So I have “new” bike (subjectively) about 9 months. And I spent about 2000 € on it (bike, and some accessories - rack, bags…) and I can tell that it is lot of bike for not that much money.
So now when I look back I can’t see it as “expensive” bike, just as reasonably priced for its purpose. I use it every day to commute and as bikepacking/touring bike so now it has ~6000 km.
So how much are you willing to spend on bike?
Edit: So I read your comments and I probably need to clarify little bit.
- I use the bike for everything instead of car so even nicer more expensive bike for me is justifiable.
- I also think that the bike industry is bonkers right now about shiny new expensive things.
- For me there is few types of riders and all parties try to upsell them some shit, there aren’t any 500€ bike with flat bars and rigid fork where I am. All of the bikes at this price point have shitty suntour fork, bad saddle, useless pedals and shitty tires. From my perspective they are expensive on the parts that don’t matter and cheap out on stuff that matters. If someone sell something like that (flat bar gravel with quality parts where it matters) it would be gamechanger.
- I had to build my bike, nothing like that (full steel gravel/bikepacking/do it all bike) wasn’t on the market/second hand market. It add to the price a bit. And it was about month before the prices get down to reasonable levels after pandemic.
The bike industry has SERIUS diminishing returns as you go up in price.
Almost every component of a bike can be had for pennies at the cheap end, and hundreds if not thousands of bucks at the expensive end.
But really, it depends on what exactly you’re doing. If you’re competing, maybe shaving some grams off is worth an exorbitant sum.
But for me? I’ll buy the cheapest part I can find, that isn’t outright trash. I’ll pay for ergonomics, or some parts in accent colours…
But at a certain point you start paying for things that effectively make little to no difference. An extra gear you won’t really benefit from because it doesn’t actually expand gear range.
More expensive bearings that’ll gain you a fraction of percent in pedaling efficiency.
Heatsinks on brakepads that were never going to overheat.
When buying a bike, I start by looking at the frame. Everything else can be changed. A frame will last forever when taken care of, but if it has a problem, it’s essentially impossible to fix.
After that, I look at the parts list and consider if it’s a good deal, how much I’d have to spend on any changes I’d want to make.
I mean the personal definition of thrash is really what this question boils down to.