Originally Posted by Duke of Kent
Going with a high end carbon fiber custom frame maker, you'll pay far more.
Calfee, Parlee, Ruegamer, Crumpton et all are you going to charge you $4-5,000 at least for their products. Then you still have to put parts on them. Good luck beating Trek/Specialized/Cannondale's prices after that.
Ummmm. I bought a Calfee a few years ago; maybe their Dragonfly frame costs in the ball park that you mentioned, but the rest of Calfee's offerings most certainly don't. A Tetra Custom frame is currently $2,895 (
http://www.calfeedesign.com/pricelist.htm). I bought mine (custom Tetra) a couple years ago when prices were somewhat lower, but I got a full Campy Chorus custom Calfee Tetra bike for right around five grand, which is right in line with the prices of off-the-shelf high-end bikes.