That bike and picture is a favourite of mine. Mint 
Don’t tell the other bikes I have favourites.
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You need two things for that:: a light set and waking up really early.
Well, I am a legend…in my own mind 
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I won’t tell if you don’t 
In 2020 I bought a Specialized carbon road bike in Taipei (size 58), the bike was “imported” back from the U.S. As a starter bike it was great, I really enjoyed cycling in Taiwan with it. Returning back to Taiwan this year (after nearly a year in the U.S), I bought a frame (size 61 which is a better fit than the 58) and Shimano Ultra in the U.S and brought them with me back to Taiwan and had them fitted here. IMO, there are more bike choices and options (at least in the U.S) than in Taiwan.
The cycling culture here is well established, plenty of groups, (generally) friendly riders, hills/mountains and car drivers (tend) to be aware of cyclists vs. some other countries. Only downside is that it’s very (very, very, very) hot cycling in the summer…though it seems to be cooling down a little recently.
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Thanks @shaokilai - great information!
I’m leaning towards doing something similar.
After all the talk on how its not possible to get a decent deal on a Specialized in Taiwan (where its made!), I’m looking into buy a used bike from these guys here in US:
Then I’ll keep it all boxed up and take it on the plane over to Taipei. I can then take it to a LBS and get it assembled.
See you in the hills!
Now THAT is a head tube!
So I finally got a new Shimano 5700 Chainring (man … bike parts can be hard to get these days …), and took her out for a quick river path ride this morning.
Super smooth and comfy ride, silent 2x11 sp. drive-train, I like this one a lot …
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Beautiful paint. Just pops out.
Some people in India or somewhere like that would think $1000 is crazy expensive. For one person $100 is a lot and another $11,000 is ok. At the end of the day money is just an idea, just a representative of what you earned. It’s the value that you get from things that’s important.
Well is it just an idea? Or, doesn’t it really depend on exactly how much money you actually have? Your argument is only attractive or sensible to a rich person to whom anything bought is worth no more than a chocolate bar… 
However, most people do not have such material luxury to be able to think like that…
I am a great believer in DIY. And part of that ethos is a conscious effort to:
1) beat fashion
2) achieve a specific design goal
3) save money
Nowadays, a lot of people make bicycle decisions based on whatever is currently fashionable, making zero effort to think about what they personally want and need.
Bicycle fashions also run through repeated cycles spanning decades. On the way to Asia from Canada during the 90s, I went shopping for a “good road touring frame”. There were very few commercially popular models, only the Japanese Miyatas plus a handful of super-pricey custom-built bikes. Also in those days, all the Alberta bike shops were jammed full of fancy MTBs. The fashion for “roadies” had receded long since the 70s and 80s.
Of course, now in the new millennium, the trends have come round full circle and “roadies” are everywhere again, eclipsing MTBs a whole lot!
I find these fashions entertaining but meaningless. Why? Because I have a special concept of my own needs that has evolved over the years through riding experience… For example, I’ve finally thrown out the leather seat for a composite one that weighs much less. (I also use an aluminum MTB frame and no longer have the road touring frame, which was much heavier…)
So, I build exactly the bike that is most useable. My criteria are 1) cost 2) durability 3) ease of repair 4) maximum life span 5) lightness 6) compactness 7) beauty.
If I build a bike, it is not about how much or how little it costs, but more about how it will fulfill all my parameters. My criteria have absolutely nothing to do with current fashions… Only pragmatic and aesthetic concerns.
I could almost agree with your assessment about the “relativity of value”. But to my mind, you are rationalizing a fashion, making an excuse to believe that the carbon-diamondlite-super-graphene frame is actually worth $11,000 dollars when it can’t possibly cost that much to manufacture! To me, that high price represents nothing more or less than a trick of consumerism put over people by business and industry.
If you are lucky enough to enjoy surplus wealth, then of course – a house, a jet, a bicycle, a luxury sports car all hold the same miniscule value as a chocolate bar…
Of course, you ought to feel free to spend as you believe you need. So, enjoy…
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Seems like you have a good idea of what you want and what’s important to you, so I think we’re on the same page with that. For me I value what the bike brings to me, and I appreciate the work and engineering that goes into a high-end bike. My aesthetics and criteria may be slightly different than yours, but I get where you’re coming from.
As far as the cost-to-manufacture vs. price, I’m not sure how I’d be able to evaluate that. A chocolate bar that sells for NTD 35 probably has a cost of materials of NTD 5-10. But if you really savor that chocolate bar and the experience it brings you, so be it;)
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Let’s see. I noticed a crack in the head tube, this is a place most specialised Enduros tend to break (quite a few people need a new frame every year or more ifren, it’s rubbish quality carbon or engineering). Maybe next year’s model will be better and it looks like they are more or less out of the 2020-2022 frames anyhow
After reading about your frame issue I looked at the specialised Status. It’s lower on the pecking order but highly capable and an alloy frame. Cheaper too!
I’m not familiar with this bike though it looks like a mountain bike…personally I have no experience with MB - I’ll leave it to others (in Taiwan) to speak about MB and usage in Taiwan. My experience cycling in Taiwan has been a road bike and gravel bike (for touring). IMO the roads here are generally excellent for road bikes, there are many many routes and some great routes to climb. Around Taipei the riverside bike paths are all easy rides/good tarmac and I’m not sure of the benefit of a bike with suspension - just seems like extra weight for minimal benefit…maybe the MB folks have other opinions?
upgraded from a Specialized SL6 sport to a Specialized Aethos (not the SWorks one)
Yeah, sorry. Probably wasnt clear in my post.
Was interested to see what @topofan was going to do regarding his Specialized “Enduro” mountain bike with the cracked carbon frame.
I was looking at same model and so after realizing there are a lot of people cracking their carbon frames on Specialized mtn bikes, looked into the Specialized “Status 160” which I believe is a alloy frame and so should hold up better.
I’ve never had a carbon frame mtn bike and starting to think my next mtn bike will not be carbon frame.
In general carbon is just all right. But on the speci Enduro they botched it clearly.
My last BMC trailfox frame was just 1800g and held up brutal abuse for me. Cannot get a hard hitting aluminium frame at that weight that is robust. It’s about proper design and using a decent layup/high modulus carbon and you can achieve very low weight.
The Enduro is heavy as shit but not even durable. They just botched something there cutting costs. And that’s pretty crazy with the Enduro being their flagship mountainbike.
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