Road Cycling - Building a bike a little at a time.

I would like to build a bike at some point in the future.
Instead of dropping all the cash at once, what would be the drawbacks to buying a frame and stocking it with items off my current road bike. Then as cash comes available, buy the parts I want and begin to swap them out.

Any frames to stay away from because they take odd parts?
Any specific frames to look into because they're just that good?

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers - :beer:

R

Building a bike from a frame is an awesome experience. You get to choose exactly what you want, and you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself. However, with that, you've got to realize it's gonna cost you more than a complete bike (if you buy all new items). For me, it's well worth it, and I'll doubtfully ever get a complete bike again.

However, with some ingenuity, you can buy a complete bike and then swap out parts either as they wear out, or the parts you want become available on close-out. Then you can eBay the stuff you don't want to help offset the costs.

The other issue is you can build up your tool inventory along the way. e.g. if you buy new cranks, you can buy a crank puller and a bottom bracket tool to do the swap out!

Same thing with the cassette. When you buy the new cassette, buy a chain whip and a lock-ring tool.

New chain, new chain tool.

Buy a truing stand and learn to build some new wheels!

The only thing that I see as a problem is if you buy incompatible components. i.e, don't buy 8-speed Shimano on close-out, then not be able to find an 8-speed cassette or shifters...etc.

Other than that, just the frustration of not having your dream bike all at once!

L8R

Other incompatibility issues to keep in mind are English/Italian BB, headset sizes, and stem type......

I picked up a used Bianchi Pista frame on Ebay a couple months back and am taking my sweet time building it up as parts I like & prefer become available on Ebay, for instance.......absolutely no rush on this bike....

I just did the same thing building up my Lemond.. with the help, and encouragement of all the people here on BF... I gotta tell you, it was great.. if you have basic mechanical skills then you are good to go.. i did everything but install the headset (since my CK headset was already mounted) and building the wheels... all in all it took me about 6 or 8 hours... I bought the frame and fork off of Ebay... then a part here, and there, then went to Supergo and picked up the Ultegra build kit to finish it all off... now i'm buying a seat tomorrow night to replace the old one i have on it now... I say GO FOR IT !

Jeff

Sounds like a cool deal. I was thinking of a project like this some time down the road.

Raedeke: I'm doing this as well. Another thing to consider is front derailleur clamp sizes. Fortunately the Lemond and K2 I have use the same size but the Fuji Ace bike I built recently uses a 28.6 clamp instead of 31.8 so I had to find a new front derailleur for it. Ebay is great for finding parts you need.

Good Luck!

Zack

If you're going to get serious, consider having a professional fitting and a frame custom built for you.

Custom frames are nice, but for people of medium proportions, not really neccessary. Premium name framebuilders seem to be very expensive in the US. There are a bunch of small workshop outfits who make stock as well as custom bikes to a high standard, and a good price. Names like Gunnar, Soma, Surly.... anymore?

Check out
http://www.henryjames.com/blocator.html#geo

Well seeing as I'm 6'3"... I'm really leaning towards having someone fit the frame... and then simply find one that fits or perhaps have it built.

I have a LBS around the corner who handles Pinarello frames which just look sweet hanging there on the wall and he tells me that the man himself comes over once a year and will build it up for you...

But that's takes all the fun out of it!

Thanks for the thoughts - if you think of anything else I might consider go ahead and let me know...

R.