I used to think the same about £150-£200 wheelsets, my next one is going to be about £300 (hope Pro2evo, DT DB, spank subrosa evo), so I can see why people would buy them, it’s just a progression (buy soem hope hoops, next time some £600 crossmax, then some £1000 whatevers), especialy seeing as once your ‘needs’ are raken care of any disposable income can be spent on ‘wants’, so you don’t need 10x the income to spend 10x on wheels, and at that price they’re in keeping with £2.5k frames and Fox 36’s.
Talking about the cost of bike parts with a mate a few weeks ago and how expensive 10speed mechs/chains/etc were. I remarked that I’d given up worrying about that kind of thing as it had cost me £35 in petrol to come down and ride in the Peaks for the day (plus post ride chinese/curry and beers), and I considdered that acceptable so a £50 mech doesn’t seem so bad after all. It’s my hobby and I enjoy it so I may as well enjoy it, and for most people that inevitably involves some kind of nice parts buying, otherwise we’d all be riding arround on Carrera’s that cost less than a pair of hope hoops and are perfectly adequate 90% of the time!