considering building my owm bike, how easy/difficult is it?

chris_bass

Hi

I am considering building a bike, just wondered if you have any advise?

does it work out a lot cheaper? or is it just you can get what you want?

any hints and tips?

thanks

Chris

ps - i have only recently started thining about this so treat me as an absolute novice!!

02gf74

my Bianchi lightweight bike was built up from new or nearly new bits of ebay.

last weigh in it was a 9.5 kg - have to admit I haven't been keeping a tally of what I paid for it but to buy a new similar spec. bike in that weight range I would have cost me 4x what I paid, at a guess.

Can't recall the reason for doing this but it has been an on going process and has gotten lighter as I see bits for sale so was not all purchased in one go.

going back to your question, why do you want to do this? If it is to save money, then you can buy new at much discount or nearly new on fleabay that would cost the same or less.

If it is for the fun something-to-do-aspect and buget is not primary concern, they take the route I did.

There will be some tools you need, allen keys, bootm bracket and cassette tools and maybe headset press .... I chickened out and paid LBS to do it since it was integrated headset and I had not seen one before.

It is not rocket science, so if you get stuck, post question and photo and I am sure someone on here will know.

Go for it!!

02gf74

forgot to reply to how difficult/easy it is.

for me, being reasonably mechanically adept (rebuilt cars and other spannering stuff plus DIY), it is a piece off piss yet a freind of mine struggles with doing up quick release levers!?!?!??!

so depends on you level of competance; some people have no idea and even when thrye try, do not get any better, assuming you are not one of those, then the more you do, the more competant you will become.

Subaqua

I've recently got back on a bike and just built up an MTB without doing any bike maintainence (other than oiling a chain, changing brake pads) for 20 years.

Will you save money...... possibly not, as any money you save will inevitably end up getting spent on higher quality components (same goes for working on cars too).

Will you have fun... i reckon yes.

Can you do it? IMO for anyone with just a bit of mechnical wherewithall.... its a cinch. ....

Oh.... thats what he said too!^^^^

chris_bass

Thanks for the replies

it was as a bit of a project too, and would be nice to have something no one else would!

i'm reasonably compentant with a set of allen keys and spanners!! i adjust gears and brakes etc without too much bother.

might be a project i undertake over a long time!

I currently commute on a mountain bike and want a lighter mountain bike to commute on, i know road bikes would be a lot more suitable but i like mountain bikes and if i can build a lightweight one then it'd be the best of both worlds, so thats half the reason and the other half is the project/sense of acheivement!

gtd.

I kind of built my own bike started out with a Carrera Hellcat and upgraded it over around six months till the only thing that was original was the frame then looked for a better frame and got a bargain second hand Orange Patriot and checked the fork and shock were compatible i2i, stroke and steerer length and swapped the upgrades to it

Learnt a lot along the way and asked a fair few questions on here lol.

Only special tools I bought were a shock pump, headset remover, hollowtech II tool, cassette socket and chain tool, I made my own headset press and used a oil filter tool as a chain whip.

Richie63

Building is a lot of fun , one of the problems is once you have finished a build you want to start another project. well at least I do,

As far as cost goes savings can be made esp. if you are strict with yourself that you have a budget to stick to and spend time looking through the adds for the bargains.

Rushing through a build can become expensive.

Huck Finn

Having never done much apart from change pads in the past, starting with some help on here regarding forks and headsets i started doing my own work.

So enthused was i with the result, over the last week, i've stripped the bike completely, thoroughly cleaned everything and put it back together. It's looking and running great... Phew. Tuning the gears was about the hardest thing but i found a guide. I've now ordered The Park Blue Book for future work.

You shouldn't have too many issues if you decide to build your own, and those you do, a quick question on here is always answered pretty quickly i've noticed.

Good luck...

Fodder666

I built my bike about 5 years ago now, it probably cost me more than buying off the shelf but I had fun doing it and got exactly what I wanted. The only part I didn't do was mounting the headset and forks, all the rest including the painstaking process of setting up the gearing (this may take some time) was done by me. Should you decide to do one yourself you should take your time and make sure the parts you buy are compatible with each other and your frame, it is also worth spending a little more to get parts that will last. If you aren't entirely confident about your skills it wouldn't hurt (though probably cost) to get it checked over by your lbs before hitting the trails.

