I agree, there isn't the same satisfaction walking into a bike shop and just picking something out! Anybody that has seen the documentary "ride of my life" will know that, although Condor is my LBS and they do make nice bikes, but like you rightly pointed out, at a price! I have enjoyed the hunt for the original donor bike, and the vintage parts, as well as seeing what look like knackered old aluminium components such as the hubs etc come to life after a blitz with a Dremmel and some polishing compound, so that they look like they did the day they were made.
There are still a few tweaks that need sorting out, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I have spent the last decade cycling daily around London gradually formulating an idea in my head of what I wanted to do when I could finally aford to spend the time and money on it, and when the result is pretty much as you had imagined it, then thats the real satisfaction.
A bit sad to have finally finished it though. Still, project 2 can begin now, which is to use all the remaining parts I have left over to build a beater, which functions perfectly but looks on it's last legs, because if you think I'm locking this one up anywhere, especially round London, you can forget it!
Anyway, hopefully it will inspire others to breathe some life into an old bike in need of some TLC.
