Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
A VO Campeur frame is $520.
About how much is it to buy the type of frame you are referring to, plus add brazeons, plus blast, plus repaint, plus add decals? A good condition chromoly frame will be $90-180 probably. Blasting and paint will be $200-350 for a good job. Decals for $50.
Even on the cheap, is it really 'far less'? Sure, there are examples where someone finds a frame in great shape for $30. Is that the norm though?
It really is far less. My Fuji was $25, I sold the components on eBay for about that, and the braze-ons weren't expensive -- $5-10 each. It took me a while to figure out how to ask for them to be placed for the Alfine hub and the chain guard, because I had no experience with that. But not all that complicated. Then paint was about $150. I didn't bother with decals but I did re-use the head badge. The old Fuji had just the right setup: horizontal dropouts and a nice old 1" threaded headset. Even on those inexpensive 10-speeds, the build quality was very high. And because it originally took 27" wheels you have just a little more room for the fenders and stuff.
Plus, if if matters to you, there's a lot more pride in a dog you saved from the rescue shelter rather than just bought at PetSmart.