Quote Originally Posted by Susan View Post

The Soma, built quite sporty and with gears, is the closest I can get to my idea of a perfect bike so far. But I'm not sure if I can do it and fear that if I can't use at least some of my old parts I'd end up with a far to expensive bike that I can't use in the city.

On the other hand, it would be so convenient to buy a complete bike and not have to worry about parts, but none of them comes as close to "perfect" as the Mixte.

Can you give me advice about building a bike from a frameset? How do I tell which parts will fit? Is the idea of using most parts from my old bike at least for a start realistic?
If I have to buy all new parts, can you give me an idea of how much this will cost me for a bike that is usable (I know that depends on the parts. I just don't have any idea at all. I never bought bikeparts. I have to stay under about 1000$ at the moment.)
Is your fear of using it the city because of theft? Yeah, it will be tempting. I just got a heavier lock for mine, and I only leave it for a few minutes at the grocery store.

I wish I could tell you if any of your old parts would work, but I let my lbs do my building for a reason. I do think you could stay within your budget, even if you had to get everything.