Hey guys I’ve wanted a bike for a while now so I can cycle round London. My housemate has a nice frame and a handlebars not doing anything he said I could have. Have any of you built a bike before? Is it hard? He seems to think it is more effort than its worth. I think I would need: Wheels Stem Gears Brakes Sadle Peddles! Anything else? Also, can anyone recommend any parts I should keep a look out for? I’ll probably buy most things off ebay.
Yes i've built several bikes, thats half the fun in riding. There are a few things you need to consider, but first off is this going to be a mountain or road bike? If I know what the frame is it will be easier to advise on the parts you need. The length of the head tube and the stem will dictate how long the steering tube on the fork will need to be. Something to look out for if you buying off ebay. Also different frames use different head set standards. There are several but once you know the type it will be easy to pick one up. Take a look at this site for a bit of background knowledge. http://www.bikeradar.com/ If you let me know a bit more about the frame I can be more specific about the advice
I've not built one myself, but some friends have, and from their builds, buying a prebuilt would be far cheaper. But then again, he was looking at a fairly decent build (cost him around £2k) mountain bike. Might be different at the lower end of the market
Thanks Rev! Its going to be a road bike, or at least a hybrid. I'll shoot my housemate a text to see if he knows!
Apparently its a Raleigh Dyna Tech 400 My mate saw a complete one for sale for £140 so need to spend less than that to make it worth my while. Is that possible?
If you mean for the rest of the bike, no. It certainly is worth it, if you have the money. I've easily chucked over £10,000 at different bikes (Downhill, MTB, BMX, trials, etc) over the years that have all been custom built. If you want to just 'cycle round London' then you may aswell just go buy a half decent Boardman hybrid from Halfords.
Nah, used wheels always seem to be very expensive its sometimes better to get a donor bike just for the wheels and any other parts. But if its just for getting round town just buy a cheap working bike.
It would appear Fishlock has the same bug as me. Though I will not think about up how much i've spent on bikes. Her indoors has already mentioned me selling one of my bikes. MY BABIES!!! I'm with Fishlock on this, If you can pick one up for £140 it's probably not worth building on the frame you have there unless your prepared to do a lot of scouring to source the cheap parts or have a donor bike. I had a quick look on ebay and they're price around the £100 mark. If you wanted a bike that was of a higher spec than the one of the shelf then i'd defiantly consider building one as you can tailor the bike to your needs. If you want any advice i'm happy to help.
Oh ok guys. Thanks for your help. I may just buy prebuilt then. I have two choices. Second hand or ride to work scheme which gets me ~38% off the cost of a new bike. I need to ride on the road most of the time, so I'm thinking Hybrid, but I'm pretty lost. I want to spend about £150, does anyone have any recommendations from ebay or gumtree based in London, or new bikes around the £250? I was thinking of trying to pick up a 2011 model.
If you use the Cycle to work scheme's then you can only buy from a shop. As i discovered, there are multiple scheme's going around, and not every shop supports them. Sam
hmm gumtree and ebay could be a pain if the bike was stolen, best to save a little more and get Norco XFR 4 Bike (£204)
When I used to cycle to work as soon as the bike got a bit knackered I would just chuck it and buy another one. Bike spares are really expensive.
With that kind of budget you want to go second hand and avoid suspension. Just get a rigid commuter with some flat bars and slick tyres and you're set. If youre wanting a mountain bike you really need to spend more as riding a cheap heavy bike will only put you off the sport (or break). Building a bike is always way more expensive than buying pre built. Check out bikeradar.com