custom build

alibabameister

Hi
Have any of you built up a bike from having just bought a frame, I'm looking at a Ragley piglet at the moment?
Any experience with these or any suggestions gratefully appreciated

Cheers
AL

The Rookie

All my family bikes (8 of them) are built up from frames.

The Piglet is a nice frame and builds into a decent trail bike, building it from all new parts will likely cost more than buying a new bike although not too much more if you are smart, alternatively you can do it much cheaper by some sensible used part sourcing.

I use a circa £25 toolkit, on-one do sensible range, and my various home tools (hammer, socket set etc).

arran77

No experience of the Ragley I'm afraid but I recently built up my Cotic BFe, very straightforward even if you're not particularly 'handy' and much more rewarding than just buying a bike in my opinion.

wilberforce

Agree with above regarding building your own bike being rewarding.
I built a Kinesis FF29er last year having very little prior knowledge of bike maintenance.
There is a load of info on the internet covering every possibility and component, and you also get the thrill of multiple purchases and parcels being delivered.
Once you have all of the parts (I shopped around in sales etc over a period of time) the actual build did not take very long at all

homers_double

Same as the two above me, Santa Cruz Heckler and a load of new parts.

Very rewarding in that you've built your own bike, will know how to strip it if things go wrong and you get to spec your own parts.

poah

built my ghost up with a mix of old and new parts. I've replaced parts since I built it though so research what exactly you want to build. I got my LBS to fit BB, crank and headset though

BigAl

Nothing difficult about it and it is rewarding.

I would get the headtube and bottom bracket shell faced at your LBS.

I also got them to fit the headset; you can bodge it with hammer & bits of wood but on a new frame why not get it done properly?

You'll probably need a tool for fitting the bottom bracket too (depending what it is). You could get the LBS to do this too - though I'd buy the tool then you have it for any future maintenance.

All the rest is straightforward. Park Tools website will tell you anything you're unsure of. Remember to use some ant-seize compound on the pedal threads, bottom bracket cups and seatpost. Just take your time and enjoy it

lancew

As above, I did a frame swap after totaling my aluminium frame and loved it, did my research first and it all worked out.

I feel that I should point out that its not a cheap way of doing things. Even with a very similar frame swap it cost me around £100 just in tools, headset fit & bits that needed to be replaced between the frames.

Laurence25

I built mine from frame up, When its finished and you take it on the maiden voyage its the most satisfying feeling !

FishFish

I've just about completed a 1x10 Charge Duster using a mix of eBay, cheap and good. Get the BB faced, maybe get them to fit the headset cups and cut the steerer tube. I was surprised how easy it was to fit and index the gears and was patient with the brake calipers - that is worth taking advice over the brakes. Work out the spacer issue on the BB - this design issue is to get you a straight chain line in the middle gear of the cassette.

Don't forget to put the reflectors on and fit a bell or you will be executed.

Northwind

I did buy a complete bike once, but it felt weird so I had to instantly take it to bits and change half the parts.

The other thing is, don't rush it- take your time, building bikes is lovely. It took me about 4 months to build my 224, I changed some parts before I'd even finished