Well. I'm going to get the wheel now anyways. 131.50 is the total. Way I see it. The bike was "free" as I had 40 dollars from the grams. Then for whatever reason, I just got another 40. So the wheel is only "90".

Sometimes you can find pretty nice potential-conversion bikes at thrift stores, add that to the list of places to look :)

Dumpsters by bike shops are sometimes nice too

My first build that ended up becoming my winter beater when I lived in the city, was a freebie '83 Univega Viva Sport. I think I did the whole conversion, including getting it painted by a friend for a bottle of Bushmills, for under $300. It was pretty close, though. If it's any consolation, the second fix I built was a true track frame that I managed to get a steal on through craigslist, and I put around $1200 into that one, so you know. In the grand scheme of things, you could have a pretty excellent bike for $300 bucks. One thing making it more excellent than buying a cheap but *new* frame, would be that you did everything yourself, learned in the process, and will much better understand what it is you may or may not be looking for in a bike in the future.

My two cents.

Got it going.

Still waiting on stuff from jenson usa. Rim tape, bar tape, lube.

But still riding it a little right now.

Toe clip/straps rub the front wheel when I turn. I even have them moved all the way out. Any ideas how to fix that?

So my bottom bracket is crap, but i dont think that it would still be affecting the fact that the chain rings aren't straight. Should just be a matter of tightening them the right way?

I'm probably going to want new handle bars too. I made these bull horn , but they're too short. The bars were too small to begin with anyways.

Still need to find a good front brake lever too.