Originally Posted by
msu2001la
I never claimed that a $6000 bike was 2-times better than a $3000 bike. I said "generally an obvious performance upgrade". There will be specific things on that $6000 bike that someone can point to as upgrades over a $3000 bike.
No, you didn't make that claim (I didn't say you did). But the claim you made is pretty thin.
"generally an obvious performance upgrade" -- What does this mean? The real-world benefit of a $6,000 bike over a $3,000 is somewhere between
zero and 2 times.
It's
much closer to zero.
The actual real-world benefit of a $6,000 over a $3,000 bike is
small. Probably not worth $3,000 to
anybody (except people racing competitively).
If we assume the extra real-world benefit of a $6,000 bike is 10% (it's probably less), then it's "worth" $3,300.
Originally Posted by
msu2001la
This isn't the case with helmets. With the exception of specialized aero specific time trial type helmets, typical road bike helmets all perform essentially the same. They have the same basic venting and aero properties, and they're all approximately the same weight, etc. The only real differences between a cheap helmet and an expensive helmet are going to be fit and fashion.
The
other thing that isn't the case with helmets is that the difference in cost isn't thousands of dollars.
$400 helmets are a weird case anyway. I don't think many "avid" cyclists buy them.
$400 helmets exist to sell to people buying ASSOS kit and $6,000 bikes.