Would you spend $14,000 for this bike?

Five years ago, back in the Stone Age as far as bicycling is concerned, Anthony Laskaris was thrilled when he sold a bike for $2,000. It was a cause for celebration.

Back then, the really fancy bikes were made of aluminum, the most expensive set of wheels on the market might approach $800, and a $2,000 sale was proof that big money, top-of-the-line bikes had a place on the suburban side streets of America.

That was then. Today, when Laskaris hears the cash register ring up a $2,000 sale, he doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

''That will buy a good intermediate bike for a recreational rider," said Laskaris, who has been in the bike business for 22 years and is now vice president of the Cycle Loft in Burlington. ''Now we start to get excited if something sells for $5,000. At that point, you're talking about a pretty nice bicycle."

Call it bike inflation, and if you haven't been in a bike store for a few years, steel yourself for some serious sticker shock. A $7,000 road bike is no longer an anomaly; $10,000 editions are popping up at recreational weekend rides around Greater Boston, and area custom builders are taking orders for road bikes that are creeping toward $15,000.

Where will it end? Dealers say the first $20,000 road bike is coming soon to a Daddy Warbucks near you.

''The first time I saw a $10,000 bike was a few years ago," said Stephen Madden, the editor of Bicycling magazine, which is based in Pennsylvania. ''It kind of blew my mind, but now it's really pretty easy to spend $8,000 on a bike. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but there are plenty out there."

There's a slew of factors contributing to this climb. Lighter, stronger aerospace materials available to bike makers get better -- and more expensive -- every year.

The Lance effect -- Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour de France victories -- pushed cycling into the mainstream and gave it a whole new status. And the number of aging boomers with bad knees who have hung up their running shoes just as they hit their peak earning years has injected a critical mass of wealth and popularity never before seen in American cycling.

Around Greater Boston, with its concentration of successful, white, male techies -- who are at the core of this trend, according to market analysts -- the proliferation of high-tech bikes is unusually broad. One result: A nucleus of custom builders and frame makers has made this area a mecca for the production of the best bikes in the world.

The economics of a $10,000 bike look like this: A high-end custom-built frame runs $5,000 to $6,000. The forks -- the arms that connect the handlebars to the wheels -- cost $600. Carbon-fiber wheels can run $3,000, and components -- the derailleur, handlebars, pedals, and seat -- another $2,000 to $3,000. Then toss in a $2,000 custom paint job.

This trend has been building for a decade but it began a steep ascent three or four years ago as demand at the upper echelon grew. Every season the high end jacks up a little higher, the bikes get a little lighter and the bragging rights a thousand dollars more expensive.

''A generation ago these guys were playing golf, but who wants to play golf?" Madden said. ''So instead of spending all their money on Big Bertha or some fancy driver, they're putting all this money in their bikes so they can show up on their Saturday-morning ride and one venture capitalist can pull up to an investment banker and ask him what he's riding. . . . It's another way for these guys to compete."

Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories between 1999 and 2005 added jet fuel to the bike boom. In 2000 there were 145,000 high-end road bikes -- averaging about $1,100 -- sold across the country, they made up just 4 percent of the total number of bikes sold and accounted for 11 percent of the retail dollars spent, according to Jay Townley, a bicycle market analyst in Wisconsin.

Last year, when Armstrong won his seventh tour title and became a genuine American icon, the number of these road bikes sold jumped to 498,000, accounting for nearly 16 percent of the market share and 40 percent of the retail dollars.

And those numbers do not reflect the highest end of the business -- the bikes that go for more than $4,000. Townley estimates that market has climbed from about 20,000 to 90,000 over the same time.

Riding that wave are boutique outfits like Independent Fabrications, a custom builder in Somerville that sells about 900 frames a year. Each is built to order, from the length of the tubes to the angles at which they're set. The company's top line, the XS, sells for $5,500. A custom paint job -- done onsite -- can run another $2,500, said Matthew Bracken, the company's president.

''It's like anything, people want more customization, more specialization," said Bracken. ''Americans work hard, they want to play hard, they want to pamper themselves, so when they're out there riding they know they're on the best bike they can ride."

Five years ago, to spend more than $5,000 you had to head to a custom builder like IF. But as that boutique market share -- and its higher profit margins -- have grown, big companies have introduced their own exotic lines. Now mass producers like Trek offer a series priced between $5,000 to $8,000.

That competition is pushing the boutiques to sharpen the proverbial knife even more, making their custom fit bikes better, lighter and more comfortable -- and more expensive, said Jennifer Miller, marketing director for Seven, a Watertown custom builder.

Seven sold about 2,700 bikes last year, most in the $7,000-$8,000 range with the most expensive topping out at $14,000.

''There is a certain prestige in having the most expensive bike out there. The market keeps demanding it," she said.

So, just what are you buying for that kind of money? Most obviously, weight -- or lack of it. As bike frames have evolved from steel to titanium to aluminum to carbon fiber, they've gotten lighter, stronger, more responsive and more comfortable. In five years, the best bikes have dropped from 18 to 15 pounds.

A set of wheels, which up until a few years ago maxed out around $800, are now regularly selling for $3,000 as they have moved from steel to carbon fiber. A company in Germany has even begun selling a $5,000 set.

One bike recently sold at the Cycle Loft was a 16-pound, 30-gear, carbon-fiber and titanium Serotta Ottrott for $8,500 (the same bike Senator John Kerry owns several versions of). To enthusiasts, it's like a Ferrari.

Part of the appeal is that these are the bikes the pros ride. ''You can't go out and buy Jeff Gordon's car but you can go out and buy Lance Armstrong's bike," said Madden. ''People like to be able say they're buying the best."

And then again, some people don't.

''I think it can get a little ridiculous," said Jack Donohue, who is on the board of the Charles River Wheelmen, a local cycling group. ''For me, its gone way beyond the point of diminishing returns."

For two decades, Donohue has made his 24-mile round trip commute by bicycle year-round from Bedford to Westford.

He logs close to 10,000 miles a year and has built most of his bikes himself out of used parts. He is, in short, a biker's biker, 58 years old with legs of steel.

''It's not the bike," he said of his endurance. ''It's the rider."

Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.