If there’s a cost of living crisis facing many of the biggest economies in the world, with food prices and energy costs eating into disposable income, then it clearly hasn’t reached mountain biking’s one percenters. High-net-worth riders can now choose from an ever-expanding range of halo models, with prices that continue to drop jaws and shatter glass ceilings. So, for a glimpse at the options available to you should money be no object, here’s a rundown of the craziest production builds I could find on sale right now.

Santa Cruz has glammed up the Bullit with a Podium fork and custom pink splatter paint job for this special edition.

Santa Cruz Bullit Podium £11,200

I’m going to kick off with the Santa Cruz Bullit Podium that was launched recently. Mainly because Santa Cruz has always been considered one of the most aspirational of premium brands, but it has been getting more competitive in recent years and this is reflected in the price of its latest halo e-bike – the Bullit Podium. Yes it’s very expensive at £11,200, but as we’ll see as this list goes on, the value is pretty reasonable compared to the competition. The foundation of the build is Fox’s radical upside down Podium fork, which retails for a cool £2,199 on its own, and has really allowed brands to create these exclusive dream builds. To the Podium Santa Cruz sprinkles some cool upgrades, including OneUp carbon bars, a Chris King headset, and E*Thirteen Sidekick hubs with built-in drivetrain decoupler. Better yet, it chucks in the Bosch PowerMore 250Wh range extender as standard, giving the option to broaden your horizons on a single charge. Given that the previous top-of-the-range Bullit was £9,999, and the upgrades add at least £1,500 to the price, the Podium build sorta makes financial sense. If you’re interested in a Santa Cruz e-bike, do check out my article and video comparing the Bullit and the Vala.

Yeti’s SB160 Team Issue might be spendy, but boy does it look good.

Yeti SB160 Team Issue $13,500

Another bike where the spec and the price has been significantly elevated by the introduction of the Fox Podium fork is the Yeti SB160. Given that the $13,500 (£12,500) price tag doesn’t include a drive unit makes the Santa Cruz Bullit look even better value, although the SB160 does come with some significant race pedigree. Richie Rude having just won the Enduro World Championships on one (albeit without the upside down fork) as well as the EDR overall series win in 2024. You may need Richie’s legs to go with it though, as It’s a bit of a lump – Yeti claims just under 17kg for the complete build.

You also get a custom team issue turquoise and grey paint job that references Yeti’s racing heritage, some cool purple anodised trinkets such as the Chris King headset and Burgtec seat clamp, as well as Shimano’s latest XTR Di2 groupset. Only 100 examples are offered for sale, which at full price would net Yeti $1.35m of revenue.

So many cool touches on the Yeti ASR 40th Anniversary. All it’s missing is a snowflake spoke pattern.

Yeti ASR 40th Anniversary $13,500

The SB160 Team Issue is not Yeti’s only halo model. The ASR 40th Anniversary leans heavily into Yeti’s heritage and tugs at the heartstrings of every nostalgic 90s mountain biker. This XC race bike also gets Yeti’s retro paint job, along with old skool graphics, custom painted forks, and plenty of 3D Violet anodised parts, right down to the alloy spoke nipples. In fact, sourcing the 21 custom parts must have been a mission, and is probably the main reason the ASR is so expensive at $13,500 (£13,999 in the UK). 200 of these ASR 40th anniversary bikes have been built, but I can’t help wondering how many will ever get dirty.

The Spark is getting on a but now, but it’s been incredibly successful, and commands one of the highest prices in XC racing.

Scott Spark RC SL £14,299

If you’ve been skimming ahead through this list you’ll have no doubt noticed that almost all the bikes here are either e-bikes or XC race bikes. And the next bike to highlight is perhaps the king of cross-country, with more wins than any other model on sale today. I’m talking of course of the Scott Spark RC ridden by legend Nino Schurter, with his ten World Championships and one Olympic XCO title. The latest generation of Spark, with its hidden shock, was launched in 2021, and helped Nino secure two rainbow jerseys and two overall UCI World Cup titles. That kind of pedigree doesn’t come cheap, and Scott’s flagship Spark RC costs a cool £14,299 in the UK – given that the design is four years old, this is one design that doesn’t get cheaper with age. For that asking price you get RockShox’s smart Flight Attendant reactive suspension, a full wireless drivetrain, and Syncros’ wild one-piece carbon Silverton wheels.

The Spark makes Trek’s halo Supercaliber SLR look like great value.

Trek Supercaliber SLR 9.9 XX Flight Attendant £12,550

One of the bikes that’s been continually banging anorexic carbon wheels with the Spark RC is Trek’s Supercaliber, as ridden by Evie Richards. This innovative design semi-integrates the shock into the top rube to create a kind of halfway house between full-suspension and hardtail. There’s only 80mm of rear travel paired with a 110mm fork, so it’s a real thoroughbred machine, but it’s also been highly successful on the World Cup scene.

There are models from £3,400 at the budget end, but to crown the Supecaliber range is the SLR 9.9 with SRAM XX wireless drivetrain and intelligent RockShox Flight Attendant suspension for a whopping £12,550. RockShox’s fork and shock work in unison with other sensors fitted to the BB axle to lock and unlock the suspension depending on the situation. It’s designed to improve both efficiency and reduce fatigue, and while it comes with a slight weight penalty, most top pros are willing to take that penalty in return for the speed advantage.

Compared to the Bullit, the Rail+ is more bucks and there’s none of the bling.

