Originally Posted by
dynodonn
I may not know the difference when dealing in the 2000 dollar range, since I'd rather spend that amount on other items than a set of wheels, but I could definitely feel the difference between a set of 100 dollar wheels and a 300 dollar set.
I'm sure there are people out there that can tell minute differences. But will the 300 dollar wheels be three times better than the 100 wheels?
Unless you can ride with your eyes closed or in complete darkness there is no way to remove the perceived value of advertising or brand names from it's percieved performance gain. How much better is a $500 campy crank over any other alloy no-name clunker from the scrap pile. I bet 99 out of 100 people couldn't tell the difference actually riding the bike. (A professional rider can probably tell, and this doesn't apply to them, they are professionals.)
People spend money on their bikes because they like to spend money on their bikes. Good advertising and hype just lets them rationalize it.