I've pretty much nicknamed my schwinn traveler conversion "money pit." I've put a little over $350 in parts and upgrades, and about $70 on tools. Honestly, I was riding it after putting a little more than $150 total into it before I got the upgrade bug. The bad part is I'm cheap/broke and upgraded to just barely mid-level components like a Sugino xd crankset and a serfas saddle that is a knockoff of the xlr, or course the saddle was $15 shipped so it was a steal. Not to mention the heavy as **** vuelta wheelset I have. Oh yeah, on top of that I haven't been able to ride my bike for the last 2-3 weeks because when I ordered the crankset I didn't think about chainline and now I have to buy a shorter spindle for my loose-ball BB.

However, before the conversion I couldn't have told you what a bb or headset was, I didn't know what the hell a "horizontal dropout" was and now I'm able to work on my own bike as much as I want, last night I repacked my bb (in attempt to flip the spindle and straighten my chainline, fail) so it's a very valuable learning experience that you won't get from buying any kilo tt. Also, my frame fits me perfectly and I love those steel lugs. I don't regret it.