$4000 is an entry level road bike?

A person, who has a vested interest in making you spend more money, told you that you need to spend more money.

Jeez, I wonder why that happened?

I'm in Australia, and you can definitely get a reasonable bike for $1200 (AUD). You could probably half that if you're willing to go second hand.

About 20 years ago I got a Canondale R800 - a good road bike - for $800.

That's about a grand American in terms of todays value.

4 grand sounds like way too much for a road bike.

2k bikes are decent. Then you pay a lot more for a little bit better

You can definitely find a cheaper decent road bike, I'd say $2000 is more closer to the starting number. But it's going to have older technology: mechanical shifting, rim breaks, aluminum wheels, aluminum handlebars. None of these things make you much slower, but your dentist friends will think you're poor. They'll likely offer to fill your cavities for free so you'll have more money for a better bike.

I purchased a used Cervelo R3 off Facebook marketplace for $1k; a Cannondale super6 for $800 off craigslist. I got a pair of really lightweight DT swiss wheels for $200.

Your running fitness alone, regardless of bike, should be good enough to hang on to a group ride.

I would have also said $2000 is the real price right now.

You also didn't tell us what you wanted to do with the bike. That makes a huge difference. Are you thinking of racing it every week? Are you going to do hill-climb events or criterium style racing? What do you want to do with this "road bike" of yours.

If you are just using it to get in shape with group rides, you don't need to spend as much as if you are going to try to make the jump to Cat 2 racing (for example).

You can get a Cannondale for around two grand that is better than any bike Greg Lemond raced on back in the 1980s, it just won't be better than your friends' bikes.

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Why didnt you buy a used bike?

But yeah, the sport of cycling is what it is for a reason. You can't be poor and be a cyclist.

This.

"Entry level" for a bike shop road bike good for regular use over many years is around $1200.

For $2000 you can get something noticably lighter and very good but not top shelf componentry on a quality aluminum. This is about the point where diminishing returns starts in earnest. That is, increasingly marginal improvements get increasingly more expensive.

IF you are reasonably fit, you can hang out in the local Saturday group rides with a $500 used bike. Heck, you can also race from time to time with it and you'll be fine. You only need spend big money if you are very serious into racing.

Forgot to add, the really important thing is getting the right fit, but this is somewhat independent of the price. You'll ride much better on a perfectly fitted $500 bike than on a poorly fitted $5000 bike.

I just bought one for ~$4400 including taxes and haven’t even picked it up from the shop yet, but yes, carbon bikes are not cheap and the lowest end brand name carbons would set you back by $2500+.

Bike mfgs are screwed. They have so much inventory right now. During covid, dealers couldnt get any new inventory. Even 700c, 26", 27.5, 29" tubes were unobtainable.

Now there is so much inventory built up, they can barely give it away.

Idk if thats true for high end road bike inventory.

bro have you been living under a rock? everything is expensive now. inflation. a fast food dinner is $100. Houses are 3x before. Rust bucket honda civics with 200k are $8-10k

get more money bro!

Bike shop is talking crap. A brand new carbon bike with Shimano 105 and hydraulic disc brakes should be $2-3k. That's the most expensive bike anyone could possibly call "entry-level", although imo that's comfortably midrange and won't give anything away to a $15k bike other than 1-2kg, electronic shifting (which you really don't need) and maybe aerodynamic frame and wheels (which are like a 0.5-1mph gain and don't make the bike any better for doing exercise on). You don't lose much by going aluminium and/or rim brake which can bring it down to $1.5k or maybe half of that for a few year old used one.

I repeat. Buy used! Unless you are some super dedicated cyclist, you can pick up a used bike much cheaper and then when you (just like the guy you bought the bike from) gives up cycling due to the cost, the time, the danger, you can re sell it and not feel like you are losing your @$$.

The most I paid for a bike was $300.

Serious question for cyclists. Do you need disc brakes if 1) you don't ride in the rain and 2) you don't race downhill?

I think the OP could have saved a couple of grand by buying a used bike and then upgrading the wheelset and tweaking the fit with a different stem/handlebars/etc to optimize his riding position.

You don’t “need” most any expensive feature on bikes but disc is standard on newer bikes and does work better in the situations you list and also protects rims from frictional heat damage.

Disc brakes goes along with carbon weels. It's safer and the weels that will last longer.

So the question is more about do you need carbon weels? At hobby level it's mainly a show off thing and can be hard to ride if you are not fit. There are good aluminium wheels a lot cheaper with old brake tech, which is fine.