Good point. I can remember being shocked by that too. Now I'm just numb to it.

As to whether the price is justified, consider that quantities for aftermarket tires for bicycles are probably in the thousands versus the millions for cars. The nonrecurring costs (design, tooling, etc.) constitute a larger proportion of the price of the bicycle tires when compared to the car tires. Think about how many car tires are sold in a day in a city versus bicycle tires. I live in a city of 700,000; I bet thousands of car tires are sold during a typical day, and maybe a dozen, two dozen bicycle tires. There's not nearly the volume when you're talkin' bike tires.