Building bikes... on a shoe string?

Dog296

Hey all.

Been thinking of building my own bike recently.
Mainly because I don't see the point in making my GT super light.

With the help of here and bikeradar, with some help from CRC/Wiggle/eBay. Do you think it its possiable to build a bike, if it was new, costing a few grand, but building for a few hundred?

I don't intend to go all carbon etc, but start with a decent "stock" frame, like a spesh Rockhopper... obv a older year frame. And maybe get a "cheap" bike for part like drivetrain etc?

Just want something lighter, and better, than my GT, for XC and trail centre trails, Red and Black routes mainly.

Ta

nickel

By no means lightweight but a lot of people rate this frame highly, especially for the price.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROO456/on-one-456-frame

EDIT: completely forgot this, 65 quid extra but its a 1500 gram frame.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROO26SCVD/ ... pout-frame

sheepsteeth

if you are just trying to build a lighter bike than the one you have you will be better off spending the money on lighter compnents i would say,

if you are trying to build something different for different riding or even just for a different riding experience then it is very much a possibilty to build a bike on a cheap budget if you are savvyw ith some second hand and sale time purchases.

sheepsteeth

also, those 456 frames are rarely an actual upgrade to the frames they often replace as they tend to be heavier and cheaoer built

The Northern Monkey

sheepsteeth wrote:

also, those 456 frames are rarely an actual upgrade to the frames they often replace as they tend to be heavier and cheaoer built

totally agree.

Dog296

Well my current bike is a GT Avalanche 3.0 hydro.

I use it for everything, road, fireroad, and red and black routes at trail centres.
A lot of people say my bike is heavy, and after lifting a friends, Giant Full Susser, and his being lighter than mine, surprised me.

Admittingly, my tyres weigh around 1500g each. No idea how much my Alex DC rim weight.
But I wouldn't mind a bike that weighed light enough to be able to lift over styles, fences and maybe up "unrideable" terrain.

sheepsteeth

well theres your problem, you can save about 2 kilos from the tyres alone just by spending 50 quid on a set of specialized tyres (my fave, other tyres do exist though) a decent set of wheel on top notch hubs can be had for well under 200 quid weighing in at about 17-1800g and i would wager that is another considerable weight saving.

i would deffo consider a few intelligent upgrades.

do you have a budget in mind?

can youpost a spec list

Dog296

Budget, around say £500-600.

heres a spec list taken from GT website.

Frame
GT 26" TRIPLE TRIANGLE DESIGN, 6061 ALUMINUM W/ HYDROFORMED TOP TUBE & DOWNTUBE, ZEROSTACK HEAD TUBE, DISC MOUNT, REPLACEABLE DERAILLEUR HANGER

Forks
SR SUNTOUR XCM-V2, 120mm TRAVEL, STEEL STANCHIONS, ALUMINUM LEG

Rear Derailleur
SHIMANO, RD-M410, ALIVIO, 8 SPEED

Front Derailleur
SHIMANO ACERA, FD-M361

Shifters
SHIMANO SL-M310, 8 SPEED, RAPID FIRE

Chainset
SUNTOUR XCT-30V2-T2, 42/32/22T

Bottom Bracket
TANGE SEALED

Chain
KMC Z72, 8 SPEED

Freewheel
SHIMANO, HG-30-8, 8 SPEED, 11-32T

Headset
TANGE SEIKI 1 1/8" THREADLESS ZEROSTACK

Stem
1 1/8" THREADLESS, 4-BOLT W/ CNC FACE PLATE, CLAMP = 31.8mm, RISE = 5°, ALL TERRA BRANDED

Handlebars
6061 ALUMINUM RISER, RISE = 25mm, WIDTH = 685mm, CLAMP = 31.8mm, ALL TERRA BRANDED

Front Brake
Tektro Draco Hydraulic 180mm rotor

Rear Brake
TEKTRO Draco Hydraulic W/ 160mm ROTOR

Brake Levers
TEKTRO

Rims
ALEX DC25, 26", DOUBLE WALL, BLACK, W/ MATCHING GRAPHIC

Front Hub
ALLOY DISC QR, ALL TERRA BRANDED

Rear Hub
ALLOY 8 SPEED CASSETTE DISC QR, ALL TERRA BRANDED

Spokes
STAINLESS 14G

Tyres
FRONT: MAXXIS MOBSTER 26x2.35"
REAR: MAXXIS MOBSTER 26x2.10"

Saddle
WTB PURE-SPORT W/ MATCHING GRAPHIC

Seatpost
ALLOY MICRO-ADJUST, DIA = 31.6mm, ALL TERRA BRANDED
SEAT CLAMP: FORGED ALUMINUM QR, ALL TERRA BRANDED

Pedals
GT SLIM LINE FLAT PEDAL (Just changed to V12's)

Grips
DUAL DENSITY, GT WING W/ WAFFLE

sheepsteeth

for that budget, something like a boardman might be the smartest move as you can get a lot of bike for that kind of money.

