I guess I'm more harping on bike price inflation. There's certainly feature creep too. Feels like it's gone up a lot more than lots of other stuff. I remember a couple years ago when the Fuel Ex 9.8 hit $7299* (which it remained all the way until end of MY21), for which you got carbon wheels for the first time. That was a justifiable price jump. The 9.8 level jumped another $1,300 since then. I get it - everything's more expensive, shipping, etc. I'm not looking for logic to say why a Top Fuel 9.8 needs to be nearly 9 grand, I get it. I understand what's going on. BUT at the same time....
I don't FEEL like I'm riding a 9-11k bike when I ride it. As I said, "I don't think the experience justifies the cost".
Now, I'm not too well versed in exotic cars, but I'd certainly hope you'd feel more of a difference stepping out of a Toyota 86 and into a 911 GT3 (close to top spec but not quite) than I do when throwing a leg over this close-to-top but not quite spec bike versus one that costs a lot less money.
*I just remembered the first year with carbon wheels included was $6999, and then went up another 300 YOY.
July 23, 2022, 1:21 p.m. - Lu Kz
I guess I'm more harping on bike price inflation. There's certainly feature creep too. Feels like it's gone up a lot more than lots of other stuff. I remember a couple years ago when the Fuel Ex 9.8 hit $7299* (which it remained all the way until end of MY21), for which you got carbon wheels for the first time. That was a justifiable price jump. The 9.8 level jumped another $1,300 since then. I get it - everything's more expensive, shipping, etc. I'm not looking for logic to say why a Top Fuel 9.8 needs to be nearly 9 grand, I get it. I understand what's going on. BUT at the same time.... I don't FEEL like I'm riding a 9-11k bike when I ride it. As I said, "I don't think the experience justifies the cost". Now, I'm not too well versed in exotic cars, but I'd certainly hope you'd feel more of a difference stepping out of a Toyota 86 and into a 911 GT3 (close to top spec but not quite) than I do when throwing a leg over this close-to-top but not quite spec bike versus one that costs a lot less money. *I just remembered the first year with carbon wheels included was $6999, and then went up another 300 YOY.