The price difference is around $100 and right now the quote is smaller than budget (woohoo!), but there are also a bunch of S&S gadgets not in the quote (e.g., spacers, TSA-friendly net, etc). So I have some room for trade offs, but not a lot.

I never was really told their reasoning on the Campy triple--it seemed to be a "bang for the buck" issue in the original quote. And, when we started talking Shimano the geeky feeling of my bike not be religious swayed me so that I never really asked. Sorry--not much help. Given how I beat the poor guy up over every other component, now that I think about it, I gave in pretty quick on the crank.

I thought this build was going to be easier, but I think I'll still be playing 20 questions with the shop. Poor guys...they really earn their money.