When did bikes get that expensive? I bought a "brand name bike" just like 6 years ago for $900 and thought I was going way out of a normal budget.
That means you should compare them to cars: I bought a cargo e-bike for just under $3k when I needed to take my son and all of his stuff to daycare near my office ~6 miles away. I certainly used to bike that distance before but the weather, workday timing, etc. meant I never did it more than 3 days a week before, but the speed & cargo capacity of the e-bike made it my preferred option every day.
The other people who didn’t live within walking distance all drove, so their trips took longer door to door (congestion around the school alone was 20 minutes) and my expensive e-bike was the equivalent of a couple months of what they spent on SUV payments, parking, gas, and insurance. Plus my son _loved_ going on the bike every day (it helped that we went by the train yard) while most of his classmates protested going in the car because they’re so isolated with nothing to see.
For mechanical bikes, they've always been (relatively) expensive. Here's one for $16k: https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/bikes/road/race/supersix-ev...
At a quick glance for road bikes: * Canyon starts at $1899 * Specialized starts at $1200 * Trek starts at $999
If you want a more upright hybrid, they can be found at lower prices.
> I bought a "brand name bike" just like 6 years ago for $900 and thought I was going way out of a normal budget.
I'm curious what you got for $900. I doubt the current iteration of that $900 bike is now being sold for many thousands.