I've ridden tens, possibly hundreds of bikes and owned about 50 in my life. 90% of them have been second hand. The most disappointing bikes i've ever owned have been new and carbon. I work in the bike industry and i'm very sceptical about most so-called innovation but even i still occasionally get suckered by the marketing/deals i get presented with. I don't want to sound patronising but your average member of the public doesn't stand a chance against the hype and the endless marketing journalism/forums (not this one)/reviewing industry that is the bike retailing world. I gave up working in bike retail. Several customers told me that i was the worst salesman they'd ever met because i told them half (probably more like 90%) of the stock in the shop was junk. I took that as a compliment. I now build bike wheels for a small company that does things exceptionally well, never cuts corners and ensures its products and serviceable and repairable. We have so many repeat customers coming back for new rims when they wear out old ones. The boss thought about expanding the number of employees but decided not to, instead focusing on making rather than management, quality rather than volume and having a nice reasonably modest life rather than getting himself on the deranged hamster wheel of endless expansion. To the best of my knowledge he has never done any actual marketing of the business - beyond supplying products that are tailored to meet the needs of our customers, built to the very highest standards.