Bonzo Banana

Personally I understand that there will always be high and low price points but I'm most interested in where the sweet spot in value is. I don't think anyone would claim entry level bikes are overall good value as they have weak components that do not operate that well or last very long so definitely a false economy and the high end bikes certainly aren't good value. I suspect for a road bike the debatable point of maximum value is probably somewhere between $400-2000 where you can achieve a good quality bike of decent performance, reliability and safety. I guess you'd have to compare groupsets, frame materials, brake types and other components to really work out which is best. I personally don't want carbon forks or a carbon frame so higher end models are undesirable for me. I also don't want low end freewheels and tourney gearing so the bottom end is unacceptable. I'm also never going to be a competitive cyclist and don't care if I'm overtaken by younger fitter cyclists. In fact I'd get really annoyed if I spent stupidly high money on a bike only to be overtaken by a younger rider on a walmart bike but wouldn't mind if I was riding a more budget bike myself. I guess in my mind if I spend $15,000 on a bike I need to be beating everyone else in speed which is completely unrealistic. In fact knowing how my mind works I would be protective of a £15,000 bike and likely treat it too well and go slower than a cheap bike. I also wouldn't ever ride anywhere except for loop journeys that came straight home as I would be worried about it being stolen.