Originally Posted by
cleon
Why are bikes different than any other manufactured product in the world. Resistance is futile...
Because in the vast majority of industries, you do not need a $1 billion dollar CF production and molding plant just to get a basic product out. No, you don't need to own the entire factory to produce goods, but it makes sense that if you have easy local access to this factory and can cut out middlemen distributing down the chain around the world, you can undercut prices by huge amounts, especially given that more money goes into marketing (by FAR) than any semblance of R&D, which is actually minimal in cycling in comparison. Very different from craftwork that someone could do in their basement with <$10,000 of hardware.