I'm in a different market segment (as far as you can get from athlete/performance cyclist), but also think they're misjudging the market. I bike almost every day for commuting, grocery shopping, and visiting friends. Also occasionally longer overnight trips for fun. I can't understand why anyone needs the features of this bike, and even if they did, how does this $1000+ bike provide those features better than adding a few accessories to any bike of your choice?
I found that in real life, I noticed no difference with most of the features that command a premium. When commuting, I'm carrying a laptop, charger, and usually lunch. When riding for fun, I'm usually carrying plenty of water, food, and maybe a tent and sleeping bag. So why would I pay hundreds of dollars to save pounds on my bike with a carbon frame?
I do spend plenty on accessories, but they're in the opposite direction than what this bike offers. I bought as nice of a saddle as I could find, with no thought towards price. Same with comfortable hand grips. And a really expensive pannier that converts into a backpack - which is probably my best purchase.
Following that high publicity jeep hack, and I'm sure plenty of other car hacks that have followed, I personally consider it a feature that my bike is purely mechanical. This bike falls somewhere between "social network for dogs" and "smart refrigerator with livestream of your egg carton" in terms of why would I want this?
For half the price of this bike I got a 1500W mid-drive ebike conversion kit that I added to a $150 BMX bike which is ridiculously fun, with a programming cable allows for more than enough tinkering for my tastes. It's in a completely different class than a human powered bicycle for sure, but IMO many casual bicyclists would be well served owning a cheap e-bike and a cheap bicycle.
I found that in real life, I noticed no difference with most of the features that command a premium. When commuting, I'm carrying a laptop, charger, and usually lunch. When riding for fun, I'm usually carrying plenty of water, food, and maybe a tent and sleeping bag. So why would I pay hundreds of dollars to save pounds on my bike with a carbon frame?
I do spend plenty on accessories, but they're in the opposite direction than what this bike offers. I bought as nice of a saddle as I could find, with no thought towards price. Same with comfortable hand grips. And a really expensive pannier that converts into a backpack - which is probably my best purchase.
Following that high publicity jeep hack, and I'm sure plenty of other car hacks that have followed, I personally consider it a feature that my bike is purely mechanical. This bike falls somewhere between "social network for dogs" and "smart refrigerator with livestream of your egg carton" in terms of why would I want this?
For half the price of this bike I got a 1500W mid-drive ebike conversion kit that I added to a $150 BMX bike which is ridiculously fun, with a programming cable allows for more than enough tinkering for my tastes. It's in a completely different class than a human powered bicycle for sure, but IMO many casual bicyclists would be well served owning a cheap e-bike and a cheap bicycle.