Originally Posted by
Scooper
A 953 or XCr tubeset costs around $600, while KVA MS2 is a little cheaper. Comparing Dave Anderson's custom steel frameset (high end non-stainless steel) pricing to a 953 custom frameset, he charges an $800 premium for 953. Part of that is the cost of the tubing, while the rest is the additional wear and tear on tools and the extra labor to get the lug shorelines perfect and polish filemarks since there's no paint to cover up blemishes. To me stainless is worth a premium pricetag over Ti, but YMMV.
Titanium doesn't look like this, and the Ti bikes I've ridden (Merlin and Litespeed) just don't have the ride I like. Again, YMMV.
That really surprises me Scooper - I thought those tubes were a LOT more than that. Compared to SLX/SL prices (not to even mention EL OS and MAX) from my youth that's a bargain.