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.