veloria,
thanks for the input; it does help quite a bit. i think it's awesome that, chronologically, you're close enough to your prior, less-informed mindstate to recall it well. But, being that you've educated yourself about bikes to such a large degree, you can put your early adult cycling experiences and thoughts into lucid perspective.
Rivendells are expensive in a way that many modern bikes are, but certainly not all. Compared to virtually every steel *production* frame i can think of on the current market, they are quite expensive. Compared to custom steel rides, they are right in the thick of things; as production off-the-peg frames, that makes them terribly overpriced. Comparing them to other production bikes of other materials is sorta appples-to-oranges, but i'm gonna say that i can get a production US-made titanium lynskey for outsourced production steel riv prices. The only similarly overpriced modern bikes i can think of are the various top-of-the-line, typically carbon, racing bikes out there. But that is truly an apples-to-oranges comparison.
If i had a whole lot more money, i'd be tempted to grab a new riv, but i am pretty sure that i'd get a bilenky or a mercian or some other nice steel bike that is actually made by the same firm that's selling it to me. I think that, for me, that's really what things are about when you drop 4 figures on a frameset. How many of those dollars are going to a middle-man? Sure, the guy answering my emails at mercian is not likely to be the guy holding the torch, but when i contacted bilenky about a cargo bike, stephen himself responded to my query.
That being said, if i find a toyo-built atlantis in my size, i'll likely buy it, if i have the $$$ to spare. Tuned one up once; it was very nice.
-rob