[hinkley]

One of the best places to save money on a bike is to learn to do your own maintenance.

A used frame that is mechanically compatible with new (or at least newer) components, and do most of the assembly yourself, at least for the things that only require specialty wrenches instead of something more complex, like a press. If you can strip an older, better bike to the frame, you can clean it up, patch the chips, and put it back together shiny.

If you can't do all of that, then the assembly costs could be higher than a reasonable frame.