Originally Posted by
daxr
If you like the wrenching, sure. If your going to lose sleep calculating pennies saved one way versus another, probably not so good. I built my last bike because I wanted to and enjoyed the process, and like knowing how every thing goes together and where I got each piece. I could have saved money just buying a whole new bike, but I know I'd be planning upgrades and wanting to swap parts after the first week...so not really money saved.
Part of the desire to build it is for the education, so that is factored in there. I can't really justify having 3 road bikes to the wife, so if I want a bike that does it all, one has to go. The TT bike is too much fun and too new to be shown the door. The Mercier will be the one. The Mercier would likely bring about $500-$600 on Craigslist as it sits now, which wouldn't even cover the frameset, much less all of the components. The Mercier is built very similarly to the SL01 I rode groupset-wise, except the Mercier is a triple. That was what got me thinking...
I would save about $1000 building it myself with parts from the Mercier and a new ceramic bottom bracket, stem, cables... it certainly gives me pause for thought.