> I think without middle aged men in lyrca spending $10k on bikes, most of the performance/road oriented bike shops in major metro areas would go bankrupt, because the profit margin on some of that stuff has to be insane. Particularly the accessories. Yes, I totally need a $95 carbon fiber bottle cage... Hook me up!

The markup on higher-end parts and bikes is quite ridiculous. I've SRAM Red eTap on my road bike and cassette alone is over $500. Compare that to a Rival eTap cassette at $180 (two steps down) or Force eTap at $260 (one step down) and it is enough to make your head spin. Or if you want to stick to "old technology" and go with 11sp Force/Ultegra, you can get them for $130. I half-jokingly say that I'll sell the bike before any part wears out as it will be more cost effective to replace it.

My approach is to purchase lightly used high end bikes through private sales. Find a trusted source and let them take the initial hit. Covid put a bit of a dent in those plans due to lack of bikes everywhere, but at least there's still some deals to be had as you approach top range. You can forget any deals for bikes under $5000, you're likely to pay similar prices for used as for new.