I bought a BD bike. The company was actually pretty reasonable, but the bike they sold wasn't - so far, I've replaced an awful lot of it. However, it should be noted that the frame and fork seem quite solid, and if you buy one that's full of 100% name-brand parts, you'll probably get a reasonable price. After fixing all the bugaboos, I'm finally selling the blasted thing - next time, I'll just buy a vintage frame and build it up.

That said, if I wanted something cheap, I'd buy one of those "GMC" road bikes at Wal-Mart and load it up with old 14-speed Shimano 600 parts from eBay. For about $100, you can replace both derailleurs, the crankset, the cassette, the brakes, and put on a nice conventional handlebar setup with bar-end shifters, giving you a $270 bicycle that just sort of works. You can cut the upgrade cost in half if you buy your parts at swap meets - trust me on this one.