High-end bikes the new Porsche?

It’s no longer enough to have the best bicycle on the block. Now you have to have the best fleet.

Facing a declining number of riders and increasing competition from boutique makers offering $10,000 custom-built rides, bicycle-industry heavyweights are now pushing individuality.

Most major manufacturers — including Taiwan-based Giant, the world’s largest bike maker, and Specialized Bicycles — are offering some form of “limited edition” or personalized model this year, bikes that are produced in limited quantities, have frames signed by famous designers or come with custom paint jobs.

The limited-edition strategy is the latest attempt by bike makers to extract more dollars from a shrinking pool of riders. “The opportunity now is the people buying multiple bikes,” says Specialized Bicycles’ founder and president, Mike Sinyard. Last year, commuter bikes, along with cyclocross bikes and all-carbon mountain bikes, got a big push.

Bicycles are appealing to baby boomers who aren’t running anymore but want to stay in shape. In parts of the country such as Silicon Valley, group rides are functioning somewhat as golf outings do: They’re a way for colleagues to socialize and do business at the same time.

Until 2005, a bike sold by a mass manufacturer was unlikely to top the $5,000 mark. That was the year Trek introduced its $9,999 gold-leafed, signed Lance Armstrong model, producing 600 of them.

High-end bike customers tend to be males older than 40 who see their bikes as status symbols, something they’ve worked hard to afford.

The difference between a high-end bike and midlife-crisis form of transportation, like a Porsche, is in the pedaling, says Greg Webber, Jamis Bicycle’s vice president for product development.

A high-end bicycle also shows continued vitality. He says, “It’s pretty much the ultimate way to prove you’re alive and kicking.”