How is charging £8000 justified by road bike manufacturers, and really when it comes down to it how much better is a bike with an £8000 price tag compared to one with £3000 or even £2000 to the average cyclist?
That statement applies to most things we buy, including cycles.
I play snooker / pool. My cue is handmade and cost me £250.
My team mates cue is also handmade and cost him £600.
Is his cue better than mine? Well yes it is. But over twice as good? Well probably not.
Will a £2000 cue make and average player a better player? Absolutely not.
It is the law of diminishing returns. A "good" quality item can be bought for a datum price.
To better this product, you have to pay increasingly more and more.
The last few % of quality required to get a "perfect" product would be very expensive.
Some people feel the need to always have the best, regardless of cost, when in practice, something quite a bit cheaper would suffice.
Like a friend of mine who always has to have the latest a greatest PC technology as soon as it comes out.
He only uses his PC for web browsing, emails and a a bit of office work (spreadsheets, word documents etc.), and the high spec PC's he buys are largely wasted, as he never uses the huge potential anything like to the full. But he just wants the "best" he can afford.
The companies will make these expensive products, as they know that there will always be a small percentage of buyers who will buy them.
