How much did this cost you to build up? I've learned a lot about bike components since I bought a stock Cross Check.

For example, I don't really like the Tektro Oryx brakes. They squeal like crazy. Even after they've been adjusted at the shop, they'll start squealing after maybe two weeks. It's painful, really. I already got Kool-stop brake pads, but it hasn't made that much of a difference. I want switch out the Tektro's for some spendy Paul Touring canti's now. I'm hope that will make a difference.

What I'm asking, though, is did you go all out for quality with your custom build? Does spending more money really make a noticeable difference? I did a fantasy build this morning for a Karate Monkey with Shimano XT components, Brooks saddle and handle bar tape, and Paul brakes. It came out to about $1850, about the same as Salsa's stock cycles. Do you think there is a noticeable difference between the lower end and higher end components? For example, the difference between Shimano's Tiagra vs. Ultegra lines or the SRAM Rival vs SRAM Red for road groups or Shimano's Deore vs. Deore XT and SRAM's X.4 vs. X.0 for mountain bike groups. Do you get what you pay for?

I used wikipedia as a resource to understand the hierarchy of quality in Shimano and SRAM's respective product lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano...bike_groupsets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRAM_Corporation