Cyclocross - The Bikes Direct Upgrade Adventure

I had a basically complete 9-speed group, a mix of 105 and Ultegra on my Surly Cross-Check frame. The components were showing their age, so I took a chance and ordered the Motobecane Fantom Cross Pro for $1000, swapped parts, then sold the old group on the new Motobecane for $740. For $260 or so I completely upgraded the drivetrain of the Cross-Check to mostly Ultegra 10-speed.

I took a chance buying the Motbecane - I could have very easily been stuck with it. And I got lucky with the buyer, he knew what he wanted.

On the downside, the Motobecane I ordered came with the wrong sized stem and cranks, so I'll have to swap those - that will be another $100 to $200 bucks, minus whatever I can get for selling the used parts on ebay or Craig's List.

Just wondering if anyone else out there has done this or thought about it.

that seems like a lot of work.

i'm amazed you were able to pull that off.

if your components were worn to the point where you felt you needed to replace them, the guy who bought your bike must have been out of his mind to pay 250 less for a motobecane with lower level, worn out parts on it than he could have gotten it for online.

looks like it really worked out well for you though, if i thought i could get away with the same maneuver i would do it too!

When I built my Soma Double Cross, I had the same good luck. I wanted the Soma Steel frame. I was able to buy a new Felt F1X for $830 on ebay. I used the felt as a doner bike and later sold the felt frameset for $530.

I've often looked at Bikesdirect and considered the same strategy.

Michael

that seems like a lot of work.+1

And if the parts were indeed "showing their age", the OP was lucky to find a sucker willing to pay for them. Whether switching from 9- to 10-speed is an upgrade, is debatable.

Just wondering if anyone else out there has done this or thought about it.

When Shimano introduced DA 10 the guys on the road forum were snapping them up. He was selling a complete DA bike for something like $1500 or so. They did the same thing when they made a Campy 10 sp bike. Actually, it's a great idea if you can pull it off. BD sells some of their bikes so cheap you almost can't pass it up.

I've thought about doing that sort of thing, but whenever I do the math, I can't convince myself I can sell the parts I don't want for enough to make it worthwhile. Of course, my math tends not to include reselling the BD bike for $740!