Finished My First Serious Build!

Awfully-Caj

Well the Winter Months are fast approaching and I have finally come across all the components to finish my Custom Build. Pictures of this bike half completed have already been posted on bikeradar so to cut a long story short...

This bike started life as a used Carrera TDF that I purchased from a friend back in 2011. I bought it for about £120 and he threw in a free New Boardman Road Helmet and carry case (Whilst not a great fan of its looks its relatively light and I still use it today).

Originally I had no intention of building the bike up, I just meant to clean it and give it a fair bit of TLC as it was in a bit of a sorry state. If your like me however, once you start a project, its easy to get carried away. In total now (after selling all the parts that came on the bike and just keeping the frame) it has cost around £650 (£800 spent before selling the old parts). I have saved quite a lot of money waiting for sales and swapping between CRC and Ribble (which seem to have the best prices).

The only original part on the bike is the frame, which I stripped and Hand Polished (endlessly it seems). The rest of the components were picked after much deliberation such as reading reviews etc. and have been chosen as they combine (in my opinion) the best aesthetics, performance and value for money. The total weight comes in at around 8.4kg which is not too bad in my opinion as the wheels could be upgraded in the future to bring the weight quite easily below 8kg for the sake of a few hundred pounds.

The only other thing worth noting is the fact that my bike is built up as a compact (frame geometry, handlebars, drivetrain) and whilst not being favorable to everyone it suits me fine as I am relatively short (5ft10) and prefer the sportive style of riding position. Hope you enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think, I'm open to criticism! Below the pictures I have included a list of all the components in case any one is interested..












Frame: Aluminium w/FSA no.57e Headset
Forks: Controltech Lightning Full Carbon
Compression Plug: M Part Carbon
Stem: PZ Racing CR5.2
Seatpost: CSN Carbon / Alloy
Handlebars: Easton EA70 Aero Bars 2012
Bar Tape: SRAM Supersport
Saddle: Bontrager Affinity RL

Brakeset: Shimano 105 5700 (Black)
Front Der: Shimano 105 5700 (Black)
Rear Der: Shimano 105 5700 (Black)
Chainset w/BB: SRAM Apex White 34/50 170mm / GXP Team BB
Chain: KMC X10 SL Ti N Gold
Shifters: Shimano 105 5700 (Silver)
Pedals: Shimano 105 5700 (Silver)
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 6700 11-23t

Wheelset: Shimano WH-R500
Tyres: Schwalbe Ultremo ZX HD Black 23c
Tubes: Michelin A1 Airstop Butyl
Skewers: Halo Hex Key (Black)

Oh, and I just stumbled across this picture of when I first bought it!

greasedscotsman

Did you put the "Dream Build Ride" sticker on it? :shock:

Awfully-Caj

greasedscotsman wrote:

Did you put the "Dream Build Ride" sticker on it? :shock:

Yep, thought it was quite fitting (came free with an MTB magazine my younger brother bought)

russyh

What a lovely Job, i think it looks great. How long did it take you to polish the fram up like that? And did you get it clear coated after the polishing?

greasedscotsman

Awfully-Caj wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

Did you put the "Dream Build Ride" sticker on it? :shock:

Yep, thought it was quite fitting (came free with an MTB magazine my younger brother bought)

Well, it's very shiny! Do you need one of these for riding on a sunny day?

Awfully-Caj

Russyh wrote:

What a lovely Job, i think it looks great. How long did it take you to polish the fram up like that? And did you get it clear coated after the polishing?

Thank you, feels like it was all worth it now that it is finished! The longest part of polishing the frame was actually stripping it using a combination of 120 grit wet n dry and Nitromors. After that it was just ensuring that I wet n' dried it down using finer and finer grades of paper (about 6 grades I think). It was then just a simple task of using some soft cloths and Autosol Metal polish. I decided not to clear coat it but instead seal it with some Autoglym Super Resin Polish and then some Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. All the pictures from when I did it are here http://awfully-caj.pinkbike.com/album/Raw--polish-of-old-road-frame/

The finish has stayed pretty awesome if I'm honest, I only touch it up every now and then with more Autoglym which works a charm on it.

Awfully-Caj

greasedscotsman wrote:

Awfully-Caj wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

Did you put the "Dream Build Ride" sticker on it? :shock:

Yep, thought it was quite fitting (came free with an MTB magazine my younger brother bought)

Well, it's very shiny! Do you need one of these for riding on a sunny day?

