Most expensive production bike

[telstarbox]

Inspired by some "is cycling Tory / dentists on Pinarellos" chat on Twitter, what is the most expensive production bike you can buy in the UK (so not custom build or vintage?)

Are they worth it?

How much would you spend on a bike if money was no object?

[orienteer]

The top "Double Pylon" stainless steel Moulton is around £20k now. I have the first one sold in the UK 16 years ago for about a third of that, though the net cost to me was considerably less after selling a previous Moulton and reclaiming the VAT for a "business bike". Its s/h value now is around £10k; there are few bikes that appreciate in value!

It's a lovely bike which rides and handles very well, but not ten times better than a Bridgestone Moulton which cost £1500 when new and is almost as good to ride.

So I consider myself fortunate to own it, but wouldn't spend that much on a bike today.

(The "pylons" are space frame structures in place of the seat and steering tubes).

[citoyen]

Top of the range Trek Madone is £13,800. That seems to be about the going rate for a dentist's bike these days.

But I can’t imagine anyone spending that much is going to be happy with stock options, so your dentist is going to want to add fancy wheels, another £3k at least, and a power meter, another £1k? Pedals, bottle cages, Garmin - that’s another £1k…

I wouldn’t be averse to spending that kind of money on a bike if I had it, but I certainly wouldn’t be buying a standard production bike for that much.

[Kim]

Do velomobiles count?  There not cheap.  But they're practically custom builds by default...

[Mr Larrington]

A Snoek is ~ €8000 though presumably that’s before the Brexit Bonuses are applied.

[lissotriton]

UCI rules say track cycling bikes used in competition must be available to buy. Seems the latest GB Olympic bike is about £15K for the frame, plus £2K per wheel.
https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/team-gbs-olympic-track-bikes-now-for-sale-with-a-huge-price-tag/

[yoav]

They’re not really production bikes, they’re prototypes that are available to order by the general public for delivery at an undetermined date at a price that if you need to know it, you can’t afford it.

Having said that, I don’t know if other countries that do well on the track are also having their bikes made this way or they are using actual ready to buy production bikes. Either way, the British bikes are not as all conquering as they are made out to be.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Several countries use Argon 18 track bikes with various handlebars. They seem to be off-the-shelf machines, possibly with custom layups for some. https://www.argon18.com/en/stories/thisismyride-louis-pijourlet

[Zed43]

A Snoek is ~ €8000 though presumably that’s before the Brexit Bonuses are applied.

That would be the starting price, and excluding VAT. Don't ask me how I know 

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

There is one good thing about the price of the most expensive production.  It allows me to justify to Mrs CET that the cost of all the bikes I have bought combined is less than the price of the latest single machine.  That allows more headroom for N+1 and N+1+1.

[D.A.L.E.]

BMC do a road bike for about 15 grand don't they? My car cost £120.

[Auntie Helen]

A Snoek is ~ €8000 though presumably that’s before the Brexit Bonuses are applied.

The Milan and Bülk come in at over 12,000€ once you’ve added the necessary options (indicators!)

The Velomobiel.nl products are a bit cheaper but still around 10k for a Quattrovelo. I’m surprised the Snoek is only 8k.

[Mr Larrington]

Heard a sum of 14k US for one or other of the production VMs the other day.

[Auntie Helen]

If I bought my Milan again, with motor, it would be the wrong side of 15k EUR.

So I am not buying it again, I am sticking with my current one.

My car, on the other hand, which is technically a Daimler and only 4 years older than my Milan, cost me 4.000 € and works really well. (Smart Cabrio)

[ElyDave]

I definitely have more money tied up in bikes than in my car, but then I do probably twice the mileage on my bikes