I'm a relative newcomer to the world of road bikes and bike building, but I'm lucky enough to have three things: (1) a credit card, (2) access to bike parts at cost, and (3) bike-crazy friends who are willing to help me out. I opted to build my new bike from (mostly) scratch because I have a knee injury that makes getting on and off a mens frame sort of uncomfortable, and the new step-through bikes that are within my price range just don't appeal to me -- they all look like round, bubbly cartoon bikes, not to be taken seriously by a commuter like myself! So, I picked up a 70's era Steyr-Daimler-Puch ladies bike, which - even with steel wheels and heavy components, was still on the lighter side of what I'm used to. I've stripped the thing down for powdercoating, and now I'm trying to price out the parts...

The problem is, I don't know where I can skimp and where I should splurge. I'm trying to keep the whole project under $600, but that's with parts at cost. I can get some advice from my friends who will be helping me put it all together, but I'd like as many opinions as possible. I'm going for a bike that is light, fast, and comfortable enough for commuting about 30-40 miles a week and maybe a little touring.

I may be revealing just how little I know about bike building by posting this, but let me know if you spot any choice that seems overly cheap or outlandishly expensive. Or, if you have any suggestions.

Here's what I have so far...

Seatpost – Kalloy Uno (silver)
Seatpost Clamp: ??

Drivetrain:

Cassette – Shimano 9 Speed FW8422
Chain - ?
Front Derailleur - ?
Rear Derailleur – Use the one that came with the frame (old Schwinn)
Crankset - Shimano 105 FC-5600 Road Double Crankset
Bottom Bracket - ?

Components:

Stem - Kalloy
Headset – Ritchey Logic
Handlebars – Buy used (drop-down)
Brake/shifter levers, w/ cables and housing – Shimano Sora ST3400 9spd Double/Triple STI Lever Set
Brakes: Tektro Road Caliper Brake Sets
Seat – ?
Pedals – Sylvan Road Pedals

Wheels:

Options:
A Class ALX220, A Class ALX320/ALX320 TRI Wheelset, Miche Pistard, or Campagnolo Vento Reaction wheelset
Tires: Vittoria Randonneur or Panaracer Pasela
Tubes: ?
Fenders: Civia-full wrap aluminum

Possibly buy used?
∗ Stem
∗ Seatpost
∗ Headset
∗ Handlebars

cranks: you can use tiagra, which will shift just as good. Not as pretty, but gets the job done.
BB: ultegra, 105 or tiagra, whichever you can find cheap. Ultegra is often the cheapest for some reason.
chain: just buy whatever you can find for cheap. sram seems to wear out faster than KMC and wipperman.
tubes: whatever will fit.

saddle: personal choice, but many would recommend brooks B-17
handlebars: personal choice.

As a commuter don't skimp on wheels, plenty strong 32 or 36 hole to take the pounding of northern potholes, err I mean pavement, drivetrain - the highest level you can afford, I'd shoot for 105 or Ultegra and brakes, good stopping power and Kool stop pads. Oh Yeah a seat that's comfy - for you.

I'm working on a similiar project commuter on an old trek 400 reynolds frame and plan to go Ultegra - but my budget is $1K including paint

Cool, thanks for the advice! What do you guys think about tires? I have a secret wish to go with white tires, which seems a little frivolous. AEO, I'm definitely hoping to get a Brooks seat -eventually-... but right now it'd be a huge chunk of my budget. Dedhead, I also heard good things about Kool Stop pads. My fiance's Surly has Tektro brakes and he's happy with them, but I've been advised to swap out the pads for Kool Stops. Cheers to finding the Reynold's frame by the way -- supposedly, a handful of the 70's-era Puchs like mine had 531 Reynold's tubing but I don't think I've gotten that lucky. The frame's surprisingly light, though.

The things I'm most confused about are seat posts, headsets, stems... can you really cut down on weight a lot by buying these components brad-new, or should I be scrounging around in the basement of my favorite used bike store?

