/shrug.

When you buy a Rivendell you're buying a quality bike, made in a civilized society by men making decent money. Also, they're pretty and they work well. They are good value for what you're getting, if these things are important to you. If they aren't, or you don't have the money, buy something welded in Taiwan. As to the quality of the bike, it doesn't matter so much really. The Taiwanese weld very well. Also, you have to like lugs. If you don't, you're buying the wrong bike. This is the kind of thing that should be so painfully obvious as to insult the reader to have to point out, but after reading some of these posts I guess someone has to. The benefits of lugs? There used to be a lot of benefits. But technology moved on, and now they're just pretty. That's it.

Comparing a nice new bike to a used bike that may or may not be nice is a bit dense, really. Anyone who has ever dealt with the used bike market knows that the prices are mostly nonsensical. You can spend $150 on a two year old WalMart bike or the same on a 531 framed Italian masterpiece. There are lots of reasons why this is, but none of them make a nice new bike worth any less.

And if you think Rivendell is trying to sell bikes based on the name, it's your reading comprehension that's lacking, not the bikes.