You can fix up a used bike with little money and make it look completely badass.
You can also dump tons of cash into a bike/best parts and have it end up looking like a complete mess.
My bike was on one of the previous pages..the only thing I bought new were tires, chain, chainring, cog, and grips. Everything was trades, ebay, old parts I had from many years ago, deals on craigslist, used shops..etc...