How to build a $2,000 Madone? Comments??

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

I was trying to figure out a way to build an inexpensive Madone.

Why not buy this Motobecane for $1099 with Ultegra 10-speed group and
then stip ALL the components and install on a Madone frame?

http://bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/grand_sprint_carb05.htm

Only problem is finding a Madone frame for less than a thousand.

Any ideas? Comments? Can we make it happen?

Well...The trick is getting a Madone frame for a thousand dollars, eh? I
mean, you could also make a $1200 Madone if you could get the frame for
$101, but that's only slightly more likely than getting it for $1000.

The bike you've singled out is an excellent deal, though: is there a
particular reason you want to change the frame?

You can probably get a Trek 5900 frame on eBay for somewhere close to
your price range. That's probably the best route to the sub-$2000 bike
of your dreams.

Also, the Motobecane frame will have a small but non-zero value, so you
can re-sell that on eBay at the end.

I just built up a rather remarkable bike out of stuff I found on the
internet: 1500g Fetish Cycles frame including a Time fork, some old
9-speed Dura-Ace cranks and front derailer, and then various bits and
pieces of Campy Veloce 9-speed. I added my current 1500g wheels, various
odds and sods from my parts pile, and voila: a cheap, capable crit
weapon for about C$900, or something like $700 gringo dollars.

-RjC.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos