Originally Posted by fuji86

I indicated I'd pay only $ 259 for a brand new bike in total and the extra money was for wheel truing and replacing/upgrading components that I expect to get years out of. When I see articles on line that Chinese labor is worked like slaves and the hours and wages they get to make an iPhone is about 70 cents an hour, why would anyone pay as much as they do for a frame from China ? $ 150 has an insane profit margin built into it ? So if the global competition thing has prices rolled back to the 60's & 70's for manufacturers, yeah, I feel $ 150 is quite a bit of money, especially as the economy goes for everything else. Reason we're paying $ 4/gallon for gasoline, too many middle men driving the price up and not doing anything but driving the cost up, there's zero value added. They'd have you believe there is no easy oil being extracted, yet they want a new pipeline, US production of oil has never been higher. Some/Everybody is lying about the price of anything in this world. $ 750 for a bike frame ? Too funny. A department store bike from Wal-Mart will last you a lifetime if you take care of it and isn't any real tangible step down from a more expensive bike. You have to pedal it just the same. Sorry to go off on a tangent.