Building a commuter bike?!!!

gtvlusso

Hi All,

This weekend I will be mostly swearing in my shed: I am building a bike out of an Ambrosio Guido frame and the parts off my old Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike - the frame is cracked on the Rockhopper - however, it has many new and upgraded parts.

I have the new frame, carbon fork, seatpost and brake calipers fitted. I have 700c wheels on order and a load of tools + some enthusiasm.

I will transfer the bottom, bracket, crank, chainset, front mech and derailleur/cassette to the new frame and re-cable it all. I have measured the parts and there would appear to be no problem with the transplant.....tba!

Any tips or hints that anyone can offer before I annoy my neighbours? Is there an order I should do this in?! Is cabling a bitch?

Sidenote to my other question about what bike I should buy on cyclesscheme, last week, If this new bike is okay then I am gonna buy either a Planet X SL carbon or a PBK Team!
Cheers
G

palinurus

I tend to build my commuters from bits.

My advice is: don't do it in the shed, do it inside.

(If the stuff is all dirty and horrible I clean it up outside first)

Advantages are:

You can do it slowly over a whole weekend and intersperse with cups of tea/ coffee/ swigs of beer etc. depending on preference.

Your hands stay warm and you don't whack your knuckles with spanners so often.

Sheldon / Park tools etc. are close at hand, shame about the oily keyboard.

Mind you the shed I use is crap. You might have a really good shed, with a kettle and stuff.

Doing cables isn't too bad (as long as you have proper cable cutters), don't rush it and don't do it with cold fingers.

Random Vince

cable up once levers and mech's / brakes are fitted, run the inner through the lever / shifter end then feed the outer onto that as you go.

depends if you're doing it closed cable (no inner exposed) or partly open cable (more normal aproach)

cutting the outer is a pain in the ass, you'll need some very sharp cutting impliments

Gussio

+1 for a decent set of cable cutters. They will make the job much easier.

Good luck and enjoy

Random Vince

Palinurus wrote:

Sheldon / Park tools etc. are close at hand, shame about the oily keyboard.

having a white keyboard i've often put a bit of clingfilm over the entire board, don't do it too tight and you can still touch type

Gussio

PS If you haven't already invested in cables, I recently discovered Flying Snake cables and can recommend them - light, with just the right amount of stiffness and good at keeping out road grime.

gtvlusso

Cheers guys,

I don't think my wife would be too happy about having a bicycle stripped down on our bare wood floors - just been varnished! She had kittens when I "baked" part of a Ducati engine in the oven to release some bolts!
My shed is really clean (as a result of keeping a Ducati in it!) and I have it set up with a workbench and bike hangers - pretty nifty! I also have power/lights and sockets and the wireless internet will work out there - the luxury of a company laptop too! Sheds are the way forward - you can hide in there and do all sorts of "man" stuff.

Anyway - thanks for the advice, I will have a crack at it this weekend! Anyone had any bad experiences with cranks and bottom brackets?! I will be buying a new pair of wire cutters!

Have a good weekend all.

Cheers
G

Random Vince

gtvlusso wrote:

Cheers guys,

I don't think my wife would be too happy about having a bicycle stripped down on our bare wood floors - just been varnished! She had kittens when I "baked" part of a Ducati engine in the oven to release some bolts!
My shed is really clean (as a result of keeping a Ducati in it!) and I have it set up with a workbench and bike hangers - pretty nifty! I also have power/lights and sockets and the wireless internet will work out there - the luxury of a company laptop too! Sheds are the way forward - you can hide in there and do all sorts of "man" stuff.

Anyway - thanks for the advice, I will have a crack at it this weekend! Anyone had any bad experiences with cranks and bottom brackets?! I will be buying a new pair of wire cutters!

Have a good weekend all.

Cheers
G

i'm working on the equivelent of a shed but in a spare room of my flat,

my girlfriend knows this and it's been this way since before i knew her.

tardington

But is it WARM?

We have a small, cold room which is the bike room. It also has an old PC in it. In the autumn, I was 'working' on my bike. GF not pleased to find me drinking beer and playing Star Trek Armada II...

Drfabulous0

I build my bikes at work so shed issues don't apply, I usually work in this order:

Build wheels and fit tyres, cassette and disc rotors if appliccable.

Fit seatpost and clamp (so the frame will go in stand)

Fit headset, forks, stem and bars

Fit controls, grips, brake calipers and rear mech

Fit bottom bracket cranks pedals and front mech

Fit wheels

Cable and setup brakes

Cable and set up gears by sight then fit chain and make any fine adjustments needed.

Remove from stand, fit saddle and adjust to fit.

Not including the wheel builds this usually takes 2 - 2 1/2 hours if all the parts and tools are ready to hand, but it took a lot longer when I first started building bikes.

redddraggon

I've just built this. It's not my commuting bike though, I leave the commuting to my other bike.



Bike builds aren't too difficult.

discurio

gtvlusso wrote:

Anyway - thanks for the advice, I will have a crack at it this weekend! Anyone had any bad experiences with cranks and bottom brackets?! I will be buying a new pair of wire cutters!

yes. managed to strip the thread on the crank arm of a square taper BB. my boss said he never heard such a good display of swearing and tool throwing. luckily i was installing a new xtr one (external cups???) so i got a grinder and attacked the soft crank arm and got it off. bush mechanics to the rescue :roll:

gtvlusso

Hmm - spent the day swearing! Got f*cking annoyed at a BB that came off my mtb perfectly, but then refused to fit the new frame - the prvious frame owner had obviously tried to do a build and knackered the threads! managed to force it on straight!!!! Never mind, just have to prey it does not wear within a year.
I am about halfway through before I got too annoyed and emotional....my hands hurt!
G

Bugly

are you sure that both bikes share the same thread on the BB? ie both british or both italian?

gtvlusso

Both British......I have the torque wrench of death which will be used in anger tonight!