IMO, snob and poser are two differnt things. Not that one can't be both. :D

I did have one guy tell me years ago (riding a TREK 1500 dt shifters) tha he would never ride a POS like my bike. Gina and I had caught up to him, needles to say we dropped him, his partner and his $5000 bike too. Now that is a snob and a poser.:p

I'm in Tellys camp @95%. When I first started riding again I was overweight and had just had both hips replaced. I had a '94 HT in the garage. I was riding to get some health back. My "kits" probably scared people. 5 miles on pavement wore me out. I got tons of those sarcastic looks from the local riders. Then a day came when I went down hard and was in bad shape. No help from the local riders as I limped home on a leg that needed 11 stitches to fix. I just didn't look the part. Arrogant is just arrogant and pollutes the term bike community.

A friend loaned me a new Specialized Roubaix for a Century. I went back to the same loop (River Mountain Loop) dressed in a spiffy jersey and the Roubaix. I was greeted like I was a king. I had ridden 3 miles to get to the staging area, but the lot was filled, no big deal. I live 3 blocks from a main bike artery. But I gag on the elitism.

Oh yeah, my main bike NOW was originally $4,000. I got it 2 years old for $1,500 from a solid rider with 3 $4K+ bikes. I like it when people feed the used bike marketplace.

It's not that your thoughts weren't welcome, it's that I was tired that everytime I mentioned pain, people materialize to criticize my pain management. Trust me, you didn't offend, but the subtopic is now closed.

I thought the subtopic, which you didn't start, was out of line. I was politely trying to persuade one poster with a monomania on the subject to back off. No offense was intended against you, but the whole subtopic had to end or I'd ask moderators to close the thread. So I was blunt.

Telly - I was just needling you, no hard feelings.

If you can't rant on a message board full of strangers you've never met about a topic that's relevant to the board, well, where can you rant!

I'm too bald to be cool (except thermally), to fat to be fast (except downhill but I live in Louisiana so forget that, too) and I have a really nice bike that I saved two years to afford. I drive to the start of 95% of my rides and there's a reason that I do that. I don't tear up the roadways with mileage but I do a very consistent 150-200 miles/ week. I'm not sure what all of that makes me but I'll tell ya one damn thing, I like pie.

Quite a difference between 150-200 miles per week and 30 minutes of riding around the marina at walking pace.

Quite a difference between driving a distance to the start of a ride and spending more time loading bikes onto the back of an SUV and driving than it would take to just ride to the start.

You totally skipped the part about the pie.

+2 on the pie! (Preferably a-la-mode!)

Come on down here. The pie is very god in the Big Easy.

Plus it's almost jazz fest!

I don't usually skip pie. That's why I post in the Clydes area :P

+3!

Now, see, this is what I'm talking about. Bring up pie and it's almost as good as a big ol' gushy group hug! lol

I don't see a problem with that as long as they enjoy it.

oops

Seems to me the OP is more about jealousy than anything else. Bad economies hurt a lot of people and during those times it's hard to watch someone else who is not hurting and not feel a little jealous. I don't commute and have a $15K (US) bicycle, does that make me a poser???? I don't have a LA jersey so maybe not even though Beanz might think so anyway. ;)
I do understand the feeling though. Years ago I used to roadrace motorcycles and I remember racing the same bike for 4 years because I couldn't afford a new one. It was never a lot of fun seeing fellow racers showing up each year with brand new top of the line equipment. I'd ride by them on their shiny new stuff and think to myself, I'm way faster than him, how come that guy can afford the good stuff and I can't. It's not a pleasant feeling.
All I can say is move on. Some day it'll be you who has the money and means to own the good stuff and it'll be some other less fortunate person posting about you the poser. ;)

Do you own ANY jersey? When we rode together you didn't have one. :-)

Lance only races the TDF and avoid the other big tours so IMO, he's a poser too!:D

Kidding, but like I said, where does one draw the line? You're lucky Homey, I've always thought the line starts at $15,001. :p

I'm not jealous about a more expensive bike or the people who can afford them you will always have that.In general I'm saying manufactures and some builders are ripping us off because one idiot paid the price so everybody pays more for the privilege.Not every frame builder is Leonardo even if they think they are.

Sorry. ;)

PS, I've been in manufacturing for 20 years and the costs/margins involved in manufacturing are not as simple or as inexpensive as you are making out. If you can design, tool-up, build and market a high end CF bike, sell it for $6k and make a $4k profit give me a call. I'd be happy to go into business with you. Really, frames have not really gotten that expensive, what has gotten expensive is component groups, accessories and wheels. A good set of Zipp 404s will set you back around $2,700. Shimano Dura Ace group is around $2,000. That's almost five grand and you don't even have a frame yet...

That's funny, I was trying to emulate Mr. Beanz that day. ;) Actually I have more jerseys than I can shake a stick at. The only "team" jerseys that I own are from my own race team.

Most carbon fiber products are machine made and the component groups are machine made as well the unit cost had come down on building anything less that handmade.I know modern techniques and even 5 million dollar machine tools pay for themselves and can be retooled and updated.The price of artwork is one thing but not a machine made product.How much do you think the materials cost and the cost to make them is you may trip over your lower lip if you found out.

I'm sorry it bothers you enough to write an essay. Every sport has their "posers". Honestly 99% of riders who soent over $1000 on a bike have more bike than they could ever need including me. But it's cool, and I wanted it, like my Gibson Les Paul Custom. But yes I know what you mean.

Well, if you're willing to fly solo you can buy a complete carbon frame, fork & head set from a variety of chinese manufacturers for under $600, so your claim that a 6k frame is 4k in profit is not necessarily absurd.

The problem is that the Chinese frames are "almost" the same... so yeah, some of the cost of your frame is engineering, marketing, brand, warranty etc but you are completely free to do without those things and go direct, netting you an "almost the same" frame with no engineering, marketing, brand or warranty.