Originally Posted by
bkaapcke
Having had a sailboat and a street rod, I think bike parts/componments are relatively cheap. Even high zoot parts are reasonable. Y'all need to quit thinking that a hundred bucks ought to buy all the parts you want. It won't even buy a weeks worth of groceries. bk
Expensive? Compared to what?
Yeah, it's not a terribly expensive hobby. You can get a pretty sweet bike for a couple thousand, sometimes much less. People spend more on golfing and many other hobbies.
But the original point was, I think, that the components are expensive compared to the whole bike. An Ultegra equipped bike does not cost much more than an Ultegra 'group', which seems odd. You can buy the whole bike, strip it, and sell the frame, wheels, etc. for more than the difference. It's an unusual outcome in a free market.