How competent to build a bike?

stu-bim

How competent do you need to be to consider building a bike? I was thinking that towards the end of the year I might have a go . It would be a road frame with probably a 105 groupset and a set of aluminium wheels, so nothing unusual.

Maybe the second part of the question should be, how to get competent enough to do it? I have a cx bike which I am afraid of breaking (rx 2.0) and a 2nd hand mountain bike that I play with. Is it as simple as playing with and putting back together the mountain bike to gain experience and confidence? I am not bad mechanically but no experience as I only started cycling this year.

I know there are hours of demonstrations videos on youtube that I intend looking up one I decide on any specific.

greg66_tri_v2.0

It's pretty easy with the right tools. Tricky bits can be installing certain types of headset and cutting a carbon steerer. And make sure you close the chain properly, because if they're not done properly, they will snap when you're pushing hardest.

veronese68

Nothing is particularly complicated, but for some things you really do need the right tools. Some things are a bit fiddly and get easier with practice. But it's not remotely difficult if you go about things logically, rocket science it ain't.
Saying all that I've seen people that shouldn't be allowed to butter a slice of toast attempting to fix stuff. They are the exceptions that prove the rule.

itboffin

any bits that dont fit you can just bash or force in place.

:roll:

gbsahne001

it can also work out a lot more expensive than you think

jockywilson

Straightforward enough - built my first road bike earlier in the year (minus the headset which was already fitted) with 105 groupset. Only really need the following - Allen keys, screwdriver, chain tool, cable cutters and the hollowtech BB tool. I did muck up the length of the cable housing on the first attempt, but that was mainly because I was rushing things.

It has given me a lot more confidence when it comes to fixing/adjusting/replacing things.

There's lots of informative tutorials on the Internet, so go for it.

stu-bim

jockywilson wrote:

It has given me a lot more confidence when it comes to fixing/adjusting/replacing things.

This is the main reason I want to do it. Bit of a chicken and egg situation but 2nd hand mountain bike is going to be a guinea pig all year long.

Thanks for the responses.

rubertoe

stu-bim wrote:

jockywilson wrote:

It has given me a lot more confidence when it comes to fixing/adjusting/replacing things.

This is the main reason I want to do it. Bit of a chicken and egg situation but 2nd hand mountain bike is going to be a guinea pig all year long.

Thanks for the responses.

Anything you want to do can be found either on You tube, Park tools Website or sheldon brown.

Its not that difficult. and if you go wrong you can always take it to a lbs.

CiB

Best place to start is to strip your current bike down, clean all the bits and put it back together. Leave the headset & BB in place as they're [a bit] harder but the rest is a big meccano set. Once you've done it you'll wonder why you ever paid a LBS to do it for you.

Agent57

It's pretty straightforward. I built my own bike when I was 16 (so, 1985 or so) - well, dismantled and then reassembled. The hardest part for me was getting the right amount of pressure on the bearings in the various places (stem, bottom bracket, axles and the like). I over-tightened my stem and after 6 months or so I ended up with self-centring steering. And the bearings were all loose, individual balls, which I found slightly tricky to get in place without losing them through the stem or bottom bracket.

These days I expect bearing systems etc. are easier to work with, and with a simple torque wrench it'd be simple enough not to over-tighten them anyway.

IIRC, the only specialist tools I needed were a crank extractor and chain whip to get the locking sprocket off.

I've never tried building a wheel though.

mtb-idle

most parts are pretty straightforward. There's a few parts that can get tricky if you aren't familiar with them but nothing that's not possiblw without patience and the t'interweb.

As CiB states, try stripping and rebuilding your MTB. Use a digital camera/phone and take multiple pictures at various points of stripping something down (including before you start) and you can usually follow this in reverse to re-assemble.

pete_s

The only parts I don't do when building a bike is installing the headset cups and crown race as they require specialist tools. I have in the past bought a headset press from eBay for about £5 but it broke. Bike shop installed it for £4. Otherwise it's just nuts and bolts and a bit of grease. Nothing special.

Wheels are pretty easy to as long as you learn how to do it properly *ahem* http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/

greg66_tri_v2.0

itboffin wrote:

any bits that dont fit you can just bash or force in place.

:roll:

I approve this post. A hammer is an underrated tool.

And the thing about using a hammer is that it gives you confidence. You hammer that mofo into place and it ain't never coming loose.

itboffin

the first time I took a hammer to a knock a BB into a very expensive carbon frame I googled the shit out of it thinking this must be some kinda joke, but no carbon is very hard and precision engineering is still imprecise.

bash that shite ...hard :twisted:

Genau

I managed it* and I'm an idiot.

About the only think that can go horribly wrong with no chance of recovery is cutting the steerer. You can either get someone else to do that or just be very careful. Measure twice, cut once, and all that. Everything else is pretty much a matter of fastening things together.


*I didn't build the wheels so I cheated a bit.

bails87

Building a bike is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman...

itboffin wrote:

any bits that dont fit you can just bash or force in place.

tgotb

The only thing I can never get right is the stem length; I suspect this is due to my incompetence rather than because it's a genuinely difficult task. I now just build with a random stem out of the spares box, and then measure how far out it is to get the right one.

Get yourself some copper grease and threadlock. Use copper grease on all the bolts which normally become difficult to undo (bottom bracket and pedal threads, brake pad retainers and any that tend to get mucky) and threadlock on all the others.

Get lots of headset spacers and ride around with a long bit of steerer tube sticking out of the top of the stem, until you've ridden it a few times, and are happy with the position.

Some jobs are a bit easier the first time if you have another bike to copy (fitting chain, cables, bar tape), but sounds like you have that sorted.

Fireblade96

bails87 wrote:

Building a bike is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman...

itboffin wrote:

any bits that dont fit you can just bash or force in place.

A genuine coffee/keyboard moment

I built a new MTB at the weekend, the first time I've built a complete bike from scratch, though I've replaced/repaired most things on various bikes over the years. I really enjoyed it and it wasn't too tricky. Just take your time. If you don't have the required tools you could do worse than buy one of the "basic bike mechanic" toolsets available from various vendors, it'll probably work out cheaper than buying them one by one.

nicklouse

it is amazing how incompetent people who think they are competent can be.

start by reading Parktools.

and before doing something that might be expensive ask.

if you are not sure ask.

if you just need someone to say yes that is correct ask.

el_presidente

bails87 wrote:

Building a bike is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman...

Veronese68 wrote:

it's not remotely difficult if you go about things logically

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

if they're not done properly, they will snap when you're pushing hardest.

nicklouse wrote:

before doing something that might be expensive ask