Yes. In the US companies like Specialized, Trek, and even some boutique brands like Transition are in a totally different price bracket compared to Santa Cruz, Pivot, and Yeti for their mid / upper-mid priced builds.
You can still spend huge sums on the top end builds with all these brands (which is just good business) but you get a much better value for your money on the more practical and still excellent GX, XT, and XO1 builds with some brands.
Even at the frame-only level, the difference is striking. A Stumpy EVO (non sworks) Frame is $3k. Transition Spire is $3,400. A Ripmo is $3,500… the Megatower is $4,250 and the SB-150 is $4,700
If I was building a new bike right now I’d buy the Stumpy Evo alloy frame (with in-frame storage) for $2k and call it a day. (Or a Ripmo AF)
April 20, 2022, 4:35 p.m. - Vincent Edwards
Yes. In the US companies like Specialized, Trek, and even some boutique brands like Transition are in a totally different price bracket compared to Santa Cruz, Pivot, and Yeti for their mid / upper-mid priced builds. You can still spend huge sums on the top end builds with all these brands (which is just good business) but you get a much better value for your money on the more practical and still excellent GX, XT, and XO1 builds with some brands. Even at the frame-only level, the difference is striking. A Stumpy EVO (non sworks) Frame is $3k. Transition Spire is $3,400. A Ripmo is $3,500… the Megatower is $4,250 and the SB-150 is $4,700 If I was building a new bike right now I’d buy the Stumpy Evo alloy frame (with in-frame storage) for $2k and call it a day. (Or a Ripmo AF)