Originally Posted by
Medic Zero
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While it is true that in the end I'm sure I spend more building a bike than if I paid for one new, the fact that I'd end up changing; the seat, handlebars, pedals, tires, probably the rear wheel, perhaps the cassette, and most likely at least one of the chainrings, on said brand-new bike, means that to my mind, I might as well build a bike from the frame up (or slowly convert it over). It helps that I'm partial to steel mountain bike geometry from the late 80's and early 90's, one can build a tourer from that starting point that is quite good.
The only drawback with this approach is that you can't ride until the bike is finished. And also, in the case of the OP, he would need to buy the tools (although Nashbar tool kits are cheap) and go through the learning of bike repair/maintenance--all of which costs extra time and money. I don't regret having bought a complete bike when I started, and fixing things along the way.