People probably think it crazy that our 11 year old has an >$500 bike that he will fit for only a couple of years...but there are people who buy their kids horses and ATVs. DS's little Redline CX bike costs a lot less than those things and costs nearly nothing to maintain and use (unlike horses and ATVs).

When he's a teenager I don't think we'd drop $5k on a bike, but maybe $2k, assuming that when he outgrows it we'd be able to sell it easily enough.

$5k really seems like a small price to pay to give a kid something to do that is healthy (assuming a family can afford the investment). If they're training for competition they don't have time to get mixed-up in a lot of negative things...plus those things would undermine their training efforts.