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Old 06-26-21, 10:30 AM
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hokiefyd 
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Bikes: More bikes than riders

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Because there's never been a direct relationship between the MSRP of a bike and the cost of goods sold, I think it's difficult to correctly characterize this as "price gouging". Bikes retail for what they do because that's what people will pay for them, regardless of what it costs to build the bike.

In fact, if you wanted to get down to the fundamentals, bikes probably aren't priced high enough right now. If bikes were priced to ensure a healthy balance between supply and demand, bike shops wouldn't be out of bikes. There are, of course, a lot of factors behind the shortage (logistics, manufacturing, transportation, etc.), but the fundamentals of supply and demand (and price) will always apply in a free market economy and the fact is demand has outstripped supply for quite a while now. What always happens in that situation, whether the market is bicycles, poultry, natural gas, or real estate? The price goes up.
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