Dog296

sheepsteeth wrote:

for that budget, something like a boardman might be the smartest move as you can get a lot of bike for that kind of money.

There anything in the spec list you'd change to maybe improve my GT?

I tried a Cube Analog the other day, it feels much much lighter than my GT!

The Northern Monkey

Sell the GT, add the funds to your £600, buy an infinitely better bike.

submityournentries

maybe look into new forks and wheels. wheels for weight saving, and forks for generally better performance

i swapped from halo combats, made of pig iron, to a set of superstar am490s, by no means light wheels, but a massive improvement and it made a huge difference, so might be worth just gently upgrading as said above, rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

sheepsteeth

tyres first, definately tyres first

you could probably save about a killo and a half just there for 50 quid

next would be the fork, possibly somethign with an air spring by rockshox but im a bit out of touch with fork prices at the moment.

last would be the wheels, summat like xt hubs on mavic xc717 rims

that would easily eat up your budget and you will still possibly be better off with a lighter crankset and lighter bars stems and post etc.

this is a bargain online at the moment and is tip top spec for the money

review here http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... p-10-39600

Dog296

These much cop?

http://sports.shop.ebay.co.uk/Cycling-/ ... 86.c0.m282

Dog296

sheepsteeth wrote:

this is a bargain online at the moment and is tip top spec for the money

review here http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... p-10-39600

Wish i saw that before getting my GT!
I can get 15% off anything in Halfords :roll:

submityournentries

Dog296 wrote:

sheepsteeth wrote:

this is a bargain online at the moment and is tip top spec for the money

review here http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... p-10-39600

Wish i saw that before getting my GT!
I can get 15% off anything in Halfords :roll:

would that mean you are an employee? cause we cant get discount on the boardmans anyway, noone can get money off them, just gotta wait for the sales.

Dog296

Not an employee, but I have a 2nd user empolyee discount card

trail jacker

I'm in a similar position to you, Dog296. I have an '07 aggressor which I have steadily upgraded over the years and now I'm looking into a frame change as the gt frame has seen better days. Was contemplating a 456 but I'm having doubts with regards to the weight of the frame and what it will do the overall bike weight. I would imagine a slight increase but I can't see the gt frame being much less than 2.5kg which is what the on one weighs... and I'm a student so on a shoestring too!

Dog296

trail jacker wrote:

I'm in a similar position to you, Dog296. I have an '07 aggressor which I have steadily upgraded over the years and now I'm looking into a frame change as the gt frame has seen better days. Was contemplating a 456 but I'm having doubts with regards to the weight of the frame and what it will do the overall bike weight. I would imagine a slight increase but I can't see the gt frame being much less than 2.5kg which is what the on one weighs... and I'm a student so on a shoestring too!

I've been looking through the On-One website, and quite fancy the Whippet Carbon frame. Only 1300g!

dan shard

I bought a 1 year old Cube AMS for £650 from ebay last year. That weighs 12.5kg ish and is a million times better than the GT aggressor I had before it, in every way

Ive since bought a Trek remedy and sold the cube though

curlie467

trail jacker wrote:

I'm in a similar position to you, Dog296. I have an '07 aggressor which I have steadily upgraded over the years and now I'm looking into a frame change as the gt frame has seen better days. Was contemplating a 456 but I'm having doubts with regards to the weight of the frame and what it will do the overall bike weight. I would imagine a slight increase but I can't see the gt frame being much less than 2.5kg which is what the on one weighs... and I'm a student so on a shoestring too!

I could imagine an aggressor frame being quite a bit less than 2.5kg, that thing must be made of lead!
I had an 05 rockhopper which i decided to reframe to an on-one scandal, turned out to be a big mistake, the rockhopper was lighter, better made and rode better.
I would suggest lightening that bike but choosing upgrades wisely and when you are ready, transfer to another lighter frame.
If you do upgrade then listen to what the majority say and start with tyres, tubes, wheels and then go onto other rotating parts like the cassette and the crankset etc.
Just having lighter wheels, tyres and tubes can make your bike ride so differently!
Do not get sucked in to making a super lightweight bike, it will cost a sodding fortune to get most bikes under 11.5kgs, i have found out the hard way and still my bike weighs over 11kgs (just).

trail jacker

Yeah I know, the only thing that is stock about my GT now is the frame and the wheels! I am just after a more capable hardtail frame for around £200, a weight saving would be great but I'm really not keen on the thought of increasing the weight, which I reckon the on one would do. May be worth me just upgrading the forks and wheels (I have Tora 318 U-Turns - hefty!) as they seem to be where most of the weight is...

curlie467

Jesus!! yes, you will save about a kilo if you go for rebas or sids, i have gone for some revelations which are fairly weighty at 1800g but not too bad plus i get the u-turn from 100-130 if i change frames (again!).