An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Monday, July 16, 2007

$20K for a bicycle: Has the world gone completely mad?


Seen in today's papers, this USA Today article about insanely overpriced bikes and parts. We'd normally take a pass on the usual "aren't cyclists a crazy bunch of overpaid yuppies?" tack of such fishwrap. But, well... aren't cyclists a bunch of overpaid yuppies?


The so-called Lance effect got people onto bikes that you could describe as mainstream," says owner Chad Nordwall, whose customers include weekend warriors, talented amateurs and even area celebrity and bike fanatic Robin Williams. "But now people are saying, 'I want something unique, something no one else has.'

...

"When I first started, I rode around on a $100 bike and loved it, but slowly I got addicted to the technology of it all, and that was it," says Robert Vasquez, a radiologist in San Antonio who recently had KGS spec out a Parlee to the tune of $22,180.96."


Thank god this innocent reporter finally talks to Steve Madden, editor of Bicycling magazine, who makes everything right with the world again.

There is no way a $12,000 bike is six times better than a nice $2,000 bike," says Steve Madden, editor of Bicycling magazine, which nonetheless named Parlee its Editor's Choice cycle for 2007.

"Having said that, what you're buying is an emotional attachment to something that means a lot to you," Madden says.


Let's just say this right now: Parlee custom-built carbon TT frames mean significantly less than $20,000 to us. More in the range of, say, zero dollars.

Is that snobbish of us?

3 comments:

Dr. Logan said...

I think if I was that insecure I would just buy a Seven for $10,000 and spend the rest on a penis enlargement.

danimal said...

Why get a penis enlargement when you can spend $2 on a pair of socks to shove down your spandex?

Adam said...

Or you could spend $12 on a pair of cycling-specific socks for better "performance".