While it's true you can get frames off of ebay, it's a pain to find the right size (which most of us have to pay a 100 dollar or so premium to get anything bigger than a 53cm) and the frames in the best condition with nice paint jobs can cost another 100-200 bucks more than the average 51cm frame. Buying new guarantees mint condition, you don't have to settle for a size that might not be perfect for you, and since these are made for the street I imagine they'll be making sure these look sharp.

Wasn't there one US shop somewhere that was importing Panasonics and selling them for like 900 bucks or something like that? IIRC those sold well, I don't see why these wouldn't.