I'm in the midst of a similar project right now. In the case of the stem, my stem was steel. It was super heavy! I'm converting to a threadless headset. Only saves about 20 grams on the headset but it saves me almost 300 grams on the stem. My drop bars were also steel and a hefty 646 grams! The new aluminum ones are only 303 and they were only about $25 brand new. Converting it to threadless also means that I had to spring for a new fork. In your case if you want to keep the stock threaded setup, you need to look for some sort of aluminum or titanum stem. this should save you about 200 grams. Aluminum drop bars are cheap, prob no need to buy them used but it can't hurt, heck, if you have friends that are bikers, one of them probably has most of this stuff that they can just give you. worrying about brake pads at this point seems a little bit pointless, get the bike built and riding first than settle on those details.

As for your shifting, you won't be able to use the derailer that came on the bike if your going with modern brifters, you'll have to get some sort of newer derailer. I have limited experience with modern brifters but i can tell you that the times i've uesd Sora brifters I thought they totally sucked! If I were going to splurge somewhere, that would be it. With that said, brifters are EXPENSIVE, hopefully you can find some used. Does this bike already have a crank in it? If so, I wouldn't be replacing that until I had some major problem with it. Only other reason to replace an otherwise functioning crankset is you mention that you have some sort of injury, if that affects your cycling ability, you may want to go with a compact double crankset instead of a standard double, especially if you'll be riding hills. But I say save on the crank, spend on the brifters.

Does your $600 budget include the cost of powdercoating?

Regarding wheels, I'm 235lbs and haven't had any problems with my entry level wheels and i live in a city with tough streets, I think just about any rim with 32-36 spokes should be fine for you. I bought some entry level alex single wall rims from aebike.com and only paid 30 bucks for each of them. You say that the bike is light even with the steel wheels. My 83 nishiki was 32.0 lbs. I put the $30 aluminum wheels on the weight dropped to 28.4 so there is huge weight savings for cheap. got an sram chain from aebike.com as well for 13 bucks.

Do you have a kitchen scale or some sort of gram scale? weigh out your brakes and see what they weigh. I have old school diacompe brakes and levers and they are as light as just about any modern part so you may be all right with keeping existing brakes.

Biggest areas for you toget the bike riding but save money would be to go with friction downtube shifters and keep the existing derailers and if you have aluminum brakes like my diacompes just put them on a new aluminum bar.

BTW, show us some pics of what you got!!!

Old, light and step through usually means frame flex.

Which can mean high speed wobbles and erratic turning at speed.

My bike shop sold me a brand new aluminum seat post for $10. The catch was that it didn't save me any weight because the post was twice as long as the old steel one it replaced. But i needed a longer seat post, couldn't get my seat high enough. the key on that sort of stuff is that if you got friends that are seriously into it, they've probably got aluminum parts from when they upgraded to carbon so see what they got.

Unless it's a mixte frame, which are really quite stiff and can be nearly the equivalent of a double-triangle in the same material.

I'd generally stay away from Alex wheels- my wife's A320's came apart after only about 1500 miles. I'd go with something like Mavic Open-Pro rims on Ultegra hubs with double-butted spokes. The wheelset can cost $250, but it's worth it; you'd end up buying a better wheelset anyway later. I got mine from Performance bike for $199, but that was a while ago. If you do go with a factory-built wheelset, make sure one of your fanatic friends evens the tension on the spokes and does a stress relief and truing on it.

Also, if your frame is older, you may need to cold-set the rear dropouts to 130 mm from the existing 126 mm. It's not hard, but it makes the back wheel go in better.

Also, if you plan on touring, maybe get a triple trekking crankset for lower gears. A road double is way too high gearing for any kind of touring unless you have knees of steel. The Sugino XD500 is really good, but you can make the XD300 work plenty well if you don't mind steel chainrings. Either will be cheaper than the 105, too.

The Classic and Vintage forum has a thread about retro roadies with good equipment ideas.

+1 on the pics.

If you had followed your own advice, those Alex wheels would almost definitely have lasted far longer. I had a pair of Alex wheels that came stock on my first road bike. After ~1500 miles, spokes starting coming loose. I didn't know any better, and apparently neither did my LBS who eventually told me to give up on the wheels, so I bought a new set. Some time later, I learned how to build wheels so I set about rebuilding the Alex wheels (only new parts were spoke nipples). Those wheels have seen a lot of miles since under a heavier rider without a single issue.

You can convert to threadless with a threadless adapter. This would save on the cost of a new fork and you can use the new threadless stems.

