Which Instrument to choose

You will probably get a lot of very useful advice from SOTW posters. I don't currently play double reeds, but I studied them in college. I enjoyed both the oboe and bassoon. Ultimately, I decided 2 reeds were one too many, so I stuck with clarinet, sax & flute.
You have good observations about the comparisons of the two instruments. Here are some others: oboe tends to be really reed dependent, bassoon a little less so. The cost of a good bassoon will probably be much higher than a good oboe. For pit orchestra doubling situations, the oboe part tends to be very soloistic, with lots of exposed passages - appropriate for an extroverted personality. The oboe part is often put on a tenor sax book, with possibly some clarinet (probably not flute). The bassoon part tends to be less soloistic, and it is usually put on a part with bari sax and bass clarinet - not exactly easily portable instruments.
The drawbacks that you have listed can be overcome as part of the learning experience. Both instruments can be very rewarding, and good players with these doubles are in high demand.
Good luck - either choice is the right one.

I would add that, for 99% of the musicians out there who are only "interested in playing" a double reed, the only way to go is with an economical oboe. Even a student bassoon runs into real money, and tossing that much off for something that is only "an interest" is just not a rational way of answering this question.

That said, I have more affection for the bassoon, stupid tenor clef and all, and (if I had to choose between the two instrument families), I would go for the ***gotte each and every time. Having a bassoon that I picked up for a song (or, more accurately, $333.33, the amount that the guy would have gotten off of his taxes for donating it), and usually playing the parts in shows that end up with the bassoon stacked with baritone and bass clarinet, it makes it all the more obvious.

Then too, there are many more tonal colors on the bassoon than every you would find with the oboe. It goes from rich at the low end, through lyric in the middle, and to other worldly once you get up high.

Another thing to consider (and it was in the original posting so I just overlooked it) is that, if the school/organization/whatever is going to furnish the instrument, then that makes the bassoon all the more attractive. It is a argument that more than mitigates my advice given above.

Thinking back to my education days (college and high school, just under forty years ago), I cannot remember a single bassoon player (including me) that owned his own bassoon. All were furnished by the school. Only one student (who was very good indeed, but who ended up teaching in Alaska post college) actually bought one before graduation from college.

I sometimes wonder about the cost of bassoon, considering that they are no more complicated than a typical saxophone, and that polypropylene works so well for their tubes. It would seem to me that a good part of the price difference of a professional clarinet over a student one lies in the body material (with all other costs being present in both horns; adjustment, undercutting and so on).

If that is the case, then you would expect to see less cost for a cast and reamed bassoon body than you would for a wooden one, the moreso since the surface treatment of a bassoon is a bit more involved as well.

In any event, I have always loved (even while cursing it) the bassoon, something I cannot say about either the oboe or the English horn. Particularly in the upper register, you can create some awesome sounds that are not available through any other instrument. Too bad about the tenor clef, though...

The reason why double reed instruments are more expensive than their other woodwind counterparts is the fewer comapnies specialising in their making and supply and demand - both being less popular than flutes, clarinets and saxes which are turned out in large numbers as everyone wants them.

Although you can buy a cheap but well equipped Chinese oboe or bassoon for considerably less than a relatively basic model from a reputable company, it will only be a matter of time before you realise the shortcomings of the cheaper instrument and then need to upgrade to a better one.

I just compared the weight of my Buffet (French system) bassoon with my old Orsi (German), and the Buffet weighs a fair bit more as it's in rosewood. Plastic bassoons, especially the old plastic Bundys weigh a ton in comparison to a maple one - but some maple bassoons if not well maintained can have problems with rotting timber, either in the timber by the U-tube or around the fingerhole linings in the wing joint if water gets absorbed. And it's a costly and lengthy repair should it happen.