Someone riding a new carbon gee-gawed bike with the "appropriate" gear is more likely to be treated with respect than someone riding an older, cheaper bike. Owners of less expensive bikes are likely to be sneered at, at the very least
My solution? Crush those guys on their $3k bikes!
I met up w/ an LBS group a few weeks ago and they were all milling about talking in their groups. Not necessarily being snobs, but they weren't exactly inviting me in. I think they saw my '00 Trek 2000 with the blue frame and hot pink lettering (if only I could repaint it
) and figured I wasn't worth the effort. Started the ride and I hung back to get a feel for the group. The clydesdales (a group to which I also belong) near the back were a touch elitist and seemed to kind of ignore my hanging back. Well, to make a long story short, 1:30 later, with about 4-5 miles of a 30-mile ride to go, I got a wild hair and stood up and was gone (not so much to show off as just wanting to push the last part of the ride). Kept about 19 mph average for the rest of the ride and finished several minutes ahead of the majority of the peloton (which pulled in later w/many red faces and drooped shoulders). Suddenly, I had some respect and several people initiated conversations. Some roadies may initially look for gear (a reasonable attitude, but often a wrong one given all the rich people who think "I wanna be like Lance" this time of year, only to have their Madone collecting dust in August
) but I promise that if you step up to the plate and show some skill, they'll open up no matter what bike you have