Originally Posted by
ridelikeaturtle
3 grand for that? It's a Frankenbike! Gripshifters, Campy brakes, Tektro levers... sounds like whatever was in the parts bin.
Right? My first thought was that it's perfectly fine if somebody wants to put twist shifters and a kick stand on their own Eddy Merckx bike -- build it the way you want to ride it, no judgment from me -- but that a semi-pro shop should probably just remove that stuff and sell it as a frameset. Then I poked around at a few of their other builds, and I'm pretty sure they did that themselves.
Still, I guess they have customers who like their style?
I've often wondered if I could run a "business" that would at least break even doing resto-mod type builds of vintage bikes. I think if I could do the paint myself I could make it work. If these guys are getting anywhere near their asking prices, I might be able to break even after paying someone else to paint the bikes.