Last time I posted an illustration from Chris Piascik's All My Bikes series, I mentioned that I would be cherry-picking the ones that I posted. I think Chris had a very similar experience as most of us. First you got your conversion. For me it was a Peugeot. Then you get a mail-order bike; Chris' was a Kilo TT. Mine was an IRO angus. You realize the parts were shit (well, I ordered my Iro as a frameset and let a LBS build it) and you quickly start to replace the stock components. All this work and before you know it, you've dropped over $800 on a bike that could have easily been bought locally.

If I had a penny for every person that told me a story like this, I could buy a Jalapeno-cheddar bagel.

Previously:
Chris Piascik: All My Bikes 15