I have a $1200 bike and thought that was a pretty good bike, and it is. It's a great bike. But a friend of mine had a $4000 racing bike. I asked him if I could ride it. When I took off, it was so smooth and got a lot faster much quicker then mine did, and with less the effort. To make a comparison, it was like going from an ordinary Corvette to a high performance Porshe.