What's the real cost...

 What does that new bike REALLY cost?
 
So you did it… You’ve waded through 8 manufactures websites, weighed all your options and finally pulled the trigger on a brand spanking new bike! You even kept within your $4000 budget by one whole dollar!  $3999, what a deal!  Oh, and $99 for freight.  Don’t forget sales tax either, $4492.17 total out the door.  Suddenly, you realize you are beyond your budget…. By almost $500.  And there’s still money you HAVE to spend to make that new purchase “just right”.  Let’s take a quick look, shall we?
 
Ok, first things first.  You’re going to need to pedal this thing, right?  Oh, well most new bikes don’t come with pedals so we are up against a wall…. Pedals…. Road clipless… Seeing that we are so far over budget already we concede that we don’t need the best pedals.  How about a set of Shimano 105 (PD-R7000).  Well, if you decide to order quick and easy on Amazon you’re going to be out 126.30.  Damn.
 
Ok, ok, don’t be a cheapskate, move on.  Now, we’ve got to make this thing fit us.  Fortunately, being incredible researchers, our new bike fits us really well.  It comes with the correct length stem and with correct width bars.   Just one small problem with the fit though… That size small frame comes with 172.5 Shimano Ultegra cranks and you normally run 165’s.  No big deal, how much can a crankset cost anyway???  Amazon to the rescue!!!  Wait, $276…. This is getting expensive now.
 
But wait, there’s more!!!  Seeing that you are the princess and the pea, you can’t possibly ride with that stock seat, can you?  I mean the Fizik Mistica only adds another $157 to the bill.  And you’re a$$ is worth it, right?
 
So now we have close to that perfect bike!  Woohoo!  Let’s get it out for a ride!  Well, hold on a second.  You haven’t ridden a bike with tubes in the tires in several years and don’t have spare tubes in the house.  Oh, it came with tubeless compatible wheels so let’s just make this change straight up!!!  So let’s see, the tires that came on it aren’t tubeless compatible so we need those… They wheels are taped but we need valves and sealant…. OK, a set of Conti GP 5000TL, a bottle of orange seals and some valves totals up to another $125 on sale!!!  Boom! 
 
Now you’re ready.  Let’s just total these parts up:
 
Pedals:             $126.30
Crankset:         $276.00
Seat:                $157.00
Wheel conv:    $125.00
Total:              $684.30
 
So your real price becomes:  $5176.47, a 23% increase over the price you budgeted for!!!  So what’s the take home here.  Well, sometimes buying a handmade bike built and spec’d exactly for you is no more expensive than buying a big name brand bike and “making it the way you want it”!