The ultimate credit crunch bike

James T

As the antithesis to the "Your dream light weight custom build" http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12714381 I have decided to try and build the ultimate credit crunch bike - a reasonable road bike for as little money as possible. If I can do it for under £75 I would be delighted - although a more realistic target may be £100. To do this I aim to scour ebay and internet forums and scavange skips and tips (correct I have no pride).

To start the ball rolling, I recovered a Bontrager Saddle and Turbo trainer (soon out back in working order) from the srap metal skip at the local tip. There was a Stelvio aluminium frame but it looked a bit small for me and the Skip troll wanted £10 for it and it didn't even have any forks.

Anyway I think I may have sourced a reasonble frame (British hand built 7005 alu) for £15, but until have it my actual possession I wil count my chickens.

I suspect the most expensive parts will be the wheels, chainset and shifters - especially to get something reasonable, but I may get lucky on ebay. Somethings like cables and handlebar tape is proabaly best buying new. If anyone has any spare parts going cheap/gratis then let me know - especially in the West Mids area

I will keep you updated on my progress, although it may take a while as project is depndent on cashflow, and any advice gratefully recieved.

JT

Frame/Forks:
Weight:
Cost:

Pair Of Wheels:
Weight:
Cost:

Tyres:
Weight:
Cost:

Seat Post:
Weight:
Cost:

Seat: Bontrager
Weight: 250g
Cost: £0.00

Headset:
Weight:
Cost:

Stem:
Weight:
Cost:

Handle Bar:
Weight:
Cost:

Shifters:
Weight:
Cost:

Crankset & Bottom Braket:
Weight:
Cost:

Front Derailiuer:
Weight:
Cost:

Rear Derailiuer:
Weight:
Cost:

Cassette:
Weight:
Cost:

Brakes:
Weight:
Cost:

Pedals:
Weight:
Cost:

Cables:
Weight:
Cost:


TOTAL WEIGHT:

Ben6899

If you put a working bike together for £75, I'll be very impressed. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!

re-cycles

It can certainly be done, but you'll need some patience and plenty of storage space. I've been building bikes from scrap for some time now, and my current upright (based on a saracen ali mtb frame) cost me £32 in total. Sure its not the prettiest bike on the planet, but it works fine! The local council tip can be a huge source of parts, as can freecycle, but you'll normally have to take the whole bike rather than strip the parts there and leave the old frames! (I've currently got about 20 frames in the shed, waiting for me to get creative!)

slowlanejane

keep an eye on bumblebee auctions too, the police selling off stolen property recovered but not repatriated, might be some good spare parts still attached to bikes. But dont bid on the Trek FX / Gary Fisher combo in Oxford, coz they're MINE

http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk/XcAP ... .asp?ID=24

term1te

I was in Decathlon today, they have some bright orange single speed bikes for 99 EUR, Btwin vitamin I think. It might take two assistants to take it off the display stand though.

downfader

I have seen a few people riding the Halfords Trax T700 bikes. Some nasty components but you'd fail to get a steel frame with 700c cheaper new imo. Tesco Direct sell a new mtb with steel frame for 79, 20 cheaper. :shock:

If anyone has made up a decent hack bike from these I'd love to see pics, or even video. :twisted:

rake

does the challenge mean anything though unless pieces are sourced new or from retail . im not saying its a bad idea but someone gave me their old bike a few years ago having no use for it, nothing modern or special but good order drop bars and five gears. £0.

cooldad

I got a decent old Carrera with Reynolds 531 frame off Ebay for £5. (Sellers first sale, no picture and a lousy description - seller was just up the road from me, so I figured it was worth a punt. The local dump was on the way home just in case)

Replaced the tubes (about another £5).

Had a horrible old saddle, so found an old Selle San Marco Rolls, again on Ebay for £7.

Have since been given a perfect set of Schwalbe Stelvio tyres.

So under £20 all up.

whyamihere

I have some cranks you can have for free if you can wait a while (they're at my parents' house, not sure when I'll next go back), I'm in Birmingham.

