Originally Posted by
chaadster
Hmm...Wayback Machine is showing Madone 6 Series with DA was $8,609.99 MSRP on Trek's Sept.18, '09 site (
https://web.archive.org/web/20090918...ld_your_madone) and the current Trek site shows Madone SLR 9 Gen 7 with DA at $12,749.99 (
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...?colorCode=red). Maybe there's something going on with conversions from USD to AUD on your end?
The Specialized prices I posted were actual, too, and if my above price citations are correct, Trek's price increase is right in line with Specialized, so I dunno how we can work with your numbers of $7.6k and $23K.
Also, irrespective of whether or not that +2x increase over adjusted cost for the new Madone your numbers show is real (of '$23k vs. $11.2k), there's the question of whether 2x would be an "order of magnitude" increase. I thought, commonly, order of magnitude meant a 10x increase, which would be clearly hyperbolic in this case no matter whose numbers we use.
And those actual prices track with or just above the rate of inflation since 2009. Given how much the tech in those bikes has progressed in the intervening 15 years, it seems clear that you get a better bike for the money now, too. Thus, the claim that bikes are outrageously more expensive can be laid to rest.
And for the everyday cyclist who wants a high-zoot racing bike but doesn't want to spring for the top of the line, the Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7, with wireless Ultegra, carbon frame, and carbon wheels, has a MSRP of $9,049.99.
And a Madone SL 6 Gen 7 (wired 105 Di2, carbon frame and wheels) is $5,499.99.
And so on down the line, for Trek and their competitors.
What with having had no interest in new racing bikes since I bought my last one in 2005, I had no idea how affordable current carbon bikes with new tech were until I started poking around the Trek site today. I'm glad Sapper69 and chaadster went off on this tangent.