>>1985472not him and I'm not the most astute about the market but in a nutshell: good bikes have good component groups . Walmart or non-enthusiast stuff has no-name components except maybe the manufacturer's stamp (e.g. "shimano") whereas decent -to-excellent stuff has specific names e.g. "Shimano Dura-ace", "SRAM Red" etc.
the groups are all very specifically tiered and that's the closest you're going to come to figuring the worth of the bike at a glance. some bikes have mixed groups to save money, they might say Shimano 105 in the ad but in the spec sheet it's only like the crank and rear derailleur or something. a LOT of bikes cheap out on wheels, even "good" ones (wheels are more autism.)
here's a chart someone else made that is OK to get an overview of this idea, but people argue about this stuff and also it's a bit old now.
