ultraman6970

+1 in the last comment, even you will have money to get a custom paint job in that pedal force too.

At those prices they wont see me in a trek ever, and why to have a trek if i have a DeRosa?

The issue with trek is that you see them everywhere, not bad bikes but they went massive and even a pedal force is a bike rare to see in the road. Have seen 2 pedal force in the road versus like 500 treks. If you want something no massive get a pedal force, no kidding...

Good luck to the ones that have the dough

NWS Alpine

But the person buying that 15K Trek already has been to Italy many times and may even own a villa in Tuscany. It changes the perspective of what the value of a dollar is when you have many.

StanSeven

Won't sell? There are lots of bikes being sold at those prices.

Custom is good only if you have unusaul body dimensions

thirdgenbird

and I would probably build a caad10 or allez with either record or chorus but as stated above, we are not the target market.

thehammerdog

Yes, I kinda agree....since when is a $5K bike not good enough for we mortals.....

StanSeven

That's not who buys the majority of $15K bikes. They are enthusiasts that just want a top end bike and make it ther priority. In return, they pass up many other things as ther spending choices.

milkbaby

I bet some people are too antsy to wait long enough for a custom frame. Also some people like to ride the same bikes as the pros, so this could be a reason they go production frame over a custom.

You could argue that anybody who buys a $5k+ production frame is paying as much if not more than many who go custom. Personally, I agree with the notion mentioned above that I'd rather get a custom Crumpton if I wanted to spend $15k on a carbon bike, but that's just me...

jrobe

This bike is definitely faster than the vast majority of custom bikes. In fact, the best pros would all be custom frames if they could gain a few seconds (although they would paint them to look like their sponsors bikes).

I also wouldn't pay $15k for a bike I couldn't even test ride. There are definitely horror stories here about custom frames that didn't ride well.

DaveWC

I'd get the Specialized S-Works Roubaix SL3 with Dura Ace for half the price.

Seattle Forrest

Charities do the same thing.

Please check your contribution amount:

[ ] $25
[ ] $50
[ ] $100
[ ] $250
[ ] $500

The high end makes a $25 gift seem like something only a cheapskate would do.

Seattle Forrest

I don't push my Cervelo's limits, but I pushed the hell out of the limits of the Novara it replaced. I think that's a pretty good reason to have a nice bike, actually.

vinfix

A quick check of Trek's list prices on a top-level team Madone 7 is around 11-12K, not 15. Arguably the Project 1 bikes ARE custom, and I've had fun using their on-line tool to build a dream bike for 7-8K

Bob Ross

Parlee TT models. Also there's some conjecture that the forthcoming Argonaut frames will be aero...or aero-like.

patentcad

Custom bikes are pretty silly, unless you have some really odd bike fit issues. If you really think you can't get a stock high end bicycle to fit you by varying stem/seat/seat post, you probably don't understand bicycle fit anyway.

moppeddler

But have you seen those brakes? They're really really cool!

NWS Alpine

Not really. Enthusiasts tend to be into the online forum community and are the same ones who are more keen to go custom. Spend their money on something more rare or custom.

I live in an extremely affluent area. The shop I got my bike from has some very high end stuff and clients. They are the farthest thing from enthusiasts. They walk in and want the best bike from X brand. So there goes 15K on a Trek or Specialized etc. Then it sits in the garage of the $30 million dollar house along the ocean as they rarely are ever in the US.

adrien

If you assume the only reason for custom is geometry, yes. But it's not. It's not what you can or can't get. It's what you choose to spend your money on. I can get a very fast car with two seats. I don't choose to spend money on it. I don't think they are silly. Just not for me, right now.

HardyWeinberg

Or Hondas instead of Kias.

ImChris

THIS.^^^^

I could only get up to $12,800 and that is with a P1 build including one off custom airbrush paint work and top of the line everything. The highest non P1 bike, (team editions are considered P1), is priced at $11,550. Now, $12,800 isn't a huge gap from 15k, but $2,200 is a slightly large price gap from your claim.

So the question remains, can you get a reliable, aero tested/proven, custom carbon bike with full Dura Ace Di2, tested carbon wheels, fully tested carbon everything else (stem/ bars/ seat cap/ etc), for $12,800? This is not just a Trek question, but also a comparison to any of the larger manufactures. Specialized makes some SICK carbon bikes for the same price on the high end. I just dont think you can get a more reliable bike with the same components for the same price point as the large companies can provide.

Chris

UCIMBZ

Do you really expect cyclists to do sensible things?

Jed19

I never get involved with questions like "why spend so much $........ on a bike?" To me, all I hear with that is din blah blah blah.

The issues are: Do you have the dough?

Can you afford it, without being irresponsible?

Do you enjoy the product?

If answer is yes to those questions, then no problemo.

My girlfriend was just lamenting to me last night why Larry Ellison would spend over $600million on an island in Hawaii that he won't even live on year-round. I pointed to the fact that Larry Ellison's networth is upward of $30billion. She pretty much stopped talking about it.

Hendo252 

Who is a bigger weasel-- the guy that drops $12.8k on a nice Trek, or the guy that whines about it on Internet forums?

sevenmag

Make no mistake about it. I wish I had the stroke to drop 15k on any bike. Probably wouldn't be that bike, but I'd love to be able to go to a shop and buy whatever bike I freakin wanted.

manutd

or the Specialized Roubaix SL3 with full Ultegra for only $3000. What real benefits would you actually get from the S-works for the extra $2000?

DaveWC

Better frame, better wheels, Dura Ace, carbon handlebar.