Haha, not quite, I'm sure a few other people might though! I have to admit, it is a bit "bling" but I thought it would give a more personal touch to the bike considering how much time I spent on it rather than just re spraying the frame like I normally do. I'm a bit worried about taking it out in the sandy / wet / windy conditions of Swansea though. I'm afraid my frame will just disintegrate as its blasted by gale 10 sandy winds :P

Hence the reason I have just purchased some Elite Parabolic rollers, So I may ride and ride until my heart is content :P

hairyleg

Very nice well done

dodgy

I have a terrible feeling that your frame is going to badly be affected by corrosion. Honestly hope I'm wrong, keep an eye on it, but it does look great.

declan1

I'm sorry, but that can't be a Carrera. You must be lying. You just bought a titanium bike that had the same geometry as the TDF :P

Awfully-Caj

dodgy wrote:

I have a terrible feeling that your frame is going to badly be affected by corrosion. Honestly hope I'm wrong, keep an eye on it, but it does look great.

I never really considered that.. thanks for the heads up though! I keep the bike clean (almost after every ride) and I tend to go out when conditions are calm (i.e. not in wind / rain) which should help a fair bit. I would imagine by the time the frame is beginning to degrade I will have upgraded to something made of carbon fibre. By that time it will probably be dirt cheap as well!

The tubes must be relatively thick as well considering the frame weight is near enough 1800g?

ed_j

So awesome. I love alloy but polished just looks even... awesomer. It's like the old CAADs

Awfully-Caj

declan1 wrote:

I'm sorry, but that can't be a Carrera. You must be lying. You just bought a titanium bike that had the same geometry as the TDF :P

You'd be surprised how often people ask me whether or not it's titanium... but alas... it's not

Maybe one day though!

Awfully-Caj

Ed J wrote:

So awesome. I love alloy but polished just looks even... awesomer. It's like the old CAADs

Thanks, it feels even better riding it around knowing that I did it myself!

Awfully-Caj

The frame halfway through polishing - shows a nice transition from before to after!

Paul 8v

Got to be ten out of ten for effort!

seige

unbelievable jeff!

ascurrell

That is a stunning looking bike and a great build.
I will be honest though and tell you I have voted the build an 8.

Great components for budget but you mentioned about the weight, speaking of which the most stand out part of the bike is the frame, alas that is also the most weight adding part.

The bike does look lovely, Control Tech forks aren't cheap. If I didn't know the frame was a Carrera TDF it visually looks like a bike double what it cost to build if not more, a labour of love and an absolute one off.

What's your next project?

bigdaveskinnytyre

When did 5'10" become short? I thought that was average height for a UK male?

cycleclinic

I think you have the nicest and lightest TDF in the world. 8.4kg is not bad for any bike and it goes to show ithe TDF may actually be a decent frame. shame about the paint halford put on it.

Nice work.

TONY.M

Quality job! Seems like a solid build and looks great, very nice and a bit unique too.

thecycleclinic wrote:

...shame about the paint halford put on it.

Wish they would have the option of a polished clear coated version... and with no Carrera decal too would be nice.

Awfully-Caj

bigdaveskinnytyre wrote:

When did 5'10" become short? I thought that was average height for a UK male?

Maybe, whenever I go out riding however everyone seems taller than me :P

The average UK male might be 5'10" but it seems the average UK cyclist might not be?? Whenever I sit on a 'traditional geometry' frame setup, even when its the correct size, I can never seem to get into a comfortable riding position (especially when in the drops). Maybe it is because I am too used to the compact setup but I get the feeling that traditional geometry bikes are made with lanky, super flexible frenchmen in mind :P

Or maybe I'm just not flexible enough :P

Awfully-Caj

thecycleclinic wrote:

I think you have the nicest and lightest TDF in the world. 8.4kg is not bad for any bike and it goes to show ithe TDF may actually be a decent frame. shame about the paint halford put on it.

Nice work.

Thanks, not sure the steerer tube does it any favours though, at least not aerodynamically! :P The rest of the frame seems pretty solid though.. It also has rack mounts on the back should I ever decide to go touring!

Awfully-Caj

TONY.M wrote:

Quality job! Seems like a solid build and looks great, very nice and a bit unique too.

thecycleclinic wrote:

...shame about the paint halford put on it.

