New Bike - Build my own or buy ready-built?

edewer

Thinking I'll treat myself to a new bike come the Spring, but having seen a mate just do a ground-up build I'm wondering if this is a good route to take?

Interested to see who's done things this way, and whether costs have spiralled out of control or has it worked out about the same? I wont be building a full carbon racer, just a lightweight bike for training

Opinions appreciated

Ed

giropaul

I've always built my own - that way I get exactly what I want, and I know it's built properly.

I know that some (not all) shops will make small adjustments, but I want 172.5 cranks, Compact 34/48, Campag 10, 13-29 cassette, 44cm short drop bars (really must be Deda), 12 cm stem, Fizik Aliante saddle etc - is a shop going to do all that, and at what cost?

Add to that, I can pick up quite a bit on e-bay and elsewhere to keep the cost down.

Monty Dog

Bike makers have the benefit of bulk-buying parts and shop margins for whole bikes is less than for parts - expect to pay 20% more retail is going the self-build route. Selective ebay / sales shopping can reduce this. The exception is where you are specific about your choice / configuration of parts where custom is the only choice. I get huge satisfaction about building my own bikes from scratch and makes my cash-flow more manageable as I usually have lots of spare parts and wheels to give me a good start - or I rob one of my other bikes as an interim. I recently built a 29er, just from the frame and some inner cables - I had everything else in my shed.

Grill

I built my own- ended up being good spec and quite light for the money I spent. 7 weeks later I ended up buying new and really wish I'd done so in the first place.

cougie

Grill - why did you do that ? Curious.

Back in the old days I'd always build my own bike - custom frame anyway and then you have everything exactly the way you want it.

Nowadays I'm far less fussy. Off the peg is a lot cheaper - they're buying in bulk and you're not. Just depends if you can live with say - a different groupset.

If you want a half way house - go to Planet X or Ribble and use their bike builders. You can change a fair amount of kit on there and its good value.

alistaird

I've built 3 from eBay and sale bits... Over the years bought 2 new ready builds. Always been happier with my ground up builds and that's what I've got at the moment.

If you're not in a hurry then watch the sales and you can pick up some bargains especially if you''re not too concerned that everything matches exactly e.g. I've a mix of Dura-Ace, Ultegra and Stronglight for the groupset but it works great.

A

crescent

Built my own earlier this year. Enjoyed the whole process and now know every nut and bolt on it, very handy for cleaning, fettling etc.
If you're not in any rush then it is quite a pleasurable experience sifting through websites and reviews, picking out your groupset, finishing kit etc.
Don't think it worked out any cheaper but no regrets, great sense of achievment too, would happily do so again.

Cheers

Grill

cougie wrote:

Grill - why did you do that ? Curious.

Turns out the frame I built was too big. I suspected as much after riding it, but the sizing/geometry would have been correct for anyone else my size, I just have a few morphological quirks. Had I just gone for a proper fit at a real shop to begin with I would have saved a lot of time and money. Even though my bike was built with Ultegra and Dura Ace components, it really doesn't hold a candle to new Ultegra 6700.

kentphil

I put my Kona together myself (except for the headset). Its very satisfying to ride around on a bike you built yourself. Its also very good from a technical point of view in learning new mechanical skills and techniques.

skaboy607

Build it yourself! Like others have said, it's great to do and you get to spec all your own components and can add subtle touches if that takes your fancy.

I'm very fussy so this was the only way to go for me!

ilm_zero7

Having, bought 4 bikes ready built, I decided it was time to DIY. It was as enjoyable seeking out and finding they best deals on the bespoke kit as it was taking the finished bike out for a first ride..

True, I had no time constraints, so could look around or wait, but I feel the bike is more "mine" than the others. Would do it all again, next time, but already at N+2!

carrock

Monty Dog wrote:

Bike makers have the benefit of bulk-buying parts and shop margins for whole bikes is less than for parts - expect to pay 20% more retail is going the self-build route. .

not necessarily. Take s works tarmac as an example- £6000 retail- or buy frame for £2500 max, and get primera or someone to do a custom build. Will have the same spec but cost about £4500. and will still have a full warranty. Not many people know that buying an S works frame brand new and doing a self build invalidates the warranty unless the build is carried out by a specialized retailer.

cougie

Because its lunchtime....

S Works online SL4 2012- 5250.

