The bike I built myself has tought me so much about bikes!

Darra8

Hi All,

I have been building this bike for a few months now, but only intended it to be a 20 quid hack for the beach.

I wanted something cheap to use and keep up at the coast, so i bought an old steel framed Saracen out of the paper for 20 quid...job done, or so i thought!!

I stripped it down and cleaned everything up and realised it wasn't a bad bike apart from some very cheap components.

Fast forward 3 months and 250 quid. I have a really nice bike that i love to ride as much as i can. I ended up replacing all the parts except the bottom bracket. I have bought everything from ebay and used low rent Shimano parts thoughout. Complete acera drive with alivio brakes and shifters. I also ended up replacing the wheels with low end shimano hubs and mac1 rims. this was the best choice i made, as it rides so much better now.

I have really enjoyed building the bike and have learnt so much about how bikes are put together and work. It's great just fiddling around trying to make it that bit better too.

I have a brand new trek fuel full suss, but wouldn't dream of messing around with that in the same way.

Check out the pics

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/2700l ... 3Ig=_l.jpg

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/2700l ... 3Ig=_l.jpg

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/2700l ... 3Ig=_l.jpg

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/2700l ... 3Ig=_l.jpg

Cheers,

Steve

clarkson

yeah that is often the way. when i had to chnage the frame on my old i-drive id never stripped a bike down before in my life, but it was good fun and taught me a huge amount and has given me the confidence to do pretty much all my own fixes. apart from wheel truing. still havent got the hang of that.

beardytwo

Nice job, Looks very decent and probably better than most you could have got for spending the same money on a new bike. I plan to do a similar thing with my current wheels next year once I buy a new frame to build a hardtail. Very much looking forward to it but have to wait whilst I save the wedge...

ride_whenever

I love building bikes, ever since i bought my first scott if been stripping them down and building them up. I think it is contagious though, I arrive at my gf's last night to find her road bike in pieces all over her room. She claims she wanted to 'clean' it, but she was just curious. She'd googled for 'taking bike apart' it had not gone well, so that is a project for tomorrow...