I bought a Trek USPS on marketplace couple of years ago and it came with the 2001 catalogue along with the price list from Race Pace Bicycles.
The original owner paid $4700 for the USPS back then which is about $8500 in today's money. What's everyone's thoughts about today's pricing with the current bikes compared to 2001?
by Next-Elderberry7285
2 Comments
Today’s pricing is logical. You have to keep inflation in mind which has an average of about 1.5% per year. So 8.5k isn’t outrageous over the course of 24 years.
I have seen a similar comparison With ski lift tickets (though going back to about 1974 or something) and it’s the same thing. The ticket prices they paid then converted to today’s money is about the same from what you pay now.
Sure, technology has advanced and that too costs money. Labor costs have gone up, as well as material costs. It’s not as easy as comparing prices from back then to today.
While Di2 and e-Tap are probably less expensive to manufacture, the cost to get where we are today wasn’t cheap. Let alone the learning curve for carbon. Buddy has a basically NOS Giant 2005 TCR Aero and we recently swapped bikes on a ride with my SRAM Aethos and it was startling how harsh, twitchy and exhausting the TCR was to ride for a few hours. I’m happy to look at older bikes with a sense of reverence, but more than happy where we are today.