who cares, as long as people are out there riding, advancing the hobby and having fun.
Its nice to see products out there that the average working stiff (like me and most of you) can afford. An example how to ruin a sport:The skiing industry has been slowly choking itself out over the years with WAY too expensive products and lift tickets (of course much of the ticket expense is due to the fact that we live in a litigious society). Snowboarding was the saving grace. They did it by getting young people involved at first by lower priced products that teens could afford..and then by marketing genius.The beauty of biking is you can by a middle-of --the-road bike for $800-1000. Spread that over the life time of the bike its only causting you maybe a hundred a year (I spend that in a day on the slopes). The greater supply of bikes out there the lower the prices should move..... not everyone cares if there are aestheticly pleasing weld points, nervex lugs or a 3oz weight difference in their frame.
Did I sound hostile enough??? I think the administrators of this forum have put some kind of mind control on all of us, so that we think WAAAAAY too much about bikes and all the minutia that comes with them.....and makes you crave it fortnightly