Keeping up with Lance

Blame seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong for the high-priced bike movement. As Armstrong's victories piled up from 1999 to 2005, so did demand from affluent cycling enthusiasts determined to buy replicas of his tour-winning machine, or something comparable, no matter the price.

In addition to boosting the sport's overall popularity, one of the most enduring of the so-called Lance effects "was to get the people who already rode a high-priced bike to buy a higher-priced bike," said Jay Townley, a partner in a Wisconsin-based marketing and research firm who studies cycling trends.

Hence, the proliferation in recent years of custom-bike builders, perhaps as many as 190 worldwide, Townley said, that cater to the cycling market's upper crust.

"The people driving this high-end business aren't your typical bike commuter," Townley said. "They aren't helping the environment or saving money by buying these high-priced bikes. They're doing it because it's a fashion statement for them within their circle of friends and acquaintances who happen to be other bikeys."