Building a Bike From Scratch

Mithra

Hi, I was wondering how complicated it is to build a bike completely from scratch? Unfortunately I'm a complete newbie to this so I have no idea :P What kind of price would you be looking at for all the parts excluding the frame, just for a basic build which I would upgrade again later?
Also, I don't ACTUALLY know a full list of the stuff you would need :?, It seems like sometimes one thing comes with others, and other times you have to buy stuff separately, so what are the basic things that you would need?
Any answers to any of these questions would be great, sorry for the volley of hundreds of them :P

nicklouse

it will be cheaper to buy a ready built bike.

Cost depends on what you want to put on it.....

what come with what? depends on what you want. Sorry not that simple.

Why build it and then upgrade. costing you more money 2 times.

then there is the tools.

have a read of parktools for info on fitting parts.

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

i did that. worked out a LOT cheaper then buying a new bike of the same spec but then I spent six months trawling ebay to find 2nd hand xt mechs for £3 and buying second hand tyres off mates and taking away some LBS stock for cheap. all told I spent about 350 quid on:

juicy 3 (front) 50 CRC
beone stelis frame can't remmeber
mavic ceramic rims 15 quid pair LBS
xt/lx hubs 15 quid new LBS/10 quid new ebay
v8 pedals 10 ebay as new
supersplice forks free from mate
lx/xt drive train deals from ebay. not v expensive, mostly new
truvativ isoflow cranks 10 ebay
Continental explorer tyres 10 from mate
FSA BB 3 quid ebay
DMR loclons 16 quid LBS
braided gear and bak brake housing 10 quid set
+ a few good tools


so not tooo bad
did means that as an amateur i had quite a lot of niggly issues with compatibility/set up etc but that was all part of the lurning cerve I guess.

all in - a worthwhile excercise but only one to be embarked on if you have the time to hunt for good deals. Tell your LBS waht you're doing and just ask if they have any suitable old components laying around you can have a deal on...

Mithra

Ok, thanks I understand it was kinda an awkward question as theres so much choice, but Marjory Stewart Baxtor's answer was really what I was looking for, I was basically wondering what kind of bike you could get if you were willing to build it . Thanks for the advice though

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

pleasure
might also be cool to put a note on the classifieds of this forum. Say what standard of parts you want and makte offer the forumites offers for their cast offs/spares

Thewaylander

If you are going to scour e-bay for second hand bits and so on, and your new to it, it could be tough.

There is alot of just out there and you need to know what your looking at to see if its been abused. otherwise i would buy new, then it is way more expensive to build it yourself

KonaMike

If you get lucky with E-Bay bargains you will save a lot of money,also the previous years groupsets get reduced quite dramatcally,remember you will need a good toolkit and a few specialist tools too.Look on Parktools for details.

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

Thewaylander wrote:

If you are going to scour e-bay for second hand bits and so on, and your new to it, it could be tough.

There is alot of just out there and you need to know what your looking at to see if its been abused. otherwise i would buy new, then it is way more expensive to build it yourself

definately. There are tell tale signs like the wear parks, what else the seller is selling and feedback but generally it pays to be pessimisitic with second hand kit.

saying that when the sellers know what they're talking about it works dandy. (I was sold a crankset as hollowtech II which turned out to be powerspline)