New bike affordability

[Zen]

The only wisdom I can impart on this subject is in the form of an anecdote.

There is a hill in town that I have climbed on two different bikes.

The first bike was aluminum.
It's a low end model but I bought it new and the total price was about $430.

The second bike is a steel bike that I rebuilt.
The total cost for that bike was probably about the same.

When I got to the top of the hill on the stock aluminum, I was catching my breath.

When I got to the top of the same hill riding the steel bike I could only think of this

I should add that this frame was custom (though not for me) from a Canadian builder so it's probably somewhat high-end.