> I can't understand people who shell out thousands of dollars for a bike, are these so much better than a $500 one They are significantly and astonishingly be

> I can't understand people who shell out thousands of dollars for a bike, are these so much better than a $500 one They are significantly and astonishingly better if you do something that style of bike is designed to do - eg. ride 40km as efficiently as possible, go up mountains all day, sprint finishes, etc. They aren't 10 times better, but that's not how subjective value works.