Is it worth it? Financially, no. At the $950 price point, rather than compare to a new bike, look at what you can buy lightly used (one to two years old). Around here, $950 will buy an incredible used bike, as 99% of C/L buyers are looking for something cheap.

If you want the adventure, sure its worth it. Myself, I would practice by building up something cheaper first, ie., start with a neglected but complete used bike, tear it down, fix what needs to be fixed, rebuild it and sell it. Do that a couple of times and you will be getting fantastic experience, and enough $$ to buy some nice tools first.

+10 That bike takes canti brakes.