New York Times | You Paid How Much for That Bike?
The New York Times looks at the high-end bike market, especially in Manhattan.
The article focuses on boutique custom-bike shops, one (Signature Cycles) whose fitting studio is open by appointment only.
The current top end of the top end, according to the times, is about $23,000 for a carbon time-trial bike sold at Signature Cycles that comes with handmade German wheels at $5,500 a set. Judging from the Signature site, above, I’m guessing that’s a Seven Diamas, but who is making $5,500 wheelsets? Even the pro-level Corimas, Zipps, and Rolfs seem to run circa $900/wheel or less.
The lead is a woman who bought a $9,000 bike as she neared 39 so she could learn to ride. First question: Who doesn’t learn to ride a bike as a kid? Second question: Isn’t that a beautiful leap of faith?
The Hugger ethic even makes an appearance:
…Dr. Levine bristled slightly when it was suggested that people like him may be a little, um, obsessed with what is, after all, just a bicycle. You do feel a connection with it, he said. But I don’t think anyone in our group takes it to a psychotic, unreasonable extent. He paused. But my wife might disagree with that.
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