Wooden bikes

I also live in the Netherlands, and if I restricted myself to only parking in secured parking locations with gated access and cameras, I would only be able to cycle from my office... to my office.

This (obviously) precludes you from cycling anywhere you might want to go (home, the shops, your friends houses, a restaurant, a bar, a cafe).

If you restrict yourself to parking in locations with cameras (e.g. stations), your bike will still probably get stolen, especially if it is expensive (I know people who have had their bikes stolen from station bike parks with cameras). I myself had the front wheel stolen from my bike that was parked between 3 CCTV cameras, next to a busy metro station, next to a shop with a security guard, and across the street from the main police station in the city.

Eh, this is another area where construction is a factor. Flats due to low psi are usually pinch flats, which is a clincher issue. If you can bear the expense and inconvenience of running tubulars, pinch flats are no longer a concern.

Within the world of go-fast or go-far riding, yeah, they do, with real measurable changes and gains up through probably $6-7.5K USD.

For most riders, going above an entry level carbon fiber bike with Shimano 105 components and alloy rims is probably overkill. That price point is between $1500 and $2500US, depending on manufacturer and other options.

If you're a larger rider, getting a better grade of carbon frame is worth it. I'm about 98kg, so I took that option. My bike was $3500US, but still with alloy rims.

Wheels matter a LOT. The next step up in the Specialized line that year was exactly the same in all respects except wheels (carbon, aero) and price ($5,000US).

The other thing you see in nicer enthusiast bikes is electronic shifting. This adds, say, $800 to $1500 to the price vs. an equivalent cable-pull bike. It sounds insane, but it's really quite nice -- and never goes out of adjustment.

Disc brakes are taking over as well, but still command a slight premium. I don't have them because I live in a flat place, but if I lived in northern California or Colorado, they'd be a no-brainer -- they work WAY better on long descents or in the wet.

Oh, and if you want titanium instead of carbon, well, the whole game STARTS much higher. The most common ti frames I see are from a company called Moots; entry level for the frame alone is about $4000US -- more than my bike was originally.

Obviously, I don't see ti bikes except under fairly well-heeled riders MOST of the time (there are exceptions) -- but I see lots of normal middle class folks on $2500-$4000 (retail) bikes. That's kind of the default in the groups I ride in. Going higher is possible, but of limited utility. Going lower means you have a bit less fun, honestly. They didn't all pay full price or buy new, but that's the grade of bike around me on most rides.

The price drives the sales volume in a predictable way, so it's a rather self limiting problem.

But the "amateur using pro gear" is widespread, not just in cycling. And what's acceptable is a matter of culture. I've noticed that a person riding a $4k bike will get criticized by someone who drives a $40k car, with no irony.

I'm an amateur musician, but I play a professional quality instrument. It really comes down to the sheer enjoyment of it. My instrument won't get me into the Chicago Symphony, but it sounds nice in my living room. And it still cost less than many pleasures that people afford themselves.

At first glance, the wooden bike has to be for someone who is interested in the aesthetics and novelty of it.

Disclaimer: I ride a bike that I assembled from mostly spare parts for less than $100.

Yeah, I've still rarely seen honest discussions about what damping means in terms of structural materials.

If you made a bell out of cast iron instead of bronze, it would still ring, but it would ring for a shorter duration. This is because cast iron has higher internal damping than bronze. It is a viscoelastic effect, in that energy lost is proportional to the speed of movement (strain rate) within the material.

I imagine that most of the discussions about bike frame damping are not focused on this viscoelastic damping effect, but are more focused on the dynamic shock absorption effects that are a consequence of the mass and stiffness differences embodied in different frames. When you change frame material, you change so many other variables (tube wall thickness, etc) of the frame that a real apples-to-apples comparison is weird.