Bike Was Stolen.......What to replace with?

[Raps]

After getting back from a great Vegas weekend this past week, I walked into my gated backyard to find that my commuter bike was gone. Someone must have left the gate open and someone grabbed it quick (leaving my roommates 3, nicer, bikes in the backyard further away from the gate).

The good news was that it was a 2 year old Mercier Kilo TT single speed bike that I built up as a commuter - probably only $400 into it and 2 years of every day use, but still it sucks to lose it.

My first thought was 2 replace with another low end single speed since my commute is only a couple miles but now i'm thinking of building up a sub $1k road bike to commute with and take the occasional road ride.

Option 1 - I have a Diamondback proform from Promotive so I could get say the Podium 3 bike which is a 105 bike for $720 (http://www.diamondback.com/2012-podium-3)

Option 2 - Build up a cheap frame completely like this one (http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/225...Road-Frame.htm) and go eBay etc... to put it together the way I want.

Option 3 - just go with another fully build cheap single speed.....


Thoughts? I would like to keep this in the $500 - $700 range as I would rather spend $ on my mountain bikes.....

[supermodel159]

SF Craigslist is flooded with quality used bikes in your range. Don't buy a new one, search C list and find a new ride. You might just find your old bike!

[single]

That sette, fully built will probably cost more than the db. By the time you score a group, bb, wheelset, fork, bars, tape, stem, seat post, saddle, tires, etc you may as well just buy a complete. Major brands have so much buying power with componentry.

I would buy the diamondback. Unless you want to spend more money. A new 105 groupo probably costs close to 700 on the fleabay, and I would want at least 105 if I was building a roadie that I would actually go on rides with. The main downside is that 105 is nice enough that I would be hesitant to use it as a bar commuter in most towns.