considering bike build project / advice needed

john_

I am thinking about building my next bike and wondering what I would need to do it.

I have a good range of basic tools but nothing specialist.

is there anything that would be difficult for me to do myself / need a profestional / tool for? and how much would it cost?

thanks for your time.

John

nicklouse

read parktools. it covers every thing you need to do to put a bike together correctly.

you will then decide what you can and can not do.

but to start you off. face the bb and the headset. chase the bb threads. fit the headset.

john_

parktools says the fame should already be faced, if it needed doing how much would a bike shop charge so do it?

Andy B

My LBS charges £20 to face a BB, when you supply your own BB, they may charge less or do it FOC if you buy the parts from them

nicklouse

Sorry ask them. it often depends if the bb is bought from the LBS.

and never asume anything has been done or you will be chasing creaks allover the place.

lachoman

When i built my bike, i did everything in my bedroom with a multitool, some allen keys a cassette tool, a pair of pliers and an HT2 tool. The only bit you may need a hand with is bb and headset. If you buy a bb tool it is guaranteed to come in handy again sometime and you can get any of them for under a tenner. Don't however buy a headset press as they are an absolute rip off and won't get used that often. You can make your own inexpensively by using a piece of threaded rod, 2 nuts and several large washers/spacers http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=1190007. Either that or you can take it into the shop and get them to press the cups in for you, which shouldn't cost too much. As you said it may need faced, but a lot of new frames come faced and you can tell whether the bb has been faced by looking at it.

Splasher

When you buy your frame, buy your Hope* headset at the same time and have it pressed in. Then make sure the BB shell and brake mounts are faced at no cost as part of buying the frame.

* The reason I'd recommend Hope is that no matter what style of headset your frame takes, the Hope headset comes with a split race which pushes onto your fork with finger pressure. After that everything else screws on and can be done with a decent set of allen keys and an HT2 tool.

Jamey

What does "facing" a BB mean, exactly?

And what's the HT2 tool? I can't find it on Park Tools.

Splasher

Facing the BB shell means cutting a tiny bit off the face of the shell to ensure it is perfectly perpendicular to the threads.

The HT2 tool is a Hollowtech II bottom bracket tool.

Jamey

Thank you