Trek Rail+ 9.9 XX AXS £12,000

Trek recently refreshed its highly successful Rail e-bike, updating the motor to the latest Bosch Performance CX unit and turning it into a mullet bike. But the main reason I’m including it here is that the halo model is a whopping £12k, yet the spec seems rather ordinary when compared to the cheaper Santa Cruz Bullit Podium. For £800 more than the Santa Cruz you don’t get the Fox Podium fork, Bosch range extender, or trick E*Thirteen hubs and Chris King headset. Instead you get Ultimate-level RockShox suspension with a suite of uninspiring in-house Bontrager parts, even down to the tyres. The one area the Rail+ trumps the Bullit is the internal battery, which is the bigger 800Wh unit. And it’s also removable for charging. But in every other department, Trek’s flagship Rail+ feels overpriced.

Unno’s Mith was already a dream bike before the Factory build came along.

Unno Mith Factory £12,795

Not helping the Trek’s cause is the Unno Mith Factory, which is yours for a cool £12,795. Yes, that’s almost a bag of sand more than the Rail+, but Unno is about as boutique as you can get brand-wise, and it comes with the hottest motor on the market right now – the Avinox from DJI. It’s also sharp as a Spanish tailored suit, packed with cool design features, and dripping with cool parts. Including the Fox Podium fork, E*Thirteen Helix cranks, Newman carbon wheels and Schwalbe Radial tyres. It’s a bike that just exudes class, with the kind of looks that can open the tightest wallet at 20 paces.

Pivot’s Shuttle LT Team gets electronic Fox suspension and a Podium fork as well as a range extender thrown in.

Pivot Shuttle LT Team XX Podium $15,999

We’re crossing the £15k threshold now, and it’ll probably come as no surprise that it’s a bike from Pivot that’s smashing that particular glass ceiling. If social media is any barometer (it’s usually not), Pivot seems to have a loyal following among dentists, and I’ve no doubt that the Shuttle LT Team’s near £16k price tag will cause some gritted teeth among you. Of course this big hitting e-bike gets a carbon frame and de riguer Fox Podium fork, but it also has Fox’s electronic Live Valve Neo suspension, automatically adjusting the shock depending on the terrain. Pivot also chucks in a Bosch range extender, and you get the Race version of the Bosch CX motor, complete with ceramic bearings and titanium axle.

Specialized has pulled out all the stops with the S-Works Levo 4 LTD spec, but it costs a pretty penny.

Specialized S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD $19,999

Now for the bike that inspired this particular listicle, and makes most of the models in this rundown seem entry-level. Yes, it’s the Specialized S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD with a price tag that gives you a dollar change from $20k (£16,999 in the UK). This is getting into uncharted territory for many bike brands, but a company like Specialized doesn’t introduce a bike like this without knowing there are customers out there who will buy it. They won’t be people like you and I, that’s for sure, but they will be people for whom $20k is nothing. They probably own a massive ski chalet in Whistler or Aspen and want to have a bike for the one week a year they stay there. I mean, can you blame Specialized for wanting to sell bikes to these customers? As a business, you’d be mad to ignore them – sell 100 and you’ve got $2m added to the books..

So what do you get for your 20 grand? Well, you get the same basic frame as all the other Levos, albeit with the unrestricted S-Works motor and carbon shock yoke. So far, so stock. It’s the components that make the LTD stand out, with a Fox Podium fork, Trickstuff Maxima brakes, titanium Cane Creek Electric Wings cranks, and I9 Hydra hubs. The paint job is also a crazy swirling electric storm called Astral Blue that’s guaranteed to get you noticed.

The crazy thing is, Specialized really isn’t giving you a great deal on the complete bike. You could buy the regular S-Works, and all the trick upgrades for just £800 more than the LTD bike and still have the original parts.

G87 seems to be ploughing its own furrow when it comes to both design and pricing.

G87 X4 R Gravity Pro €23,400

Time to get serious, and it’s hard to know where to start with the snappily named G87 X4 R Gravity Pro. But since this is an article about prices, I’ll start there. At €23,400 the G87 is utterly, ludicrously expensive. Nothing about the price tag makes sense. It’s a pretty stock build, with high-end parts that can be found on e-bikes costing half the price. The motor is an off-the-shelf Yamaha PW-X4 used in plenty of rival e-bikes. And while the carbon frame is completely outlandish, there is nothing about it that could justify a €10k premium. Which leaves me to think this is aimed at the kind of high-net-worth individuals that don’t ponder such trivialities as margins. They just want something that looks expensive and gets attention. This is underlined by the fact there are no details at all on the website about frame sizes, geometry or anything remotely useful to most mountain bikers. And at the same time, G87 had a stand at Eurobike, the bike industry’s biggest trade show, which is exactly the sort of place billionaires don’t tend to hang out. So, from what I can see, the G87 is a very expensive enigma.

Two shocks, integrated lights, mudguards and a kickstand – Blulans doesn’t skimp on accessories for your $48k!

Blulans S11 ULT $47,999

Are you sitting down, because even the absurdity of the G87 won’t prepare you for Blulans S11 ULT. Priced at an astronomical $48k, this e-bike has gone full beast mode, sporting not one, but two rear shocks. Yes, you read that right, the S11 has a ‘Dual Shock System’ where two RockShox Super Deluxe shocks are driven by a single rocker link. Wild! To further ensure a plush ride, 27.5in wheels front and rear are shod with 2.8in Schwalbe tyres. Bafang provides the M560 drive unit and there’s a 882Wh battery mounted inside the monolithic down tube.

Blulans S11 ULT is an absolute beast of an e-bike in every way.

Nothing about the Blulans S11 ULT makes sense, from the dual shock design to the near $50k price tag, or the fact the website says they’re all sold out. In fact the whole site feels like it’s written by A.I. with meaningliess word salads such as “Let’s harness the power of blue together and embrace every new horizon ahead”. Even the images of the S11 appear to be mere renderings. So maybe this bike exists, maybe it doesn’t, but either way, the fact that it realistically could be real says much about the world we’re living in.