I've also heard the criticism that people spend a lot of money on very light bikes, when they could be healther and have less total mass by losing weight themselves. I didn't intentionally set out for a very light bike, but it was what Wheelworks handed to me, it was about the price I expected to pay, it had the features I wanted, and it was in fact more rideable than the one-cheaper in the same line.

(In contrast, the bike fredrickegerman and narya have is intentionally heavy, but I do now see that narya's commute is substantially half-paved roads...I wouldn't try to commute on my new bike.)