Clark3y

Bike tools tend to be expensive, so you'll probably spend all you save on tools to build it

You'll probably need to get a shop to face the bottom bracket, and might want to have the headset installed. Everything else is pretty easy though.

vanamees

Chris Bass wrote:

Hi

I am considering building a bike, just wondered if you have any advise?

does it work out a lot cheaper? or is it just you can get what you want?

any hints and tips?

thanks

Chris

ps - i have only recently started thining about this so treat me as an absolute novice!!

No. Building a bike cost much more .

geoff93

It is very simple if you are willing to learn, I regularly strip down, clean, and rebuild my bikes just to check for problems. Make sure that if you do run into any problems you have a shop nearby who can help you out. When threading bottom brackets make sure you are putting the correct cup in the correct side. It's about being careful and reading up what you're doing. If you can maintain your own bikes at the moment you should be fine!

red eye

is it easy? that depends on how good you are with tools.
is it fun? hell yeah, I have only ever built my own
is ti expensive? yes very when you lose control

I say go for it, if you get stuck post here

ftwizard

vanamees wrote:

No. Building a bike cost much more .

Rubbish.

If you built a bike to the same spec as you could buy new, then of course it would cost more, but why would you want to do that.

The idea of building your own, is that you decide the spec, therefore the actual cost doesn't come into it. Obviously, you can search for the cheapest price for the parts you want, but it's the spec you want that really counts.
Above all, it's therapeutic, fun and you end up with something to be proud of.

The Rookie

Subaqua wrote:

I've recently got back on a bike and just built up an MTB without doing any bike maintainence (other than oiling a chain, changing brake pads) for 20 years.

Pretty much the same for me, after over 20 years without a bike I built my first commuter up from an almost bare frame, since then I've built my new commuter, my MTB, bikes for the Daughter and wife and helped the elder daughter build 2 (that's all in the last 3 years).

Build it yourself and you know every part, some judicious use of ebay and the classifieds and you can do it quite cheap, and if you cut corners on spec in a couple of places you know exactly where the weak points on the bike are.

Simon

The Northern Monkey

ftwizard wrote:

vanamees wrote:

No. Building a bike cost much more .

Rubbish.

If you built a bike to the same spec as you could buy new, then of course it would cost more, but why would you want to do that.

The idea of building your own, is that you decide the spec, therefore the actual cost doesn't come into it. Obviously, you can search for the cheapest price for the parts you want, but it's the spec you want that really counts.
Above all, it's therapeutic, fun and you end up with something to be proud of.

Agreed

vanamees

ftwizard wrote:

vanamees wrote:

No. Building a bike cost much more .

Rubbish.

If you built a bike to the same spec as you could buy new, then of course it would cost more, but why would you want to do that.

The idea of building your own, is that you decide the spec, therefore the actual cost doesn't come into it. Obviously, you can search for the cheapest price for the parts you want, but it's the spec you want that really counts.
Above all, it's therapeutic, fun and you end up with something to be proud of.

Not same spec - same LEVEL

chris_bass

Thanks for all the replies and encouragement!

I have a few starter questions!

Where is a good place to buy a frame and forks? Think that's where ill start! Is want them to be light and always liked fox forks so wouldn't mind goon for some of them!

Where is the most important area to spend money? And where is it possible to save a bit of money?

Nrj

This time of year is a good time to buy a frame as the new stuff is coming out so last years models are sold off cheap.

Try chain reactions/ribble and other online shop,

some even advertise on ebay,

I paid £110 for my new ragley mmmbop frame new just cos they dont make them anymore.

The Rookie

Allrerrain have some good deals on handsome dogs including the Easton tubing frame fro £100

chris_bass

what do i need to look out for in a good frame?

are there any makes that are good or any that are best avoided? i've never really thought about frames much before!! are there any good magazines or websites that could help?