Originally Posted by DaveSSS

You don't have to buy a cheap no name Chinese frame to build a bike for less than a new model at a local shop. They key is finding a top quality leftover frame at 30-50% off.

SRAM and Shimano sell groupsets for low prices to high volume buyers like Trek, Specialized and Giant, which improves their profit margin, but does not always lower the MSRP on the bikes they sell. In my case, I bought a Colnago C-RS frame for less than half the the normal price. That frame is actually made by Giant. It's lighter than a Trek Emonda SL and has the same MSRP of $1700. I bought a Campy Chorus 12 groupset for $1060, Campy Zonda wheels for only $320 (far below MSRP) and found substantial discounts on the Easton EC90 carbon bars, FSA post, SMP saddle and Zipp stem, with a few google searches. A comparable Trek, the Emonda SL7 would have cost about $2,000 more ($5,000) , weighed 300 grams more and only had Ultegra 11 speed. The Emonda SL 7 with Force AXS 12 speed is really a better deal, for only $200 more ($5299), but weighs 470 grams more than my $3000 Colnago.