As a racing mountain biker, a sub 1k bike should be given to your children or spent on a used road bike or a fixie / beach cruiser for your lady friend.
As a guy who owns a 10k full carbon bike, well 2 of them road and mtb I'll admit the diminishing marginal utility comes in quick after 3-4k just like spending 1-200 on fins.
I don't think the cycling comparison is accurate. I won't pay 500 for fins. 130 for jetfins is enough. If i want to go really fast I'll use my free diving fins.
I'm sure the quality of the product is good, but the cost could be lowered with better sourcing or getting them made over seas.
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OK...True story... some years back Sandra and I went to Italy for a cycling vacation....I brought a $6000 Stork that the bike shop I frequent in Lake Worth, claimed was the ultimate....Unfortunately, I had few times to ride it prior to the trip....So once in Itally, I found it was making climbing the mountains harder than they should be for the grade....and on the donwhills I like to fly on, it turned like a truck..you had to carefully plan your line well before the turn started for these huge mountain switchbacks, and then STAY carefully on this line, not deviating, if you were anywhere near high speed ( 30 to 50 mph)...On the 4th day we were there, we stopped at a cool looking bike shop at the foot of one of the great climbs up a mountain....they were a Pinarella dealer. They had a nice Pinarello Prince to demo...so I took it and rode it up the mountain, and then down....In America, the way it was set up, this would have been about a $9000 or more bike, but in Itally more like 6k...
On the climbs, it was like I had a big hand, shoving me forward with each pedal stroke....the frame was not wasting energy like the Stork.
On the awesome downhills, this Pinarello was more like a Lamborghini.....you could be anywhere in the arc of the turn, decide on a different line, and the bike would already be taking it, and easily optimizing the new line.
So the Stork became junk I had to sell, and the Pinarello was the bike I rode for the rest of the trip.
Point being....Like with fins, bikes have brands that cost plenty, and that really stink....and there are bike brands that cost a bit more, and eclipse most other bikes no matter what they cost...though these are not "cheap".
I also have a Specialized S Works Mountain bike, full carbon as you know, and very light....And the mountain bike I had prior to this was a Trek Liquid....I think the Liquid was about 3k....and I absolutely believe the S Works Specialized is way more than twice as good a bike as the piece of dung Trek Liquid!!! Technology....For non-cyclists, the geometry of the bike frame, and the choice in materials for each part of the frame..where it is stiff--where it is compliant, these make a huge big difference on how well you can leverage your power on sprints or climbs...and the whole geometry issue is huge on cornering and descending mountain switchbacks...This is why I was using the cycling analogy.
