Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
Perhaps you are talking about who frequents these forums. However, go to any competitive event or place where younger cyclists participate, and you see a majority of top-tier bikes. What is your definition of old?
One, yes, when I go to NICA events, I am blown away at the great bikes -purchased by wealthy parents.
But go to any modern gravel event or even any of the gran Fondo's or Crit races, and there are no young people - outside of just the hardcore racers. At a recent large gravel event, less than 5% of the entries were people under 30.
And to the other point above, manufacturing costs in China are low and even lower in places like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, where carbon bikes are made. I would bet that if the material's cost $200, the labor adds only about $10-30 in China and $1-10 in those other places.
Again, the benefit of carbon is that you can train women to make it and in Asia, women are paid substantially less than men. This is coming from someone who does manufacturing in China (Shanghai) and are also moving into Vietnam. Not saying this is good or bad, it just is. The crazy thing is that - at least in China- our female workers are substantially better than our male workers.