> they were trying to sell so much fragile carbon fiber stuff that was miles outside of my budget range

This is self-awareness issue. At what point did you realise you'd wandered into the wrong shop for your target segment? Judging by the misrepresentation of the genuine preferences of folks like me, as being somehow nonsensical or antithetical, I suspect, "not yet".

I'm reminded of the vegetarian who visits a steakhouse and complains there's nothing for them on the menu but salad.

> all they had was some Chinese brand

Place of origin indicates nothing about the item manufactured, and product labeling even less so. Most bicycle tube & tyre production is in E/SE Asia.