Originally Posted by
trigger
Since you're in Canada, allow me to suggest Marinoni. Hand built in Montreal. Not sure, but I think you get a base model steel bike from them built up for something around your price range. They also pop up used very frequently on Craigslist in Canadian cities. They are excellent bikes!
anything locally hand built sounds good. and I am a big proponent of buying off CL. Some guy masters his spin class and drops 2k on a bike that sits in his garage for a few years...then he gets into fishing or weight lifting and theres the opportunity.