Originally Posted by fmw
The main difference between different high end bike brands is the way they look. The differences in performance are so subtle as to be meaningless. In fact the way they look is mostly a matter of paint. Bikes are so similar, I'm amazed anybody cares what brand is on the downtube.
Agree that good bikes are very similar. But we all develop particular tastes over time...frame material, compo groupset we prefer, handle bar shape...mostly what kind of geometry works the best. The poster just above summed up the average Trek buyer...because of how he was treated in the bike shop...lol.
For many buying a bike is like buying a car. Not for guys like us Fred...we build our bikes piece by piece and hence we have much more particular taste.
Cheers,
George