Quote Originally Posted by Swan View Post
Ah, well, I like to buy for keeps. I'll be putting the bike to a lot of use and hope it'll last a long time, but you often only get what you pay for!
I think this is truer for bikes than for a lot of things. I mean, with cars you can spend $20k or you can spend $40k. A $40k is rarely really DOUBLE the car that a $20k car is--frequently you're paying for cache with a luxury brand, even though the cars may have nearly identical features. But with bikes...my CX bike was $1300 (IIRC). DH's originally retailed for $2600 (his new CX bike is literally the CX version of my road bike). His bike really is twice the bike. Mine is aluminum with low end components. His is carbon with higher-end components.

My mountain bike originally retailed for $700. I borrowed a friend's similar bike that retailed for closer to $2k new. OMG, what a difference. That thing practically pedals itself up hills, meanwhile my current mountain bike feels like it has a full keg of beer tied to the back (I wish it did, that way I could have some refreshments after those hard climbs!).