putting it all together
 

Noticed a nice touring frame my size on Craig's List - dying for a faster ride, but not much $ to outlay. What would it take to then fit it with parts? Would this course only make sense if I could do the work myself? Hoping for a little friendly advice. Thanks.

It would take whatever you wanted to put into it. You could go as expensive as you wanted, or as cheap as you wanted. It does make more sense if you do the work yourself, but if you us the lbs for advice, it's still not too bad... If you have the lbs do all the work? probably expensive.

Are you stripping the comps off you current ride to put on the new frame? In that case all it would cost you is wrench time. If you don't have the proper tools, you might want the LBS to remove and re-install the BB and headset.
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it would cost roughly 700 dollars to fit it with a decent midrange set of new touring bits. think tiagra hubs, db spokes, mavic cxp rims, panaracer pasela tires, tektro brakes, kool stop pads, kalloy post, brooks saddle, cinelli tape, cheap levers, un 73 bb, deore rear mech, tiagra ft mech, sugino cranks and shimano bb... maybe 800 with fenders and an ok rear rack.

Ridelugs is about right...$700.00. Having built up five bikes now, I can tell you that it costs more than you think. There are so many little do-dads that you need to do a good job. There's also the shipping on Ebay and On-line stores. It just adds up, plus, if you buy a wrong part you just doubled the price of that part. You think your done when you settle on wheels, cranks, fork, shifters, brakes and rear derailleur, but there is so much more. If you are building an expensive bike, you will save a lot of money, maybe more than 50%. If your planning on cheap though, you won't save much. Buy a built bike from Ebay, but know who your buying from (feedback) and know your bikes (ask questions).:)

Hmm... by carefully shopping around I was able to fit a nice touring frame with such parts for about $300 :) I bought a touring frameset in beautiful condition for $100 on craigslist, got a pair of 105/MA3 wheels for $100, and got LX derailers, LX canti brakes, Campy brake levers, Nashbar handlebar, Truvativ touring cranks, Suntour all for about $100 by checking swap meets and craigslist carefully.

So for a total of about $400 and a good deal of time and effort, I've built a fabulous bike which is every bit as good as the $1200 Trek 520 touring bike (and more unique as well!)

ditto

And if you're not doing the work yourself, you won't be saving yourself anything, especially if you go with cheaper parts.

my costs was for all new stuff. of course you can get used stuff cheaper, but people always discount in thier minds shipping costs, which is always a killer. swaps are only good if you know what to look for. with my list, you can go to any shop, not know anything, and ask for those parts and roll.