building my own bike

georgio15

i am trying to decide whether to buy a bike or to build one, or to combine the two.

my main concern is, after doing a bit of research, that building a bike will be quite
expensive. i was thinking along the lines of a Dura ace groupset, a cinelli frame, bontrager wheels (race x lite), a cinelli handle bar (ram bianca carbon), seat post and stem (ram and vai respectively) and can't think of anything else at the moment.

this comes to over £2000 pounds. any ideas/help?

edhornby

unfortunately the build yer own option is more expensive than a bike ready to go.. remember tyres, bartape, lube, chain, cables all go on the list as well (apologies if I'm stating the obvious) which is where it goes over budget, bike dealers factor these in better than an individual

the bonus of self build is that you get exactly what bits you want (as long as they are all compatible) especially as you want a cinelli frame with a shimano groupset and bontrager wheels

I'd say look at similar spec cinelli bikes and see what the price difference is - and set your budget otherwise :shock:

Smokin Joe

If you take your time and shop round looking for bargains on the online retail sites you can build a bike that will be very competitive on price compared to buying complete provided you know exactly what you want and get the spec right first time. I have only rarely bought a complete bike, and after deciding that I didn't like the saddle, the bars were a bit too wide, stem too short, gear ratios unsuitable etc etc I ended up paying a small fortune on upgrades before I was happy.

georgio15

thanks for the help. i have decided to go against building a bike for now, firstly as money is a bit of an issue and secondly because i am not confident enough to build it. i have
decided to go for a cinelli man machine for 1759.99, or if i really feel like going for it the Cinelli Estrada Pro (Chorus/Eurus) and with a view to putting the Campagnolo super record groupest on the man machine