Old Ofmega things, they've got 42, 52 and 54t chainrings, I *think* they're 144mm BCD rings for some reason. Square taper bb needed.

I *might* be able to sling you some tyres and possibly a couple of other bits, depending on what I find, for not a lot of cash.

Ollieda

Sounds fun.....my "cheap" commuter bike that I was building for under £200 came out at around £400, i just kept buying more and more for it!

If you need it I might have an FSA 'A' Headset 1 1/8th laying around that was brought by mistake and I was just going to throw away.

bagpusscp

I bought this out my local paper a few years ago for £50 .A bit retro .I see allsorts down the local tip.I would opt for a steel 531 myself.
I have plenty of band on front changers,mostly for steel frames.£5 each ie Shimano 600.
Post the type of frame you end up with and I will see what bits I have that may fit.Note most is all 80's

Cressers

If that singlespeed had a frame of reasonable cro-mo tubing I think that Decathlon would shift quite a few of them...

Bunneh

Good luck with the project! Thought I'd mention that back in the 90s one of the cycle shops in Bolton (Ride and Drive I believe) used to throw out perfectly viable parts into their large bin. A mate of mine, Glen, used to salvage them and use the 'damaged' parts - not seen Glen in years, wonder where he is now!?

Check cycle shop bins!!

harpz

I have an aluminium fork from a Vitus Razor (F600) Colour black with white and red bits. I will sell it to you for the princely sum of whatever it costs to post from belfast. I will also throw in the starfangled bolt and top cap.


(*I upgraded to carbon which is so much better really takes the road buzz out of the handlebars- no honestly running less pressure in my front tyre wouldnt make much more of a difference and cost nothing--honestly it definately wasnt a complete waste of money---seriously) :oops:

Cressers

It used to be the case that you could rescue a bike from the local dump and repair it, but in the age of yellow jacketed Health and safety that is no longer possible. It's annoying to see a bike that could, with a bit of repair, be 'recycled' go to waste in the landfill.

re-cycles

Cressers wrote:

It used to be the case that you could rescue a bike from the local dump and repair it, but in the age of yellow jacketed Health and safety that is no longer possible. It's annoying to see a bike that could, with a bit of repair, be 'recycled' go to waste in the landfill.

That must be dependent on your local council then... Here in Swindon there is an area to the side of the office that the staff put complete items, and these are all for sale. I think this ill be changing soon as the local Salvation Army are opening a recycled bike shop, so I guess they'll have some kind of agreement going on with the council.

Ben6899

James,

I can offer a Shimano square taper BB... I'll get the exact details of it later on.

Ben

James T

Right, I have now secured a frame set for the princely sum of £15. My brother oicked it up for me at for me at the weekend - so not sure of the exact details, but it is a Mercury Pro Race 7005 frame and has 56 cm top tube so is about the rights size and looks decent enough in the picture. Teh forks have a 1 inch threaded steerer. According to my brother the paint work is a bit scuffed, but not bad for 15 quid

Thank you every one for their kind offers when I get some deatiled measurements such a bottom bracket shell and seat tube dimensions for front mech I will let you know. Here's some pics for now.

JT

Bunneh

You going to torment a mate at a paint n spray to get it sandblasted? Don't respray on the washing line like I did with an old bike; bloody green fly got stuck to it

stigofthedump

I found my fixie at the tip. Our tip used to have a shipping container where you could browse and recycle. The council decided that they might get sued if items were faulty and stopped it.
My bike was standing next to the skip, rather than being thrown in. Holdsworth 531 frame, Normandy hubs, Cinelli bars and stem. I have since met the man who threw it away at our local sports centre.
A few weeks later i retrieved a pendle towbar mounted rack from the same skip. It had been crushed and needed a bit of straightening, but now works fine.
If you take stuff to the tip, dont throw it in the skip if you think it could be reused.

Bunneh

There's 2 bikes under some plastic sheeting a few streets away from me. Look like husband and wife bikes; they've been there for a good couple of years and I'm quite tempted to see if they wants to flog the 'male' one for a few quid.