is true, which is to say that the value of the object far exceeds the object's price, from both a cost of goods and a cost at retail perspective.

Let's play a very hypothetical game and erase all road bikes from existence except for one. This road bike is The Bike. This bike has a basic aluminum frame and carbon fork, a Shimano Claris 2x8 drivetrain, and otherwise basic but quite functional components. An entry level Giant Contend or Specialized Allez or aluminum Emonda/Domane or something like that. This is the only road bike in existence. It was completely trademarked and patented, airtight, there are no competitors, there are no alternatives.

This bike will not provide the same ride feel or conveniences and luxuries of a modern $3000 bike, let alone a $9000 or $15000 one, but it is capable of providing the rider with the same exploratory experiences, and it will still be a joy to ride, especially since we haven't been spoiled by the alternatives which don't exist in this hypothetical world. It will climb and descend the same hills and cover the same terrain and traverse the same environments under the same sunshine and blue skies as our real-world superbikes. The wind will blow through our hair and the air will move across our skin all the same, albeit at perhaps a slightly slower speed. It's the same sublimity as riding the S-Works, so to speak, only marginally less so.

How much would you pay for this bike, if this bike was the only bike, and the only way to enjoy the experience of road bike riding?

Speaking for myself, the material sum-total value of the bike's components would be immaterial. The cost to manufacture the bike might be $500, but the only limitations on the value of the bike would be how much I can afford to pay for it, relative to my other values and priorities in life.

What I'm trying to say is, The Bike is invaluable. The experience of riding a bike is an irreplaceable and inimitable experiential commodity. Like the perfect slice of pizza, it's worth infinitely more than the sum of its parts.

It's only because we have options that bikes have a less esoteric, more defined value, because that value is relative from one bike to another. It's only because one can have such wonderful bike riding experiences with a $1200 bike that bikes with higher price tags seem so inordinately expensive (and increasingly inordinate as the prices rise).

On the flip side, if one is that enthusiastic, that in love with riding a bike, and wants to have their definition of the absolute best experience every single time they get out on their bike, however often that may be, and if they can afford it, then are those 5-digit bikes really that expensive? Overpriced, yeah, maybe. Worth it? Yeah, definitely.

***Disclaimer***
That last paragraph does not include such Baloney Sandwiches as $1000 oversized pulley wheels and similar pieces of bike bling. Those status symbol objects fall into the same category as other status symbol 'luxury' objects, where likewise they are worth it to the person who buys them, because it makes them feel good in some way. But I don't want to tarnish my point above by including components which, while they might do something for one's ego, do nothing for the quality of how one's bike rides.

Anyway, your thoughts?
If The Only Bike was a Specialized Allez Sport and cost $14,000, would you still be a cyclist?

[Repack Rider]

I don't know how people can afford bikes. If I had to pay for mine, I probably wouldn't have so many of them.

I certainly wouldn't be riding the nice ones that I have.

[Andy340]

3-5k seems a good “cost-benefit’ upper range, but sometimes these bikes are very delayed gratification i.e. I might have benefitted more from the pro bikes I wanted when I was younger/fitter (e.g. Colnago C40 level team bike) but could not justify buying vs now when I could buy the equivalent pro level bike despite it being of no functional benefit to me, but I like it and could “justify” it based on prior sacrifice.