To build or not to build

Sarnian

For me half my love of MTB and bikes In general comes from building my own bikes. I enjoy the hole process from thinking about my next build to working out my budget then hunting for the parts then nights In the shed building It, It started for me about 20 years with BMX In my early teens.

I know this has come up a few times on here, but was just wondering who else finds this a part of being Into MTB.

dot1

i build my own and buy complete bikes and replace bits as and when required. i love fiddling and tinkering with bikes, but you usually get much better value for money buying off the shelf.

.blitz

Think it was interesting the first few times but now I'd rather buy a built bike, give it the once-over to make sure it's OK then just ride it. A bike on the trails in worth two in the shed.

Having said that, building up jr's BMX in two hours was fun. No brakes, no gears - just a rubber mallet, some hex keys, chain tool and a tub of anti-seize 8)

Anonymous

depends on budget i would say. i love building bikes and any i own have had most of their bits replaced by me.

the smartest move is porbably to buy a bike off the shelf and replce parts over time as building from scratch is proper expensive, you just dont hve the buying power of those big companies.

it would be a shame ot have a custom built bike if you didnt do it yourself but of course, you have to factor in tool costs, no point boshing your shiny parts together with cheap rubbish tools.

The Big Cheese

Hmmm, this is a bit of a double-edged sword really...

For the first part, I absolutely love building my own bikes, the reason for this is that I can get the parts exactly how I want them. I like hunting around for parts (most recently retro-parts) and seeing it come together over time into a machine that noone else has. Unique. This (to me) is a huge part of MTB'ing. It's like people/enthusiasts who are into motobikes/hotrods etc and spend all the hours God sends in their shed/workshop (in my case - KITCHEN ), trying to find that elusive stem you've been looking for etc... you catch my drift.

My skills (albeit apart from indexing) have come on leaps and bounds and I can build a bike from scratch and it gives me an ENORMOUS sense of pride and satisfaction.

However, sometimes it is not cheap, the parts are hard to find, newbies to this can become frustrated and become disillusioned with biking, which is not a good thing. You need to learn granted, but it's tough when you don't know you square taper from you HTII... it's easier to buy a bike when you're a beginner and over time, as your love for the sport continues, you drift into building your own...

That's my tuppence worth

Sarnian

As some have mentioned cost Is a big problem when building your own bike. I have found myself buying more good condition second hand parts now days, I have just picked up some Magura Menja forks of fleabay for a new build, for what I thought was a good buy. The forks arrived this morning and they are like new, over the past year I have some very good buys off of here and fleabay, as well as off the local seen around me.

nicklouse

Sarnian


Ok you are changing the rules now buy including Used parts.

a build using preowned parts will be cheaper BUT no warranty.

Anonymous

as above, if you are prepared to spend money on second hand bits (nd i always am!) then a self build can be done for a very decent price and you get all of the satisfaction of building something unique.

Sarnian

nicklouse wrote:

Sarnian


Ok you are changing the rules now buy including Used parts.

a build using preowned parts will be cheaper BUT no warranty.

Ok maybe I should of mentioned used or new parts for a build.

nicklouse

and to answer the last part of your original post.

the last of the shelf i bought was 10 years ago.

Sarnian

Apart from my TT bike I brought about 3 years ago (that was off the peg) I can't remember how long It's been.

I build my commuter's (normally fixie's) from stuff I find down the scrap yard have had a few good finds down there. I have also maneged to sell a couple of them

MacAndCheese

For me the researching,buying and fitting of new bits is all part of the fun. Although I haven't made a bike fully from scratch yet the only original parts left on my Kona are the frame and the seat post - and they're set to change soon! I have to agreed with the other posts that buying new parts individually can be pretty expensive - but I find the odd £200-300 for components is easier to get past the missus than laying out 2-3k for a new bike / full build!

P.S. Been around these pages for a while, but this is my first post so Hello! Will get pics of self and bikes up at the weekend hopefully.

Sarnian

Hi MacAndCheese, I know what you mean about getting past the wife with £200-300 here and there

I am In the dog house as my frame and forks arrived to day for my new build, and apparently I should not be spending that much as we have just got back from a family holiday :roll:

ashleymp777

Has anybody worked out how much cheaper it is to source and build your own bike? Using, lets say XT and reasonably afordable parts.

nicklouse

it is not cheaper.

ashleymp777

I thought not!

supersonic

I have bought full bikes in the past solely to strip down for parts, and sell off what i don't need.

A few years ago I bought a bike with a Skarab fork and Crossmax wheels, new, for 600 quid. So the rest of the bike was essentially free: and it was XT kit.

delcol

i researched till i was sick..
i wanted a santa cruz heckler the new version.

the built on off the shelf came in at £2500.

i reasearched it for months (waiting for the new batch of heckler to arrive in the country)
it worked out cheaper alot cheaper for me to build it my self,. i found a shop who had the frame on offer 15% off so that saved me £122,50
i knew what spec i wanted so i had 3 months to find the parts cheap (3 month wait for the new frames to arrive into the country)
i built my heckler up for £1900 saving me £600 off the price of a off the shelf bike, the spec was almost identical one or 2 parts were different some pats were of a higher spec...
the wheels i already had...
all the parts were brand new and purchased off the net, most of the arts were suplied by the shop who i got the frame off as he price matched everything,.
he couldn't get my brakes or crank i got them else were..
this was before the credit crunch before things went silly in price....

i also built the pace rc305 up for £800 some of the parts on that though are donar off the heckler..

Sarnian

Nice one

Mickey Eye

If you had parts already you should really add them to the full cost of the build, they may be reused but they still cost you something. Good wheels aint cheap.

Sarnian

I am just starting to do a new build, I am using a on one summer season frame and using second hand parts, some new parts and stuff I had In the shed It looks as If It coming In around £700.

Not bad I thought for the spec I am putting on It.