Wish they would have the option of a polished clear coated version... and with no Carrera decal too would be nice.

I admit the paint is a bit unsightly, my one was more black than yellow thankfully.. The handlebar tape my friend put on it didn't do it any favours either if I'm honest :P

The_JML

Its nice what you have done to the frame.....but what sort of prices have you being paying for it to cost £800? and is that minus the frame? :?

Awfully-Caj

The_JML wrote:

Its nice what you have done to the frame.....but what sort of prices have you being paying for it to cost £800? and is that minus the frame? :?

Not sure if you mean that in a 'How did you spend so much?' way or 'How did you spend so little?' way :P

Well, to begin with the Bike as it was originally only set me back £120. Believe it or not I sold everything on the bike individually (aside from the forks, which at 1400g were not worth anything) for about £300, I ended up with a frame plus £180 in pocket. This was over the course of building the bike up with new components.

Everything else came about by just being in the right place at the right time. My LBS did me some goods deals because I bought a lot of items from them as opposed to going online and the wheelset I got from CRC on sale for £65 which I thought was a bit of a steal. By swapping between CRC and Ribble there are some huge price variations. I got the Chain from Ribble on offer for £28 as opposed to near £50 on CRC. By going for non-branded items such as the seatpost (which only cost £19 - not bad for carbon / alloy) and the Carbon effect BBB bottle cages I saved some extra money whilst keeping the 'high end' look. I also got the chainset of Ribble for £60 as it was on offer when it was released.

I'm on a budget as I'm a student. Probably explains why my bike took 2 years to come together as it is today :P

I did some research and it's quite hard to find anything of similar quality for the same price bracket even from large firms such as Trek. It was definitely worth building it myself and waiting for all the offers that came about!

thefd

I voted and gave your bike a 9, but the more I look at the photos the more I think it deserves a10!!!!

I think you have done an awesome job. Well done!!

skelkelly

Love it, if only you used Campag it would have been perfect! ;-)

The_JML

Considering the price you got the wheels and frame, and although the fork was 150ish? 800 is quite alot in my opinion. how much did you pay for the groupset minus the chainset? All low end fully built bikes are pretty easy to build up cheaper yourself through ebay and forums etc, but don't forget you are running a carrera frame and r500's on an £800 bike? Not trying to offend you but I honestly can't understand what you have spent the money on?

Awfully-Caj

The_JML wrote:

Considering the price you got the wheels and frame, and although the fork was 150ish? 800 is quite alot in my opinion. how much did you pay for the groupset minus the chainset? All low end fully built bikes are pretty easy to build up cheaper yourself through ebay and forums etc, but don't forget you are running a carrera frame and r500's on an £800 bike? Not trying to offend you but I honestly can't understand what you have spent the money on?

My bad, I guess I forgot to minus the £180 profit I made from selling parts from the original bike, which brings the total down to £620 which also includes the Cateye Strada Wireless which I left out from before, I think the total is a bit higher than most would expect as I went for parts such as the ultegra 6700 cassette and decided to spend a bit on tyres, think the Ultremo ZX's came in at about £50.. Guess it all adds up :P

I don't think I overpaid for the groupset, I can get some figures together if your more interested but I know I got the shifters for £115 as they were the most recent addition which I think is a fair price? Off the top of my head I think the rear mech was £31 the front mech was £20 and the brakes were £54, I think the cassette was a bit more expensive (£44 as its ultegra) and the pedals were £35... I also bought the forks as one of the first upgrades I made to the bike back when I first got it, so they set me back more like £200. I think when you add up just the drivetrain it comes to about £440 (inc. the pedals), which is quite a lot but all the components are brand new.

I guess I could have saved a bit more by buying second hand parts through ebay and forums etc. But I just enjoy owning and maintaining parts from new, apart from the frame and the wheels (which could quite easily be upgraded in the future when I have more money) there's some bikes such as the £2.5k 2013 Venge that are running similar components to this bike (but with corners cut such as tiagra cassette and chain plus a whole load of specialized branded components such as tyres, handlebars, stem etc), so for under £700 I don't think I faired to badly..

Oh and no offence taken :P

mountaincookie

Awfully-Caj wrote:

as I am relatively short (5ft10)

haha you think that's short? You've clearly never met me! (5'5")

Great bike, your polishing job is very admirable. Did you polish the shifters as well, or did they come in silver?