Actually, I think that the snobbery sometimes works both ways.

Bicycling is an unusual sport in that an ordinary guy, if he sets his mind to it, can usually manage to buy the equivlent of an Indianapolis race car. $4,000 or $5,000 won't buy you much of a boat or a top notch motorcycle, but it will get you an extreamly nice road bike. That's within the do-able range for lots of people so the bar is set pretty high if you want other people to admire what you have.

On the other hand, there's a kind of unwritten rule about having equipment that's too good. If you actually show up with a $4,000 bike, you'd better be able to make it go or the equipment envy police are going to mock you all the more.

The bottom line is that the people who like you will continue to be friendly regardless of what you ride and the skoffers will find something to carp about no matter what you do. Ride what you feel you can afford, do what you think's best for you, and let other people's opinions roll off of your back.