There’s a big difference between being rich and just plain being ridiculous.

Consider the gift Courtney Cox-Arquette just gave her BFF Jennifer Aniston who has a new interest: Bicycling.

The gift? A one-0f-a-kind Chanel bike with a price tag of 12,000 bucks.

Jen reportedly wants to start bike riding because it’s “such good exercise.” She’s planning to start hitting the bike lanes in Los Angeles.

Why shouldn’t the bike she rides be as shamelessly extravagant as you can get while she takes to those lanes?

Her new designer bike has eight speeds and a quilted leather seat. The saddlebag is also - as you would expect - emblazoned with the Chanel logo.

Considering how much it cost, that bike should also have air conditioning, its own DSL connection and a miniaturized satellite dish perched on the handlebars. Not to mention a well-stocked mini bar.

I can’t help but wonder…Why isn’t a regular, old, run-of-the-mill bike acceptable in the, say, $200-300 range, for Jen? Oh, I forgot. Courtney and Jen are both millionaires - thanks to their lengthy stint on the acclaimed Friends show on TV and their separate acting pursuits since.

Why would Courtney ever think of giving Jen an ordinary bike when she can throw her money around and gift her with one so much more expensive?

It seems to me that the $12,000 spent on that bike could buy an awful lot of maternity clothes for pregnant women living on public assistance. How about the number of winter coats, hats and mittens needed for the homeless? Not to mention underwear and sensible clothes for kids living in third world countries.

Crazy, isn’t it, that celebs think nothing of giving each other outrageously-priced gifts just because they can when so much of the rest of the world is in need.

But hey, Jen will be riding in serious style on that bike…that must count for something.