Originally Posted by
smd4
I'm listening to it. Right out of the gate, Gitelis said--in direct answer to the question also posted as this thread topic--and I quote, "If we look at what a bike cost 25 years ago, to what it costs today, I think, you know, if we factor in inflation, bikes cost roughly the same as they cost 25 years ago. Um, just everything cost more. But if we look at the absolute numbers, a bicycle was $3,000 twenty years ago for a premium level bike, and if you extrapolate that across 20 years, a $10,000 bike isn't all that outrageous."
Now, I'm not even going to address the fact that he did something absolutely against the rules around here--he compared "halo" bikes.
He might end up on certain members' ignore lists for that sin.
I will say, however, that even using his example, $3,000 20 years ago is only $4,928 today.
Less than half of $10,000.
Not only is his math on inflation wrong, but $3000 was not a premium/halo bike in 2004. As I posted early in this thread, I bought a Time VX
frame in 2003 for $2500. It was in the same ballpark as the Colnago C40 ($3000, if my fuzzy memory serves me). At that time, top bikes were north of $5k. Don't get me wrong. You could get a damn fine race bike for $3k.