In 1971, you could buy a fully-kitted Colnago Super from Berkeley Velo-Sport, including Clement silk tires, for about $430, plus shipping.
My favorite inflation calculator (
http://www.westegg.com/
So, $20K-plus for a bike today does seem rather extreme, especially if you consider that the 2K you'd spend on that 1971 Colnago today (if you could), will buy you a very nice, high-performance road bike right off the shelf, if you want that kind of thing.
That said, the artisan-level hand-work that went into a 1971 Colnago or Masi would cost more now than the inflation calculator suggests. How much more? I have no idea. Another thousand dollars maybe? Even at that, this does suggest that those high-end racing bikes of the 1970s were always a bargain, and they still are, even at the prices seen on ebay, for used ones, these days.
I don't think there's anything wrong with people spending their cash on whatever they please..but it's also worth noting that you can buy a very nice road bike from Specialized or similar, with Daytona or similar parts, on sale, for well under a grand, and this bike will offer more in the way of performance than any of the high-zoot bikes of the 70s. So, while advanced technology has made the highest end *very* high, in price, and in specification, that same technology has allowed the manufacture of high-performance bicycles for a price undreamed-of 30 years ago.
The last 5% of quality always costs far more than seems reasonable. For some, that's not an issue though.
Granted, some of the cost savings we see today in things like bicycles is realized at the expense of near-slave-wages in China...but that would spoil my argument...
At any rate, the 600 bucks in today's money you'd spend on that marked-down Specialized, would buy you what exactly in 1971? A Raleigh Record? A Peugeot UO-8?
I'd take the Specialized in a heartbeat. Until I had to consider just where and how and by whom the frame was made. Then maybe I'd think twice.
Charles Andrews
SoCal