I’ve been pondering this today as I’ve not had much to do. What bike/spec is classed as average value or standard for any given price?

Once it was easy to work out as most bikes came from bike shops and each manufacturer would offer a certain bike at a certain price point. Yes, there were variations but it was pretty easy to work out average value and therefore what was a bargain and what was overpriced.

Now, with loads of bikes available via mail order or direct sales that blow lbs bikes out of the water spec for £ and the smaller volume sellers having to charge more to a point then the lbs bikes what is considered ‘average’.

When looking for a new bike would you immediately look at Canyon/Rose/On-One spec at a given price and then consider anything not offering the same as over priced and if this is the case are the bargain brands now the average and what all others should be judged against or does the often stated disadvantages of buying direct and the reason they are cheaper mean that the Trek/Specialized/Giant etc are still the average? I like Orange but people often say they’re far too expensive. That’s true compared to the direct sales but a little unfair against the big players so who is it fair to compare them and others similar to?

Have I spent too long listening to my 17 m/o son shout at me today?

Factor in the “cost” of after-sales service. If that’s important to you then there is your answer. It is more important to me than a derailleur and brake upgrade, particularly if I need a warranty claim. Others may disagree.

How can “bargain” be “average”?

Take all the bikes that have the spec you want (obviously this isn’t going to be exact, but close enough)
Add up the values of all the bikes in your sample
Divide by the number of bikes in your sample

You have your ‘average’, the ones that don’t fit within a couple of standard deviations either way are ‘a bargain’ or ‘overpriced’

How can “bargain” be “average”?

When it stops being a bargain and becomes what is expected at the price it is. That’s what I’m getting at I guess.

There’s always been bikes that when reviewed have had parts that are above or below what is expected at the price. Is what’s expected at a given price now what Canyon/YT/Bird produce?

Average is perhaps the wrong word, standard maybe fits better.

Take all the bikes that have the spec you want (obviously this isn’t going to be exact, but close enough)
Add up the values of all the bikes in your sample
Divide by the number of bikes in your sample

You have your ‘average’, the ones that don’t fit within a couple of standard deviations either way are ‘a bargain’ or ‘overpriced’

or the bargain ones have a naff frame

I would say that Specialized/Trek are ‘average’ along with lots of other complete bikes you can buy from an LBS

Canyon/YT/Rose are cheap but come from abroad
On-one are cheap direct UK

Frame-only companies are in the higher price bracket with Orange/Transition being cheaper than Santa Cruz/Pivot/Evil/Ibis

That is what I always thought but it seems that any bike mentioned is automatically compared to the ‘bargain’ bikes so shows up badly on spec. This being the case then surely the ‘bargain’ bikes become the norm as they are the benchmark that others are compared to?