Love the challenge of building up a hot bike for less, although I agree that it shouldn't be too hard to put something together for less than 2K. That being said, I just added up mine and was surprised to hit $1,952! I need to work harder to find bargains...
2012 Scott CR-1 frame, $600 on eBay, Hed Ardennes with Conti GP4000s, $495, plus the rest of the bits got me to the total. Rides very smoothly, lacks a little snap compared to my Orbea Opal, but still a fun bike. Looking forward to the feedback...