When I got my first bike I figured it'd be a lot like car maintenance.
Wrong.
Agree parts are as much or more (sometimes much more) than the corresponding car part.
...and labor is usually triple because things are so tight and on top of each other.
...and how come the chrome on my 1966 and 1973 cars that have sat outside their entire lives looks MUCH better that the chrome on the 1997 bike that spent three Florida "winters" in an enclosed shed???