Outside the Bay Area in the US, I see a lot of hybrid and mountain bikes. In Silicon Valley, there's definitely a preference for multi-thousand $ road bikes -- and people ride them, hard.

Still, riding your carbon race bike to the office is akin to driving your Ferrari to the grocery store -- uncomfortable on rough roads, no storage space, and when you get there, where do you park?

When I bought my road bike, I tried to optimize the hell out of the performance/price ratio. You could get a pretty good road bike for less than $2k, or quite a bit less than that with some effort. Choose a store with good prices, and use all the discounts and sales you could get your hands on.

This was a few years back, but I got mine for $1200. Granted, this was in the middle of a massive sale, but still. It's even got a carbon fiber fork (but aluminum frame).

Frankly, not being Lance Armstrong, I don't care about the last few percentage points of performance. All I care is how much I get for the buck I pay, and whether I get a decent bike or not. Keep the chain lubed and the tires rock-hard, and the thing flies on most roads.

Parking can be an issue but I would hope that most large tech companies now offer interior protected bike storage. Seems like a cheap perk that keep employee healthy.

My perspective as a European is there seem to be two types. Whenever I bring up bike commutes with Americans, either the reaction is negative (with all the typical excuses), or their eyes light up and they start going on about that fixie they've had their eye on for so long. The "middle-class" of "bikes are fine tools for travel" just doesn't seem to be there - either you're dismissive or you're a "bike nut2.

Yeah that's pretty accurate from my experience too. It changes from city to city. Pacific north west cities like Portland and Seattle have a much more balanced view of cycling but on the east coast where I am now it's pretty much like you describe.

I think it is a young, hipster-ish thing. Usually people ride a mountain bike as a kid and think of road bikes as "bikes for grownups."