Wow, >£3k for already built bikes, I think I would have wanted to specify every bolt for that! Nice to look at but beyond what I’d want to pay. I wonder if German parts are suddenly more expensive.
Yes and no. When I bought my first Mercury, I already had the Rohloff, a decent dynamo front wheel and quite a bit of other kit. Yet by the time I'd bought the frameset and the bits that I didn't have, plus, had the Rohloff altered to suit, I'm sure I'd have been better off buying a complete bike and selling what I already had.
I know the idea of specifying everything is appealing, but I bet there isn't a huge variation in what people actually choose. Despite the prices those bikes are still a fair saving on the full price, if it just needs a few bits changing it could be worth considering, plus you'd skip the build queue which seems likely to lengthen. There's not a huge discount, but i don't think anyone would expect there to be. As always the market will decide.
In the meantime I've succumbed to +1, well sort of, I'd intended to sort through some stuff and have a clear out, but instead ended up buying the bits to make those spares into another bike. I blame lockdown boredom, I don't really need another bike, I don't really have anywhere to put it either...