S Works Frame - SL4 2012 2500
Dura Ace groupset 2012 1500
Fulcrum 3.0 Wheels 350
Bars 130
Stem 80
Seatpost included in frame
Saddle 100
Tyres 64
Tubes10
Tape10
Total 4744
So shopping around you could do it cheaper. If you buy it all from the same shop though - it'd probably cost more.
Interesting how on such an expensive bike - they give you such cheap wheels eh ?

Bozman

I've built my own for years now, i had no choice when i bought a Look 585 so i've gone on from there.
You can pick up plenty of bits and bobs online when the likes of Merlin etc have offers on, plus you get folk stripping bikes and flogging "new" components on Ebay, as long as you stay level headed you can build a bike for a good price.

The likes of Canyon have made a mockery of this though, a couple of grand for a carbon bike kitted with Dura-ace and Mavic Elites you'd be hard to beat.

godders1

As others have said if you’re not in too much of a rush and you keep your eyes peeled for bargains then it can be a bit cheaper (or at least no more expensive) than buying off the peg. And aside from cost it’s enjoyable and a good learning experience. It feels good to know your bike inside out.

I built up a Kinesis Racelight, I’d highly recommend it for a lightweight training bike.

carrock

cougie wrote:

Because its lunchtime....

S Works online SL4 2012- 5250.

S Works Frame - SL4 2012 2500
Dura Ace groupset 2012 1500
Fulcrum 3.0 Wheels 350
Bars 130
Stem 80
Seatpost included in frame
Saddle 100
Tyres 64
Tubes10
Tape10
Total 4744
So shopping around you could do it cheaper. If you buy it all from the same shop though - it'd probably cost more.
Interesting how on such an expensive bike - they give you such cheap wheels eh ?

Dura ace group £1150 from Merlin so even cheaper......could build for £4250 I'd say saving a grand

cougie

I did do the same comparison for a Planet X bike I bought recently. I couldn't get that to work out cheaper buying bits than assembled.

Maybe the more mainstream bikes can command an extra cost ?

carrock

certainly the likes of trek and specialized have massive marketing and team sponsorship commitments- whereas the lesser brands can offer better value. The high end madones/tarmacs are poor value to buy as a unit, which is why many people just buy, for example, an s-works frame and build a bike for £4500 rather than paying £6000 for an identical model pre built. At the lower end of, say, £1500 bikes, you would almost certainly be better off buying prebuilt

neeb

3 or 4 years ago you would definitely have saved quite a bit of money buying a complete higher-end bike, but the prices have risen steeply recently and now you can often build it yourself for around the same price, with the massive added advantage of being able to choose all of your own components. For more affordable builds around the £1000-2000 bracket it's probably still quite a bit cheaper to buy a complete bike however. <edit - just realised that carrock said much the same thing above..!>

In any case, once you have 2 or 3 bikes and various boxes of bits lying around, it's easier psychologically to justify the purchase of a new high-end frame one month and a new groupset or set of wheels 6 months later...

mercia_man

I'd definitely have a go at building your own. It's good fun, you learn a lot, know every nut and bolt on your bike and gives you the confidence that you can fix anything if it goes wrong.

I built my first bike up in 1991 - an Alves custom touring frame with classic Campag kit - and am still using it today, having updated components along the way.

I built up my next bike in early 2008 after buying an Orbea Orca frame and carbon seatpost in a New Year sale from Bridgtown Cycles, Cannock, for £1,410. I kitted it out with Campag Chorus and Record components, searching out sale bargains on the internet from Chain Reaction, Ribble, PBK, Merlin and Total Cycling. Good service and prices from all of these.

If you know a bit about the cycle industry and are prepared to put in a lot of time online, you can really save money. I put my bike together for £2,400 at a time when similarly equipped Orcas cost more than £3,500.

My top buys included Campag Neutron Ultra wheels from Ribble at £350.95, with free Mavic wheel bags as well as the Campag ones, Ritchey WCS Carbon evo bars from Chain Reaction - half price at 119.99, and pre-skeleton Record brakes from Total Cycling at £75 the pair. I also picked up cheap 10-speed Record and Chorus stuff as dealers were getting rid of that stock to make way for the new 11-speed stuff.

I don't think I'd be able to make such savings now as the price of components seems to have risen in line with the growing popularity of cycling among MAMILS like me. I reckon there's a lot of inexperienced, well-heeled cyclists with more money than sense.

stoneb09

*Drools at the thought of making my own custom bike*