One of the biggest costs for components are the tooling, and production set-up costs, which are basically one time costs. With most components the vast majority go to OEMs and the one time costs are spread over a large volume. On components with no or limited OEM, the tooling is spread over a small volume resulting in much higher unit costs.
Simply put, the alternative to paying a hefty price for limited demand and niche products is not to have them at all. Unfortunately that's becoming the norm. Try for example to get a 1st tier 8 speed cassette.
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