Specialized SL8 Index: How Long Does It Take to Afford S-Works SL8 Around the World?

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In recent years, there has been constant discussion that bikes are expensive. But how expensive? I’ve tried to illustrate the answer to this question with this so-called Specialized S-Works SL8 Index. It illustrates price-to-wage ratios, i.e., how long the inhabitants of the selected countries have to save up for this bike, taking into account the average net income and the price of the SL8 in the country.

Economically strong countries like Switzerland, Singapore, the US, Australia, and others are topping the chart. Locals will save up for the S-Works SL8 in 55 to 77 working days, assuming they don’t spend on anything else. In contrast, in countries such as Colombia, that time is almost 980 working days. Colombians thus save almost 18 times longer on SL8 than the Swiss.

It’s also interesting to note that many road bikes are more expensive than the S-Works Tarmac SL8 with Dura-Ace Di2 or SRAM RED groupset¹, which costs $14,000 in the US². You can check out my other research for more info. However, I opted for this bike because it is one of the most well-known.

Methodology and Limitations of This Research

Please note that the number of working days may not be exact. I have drawn the most recent average income data from publicly available sources (mostly for the year 2023) and calculated net income using online calculators. However, different sources gave slightly different values for average income, and the calculators may also not be accurate. I have taken the prices of the Specialized S-Works SL8 from the official specialized.com website for the respective countries. You can see the source data here. I calculated 21 working days, which is the average number of working days in a month.

Please let me know if you find any mistakes so I can correct them. Thank you!

Conclusion

This index neatly illustrates not only the sacrifice one has to make when buying a high-end road bike but also how wide open the scissors are between some countries.

I hope you enjoyed this research. It required a lot of time and energy, so I’d love it if you’d share it on your social networks, websites, or videos, citing cyclistshub.com as the source.

What do you think about the bike prices? Are they justifiable or too high? Do you dream about buying such an expensive bike, or are you happy with a more affordable one?

FAQ

1. SRAM RED AXS released in 2019, not the 2024 version (S-Works Tarmac SL8 LTD – SRAM RED AXS, which costs up to $15,000). ↩︎
2. The prices for this research were gathered on the 29th of April, 2024. ↩︎