Well, you have a point.

Bagels are a dense dough, we're talking around the 50% range, depending on who's making them. Could be closer to 60, but that's still dense as fuck compared to your basic sandwich bread, that tends to start in the high fifties, or something like brioche that's gonna sit in the mid sixties (again, depends on the exact recipe, but you don't see brioche under maybe 58ish on a regular basis). You'd be amazed the figurine difference as little as two to three % can make. (Edit: That's the percentage of water to flour)

They're also not made with any fats at all. No milk, no butter, no oil, nada.

So dry is indeed the case. That's not necessarily a bad thing, they'll stay edible longer than some of the higher hydration doughs, and respond rather well to toasting for a softer chew. You toast regular bread, you get, well toast; dry and crunchy. You toast bagels, you crisp the exterior and soften the inside.

Even fresh out of the oven, they're not soft initially. They tend to be softer after a toasting. But they're softer than when sat around. They're also more elastic, they pull delightfully the way some pizza crust does, because the gluten tends to be well developed.

When I was still baking, I made sourdough bagels a few times, and even though the density was still there, holy shit was the taste amazing.

I'd honestly say that if you've had them fresh from the oven (not just made fresh at the bakery then stored until sale an hour later) and didn't like them, you never will. Which is perfectly fine. It you haven't, then I wouldn't totally dismiss them because when they're still hot and chewy like that, it isn't just texture, you get the scents of the boil used, the yeastiness, and that "bread" smell all hitting your sinuses at once along with that stretchy chew for maximum flavor.

But yeah, unless you know a home baker willing to put in the extra effort for good bagels, chances are that they aren't for you.