+1 I bought a rear wheel from Jenson that was built with a 32H Tiagra hub using an Alex R390 rim and laced 3X with DT 14 ga spokes. The tension seemed good and it only needed a little truing and the dish had to be refined when I got it. But after about 2000 abusive miles (it's on an errand/rain bike) the wheel is still tight and true with no signs of any problems.

Don't obsess about weight. It is not as important as it is made out to be. If you do, think in terms of the whole velicle. This includes the engine.

Does anybody know anything about Miche wheels? I can get them for a really good price, but I haven't heard much about them. Here's the front wheel I was looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/Handspun-Pelot...8000891&sr=1-5

The Alex wheels are still a possibility, though, especially if I decide I need to shave a few dollars off in the wheel department.

My fiance works at a company that makes bike racks, and I'm lucky enough to have access to all the free powdercoating I want! I just powdercoated some tomato cages for my garden - I'm always looking for things to powdercoat.

The brakes that came with the bike were in decent shape, but most definitely NOT aluminum. I didn't weigh them but they were crazy heavy. Same goes for the crank. Once again, I didn't weigh it but it seems to weigh as much as the frame itself! The stem and seat post are also pretty heavy.

So, what I'm taking from this is:
- Buy a decent but low-priced crankset, and go for a compact double or a triple trekking crankset instead of a road double to spare my knees.
- Splurge on decent brifters (and a new derailleur) or save by keeping my current derailleur and buying friction downtube shifters. Y'know, I've ridden single-speeds for most of my adult cycling life and I really don't know if I even understand the advantage of brifters vs. downtube shifters - especially when the price difference is so great! Aside from convenience, is there a huge difference? What about bar-end shifters?
- Get a threadless adapter so I can keep using the fork I have.

I know, I know -- I probably should have held out for a mixte, but the only decent mixte I came across was an old Peugeot, and I got scared off when my bike pals told me these old French frames are difficult to work on (So here I am with an old Austrian bike, haha). I'm not terribly concerned about frame flex. My commute is a lot of stop-and-go and uphill climbs, and on a day-to-day basis I rarely get going fast enough to have to worry about "turning at speed." When I take it out for longer rides I guess I'll just have to be careful.

Here's a picture of the old girl, pre-stripping:

Ha! I love it. The problem is, as relatively tiny and decidedly "unathletic" girl, I'm a less-than-efficient engine. My current bike is a refurbished 1981 Schwinn Caliente, with a three-speed internal shifter, hybrid tires, traditional commuter-style swept-back handlebars, pedal brakes, and heavy components - the whole thing probably weighs about 32 pounds. I've learned that you don't put an engine best suited for a Fiat in a Volvo Wagon. So if I'm leery about using heavy parts, it's only because I don't want to fall down the same hole again! Haha.

When doing a build, I normally put all my options on a spread sheet with weights and cost of each item. I like to look at this to determine if I am getting bang of the buck. Also I look to lose weight in the wheels.

he can but he is specifically looking for weight savings so the investment in a threadless carbon fork would add a bit to the expense but it would probably take a good amount of weight off of this bike if it is infact all steel upfront (fork, stem, bars)

Didn't realize you are a petite woman. Those wheels you mention are serious overkill at this stage of the game unless you can get them really cheap. you also sound like you could be the type to get addicted and want other better bikes in the future so don't try to make this bike be everything all at once.

I would start with downtube shifters so you can keep your existing derailers, heck, you can go with stem shifters as well. You don't need to be as worried about destroying wheels since you don't weigh much. get a cheap wheelset like these and then save your money to get nicer racing wheels with lower spoke counts down the road. the wheel in the link is a freewheel, not a freehub so then you would need a freewheel. putting these wheels on will save you a full 4 lbs vs your steel wheels. I know because I just did it last week! downtube shifters don't weigh much at all either. For brake handles nashbar has aero brake levers on sale for $5 bucks right now. find a used aluminum or titanium stem and keep the existing fork
Go with a compact double to keep weight down. They are about 200 grams less from what I've seen.

FWIW, my steel frame was stripped to everything except the crank and it weighed in at 9lbs. I was told that hi tension steel frames are usually around 6lbs so it could be that I have a very heavy crank and bottom bracket on my bike. you should weigh all your parts out so you truly know instead of going by feel. also, if you do want to modernize the drivetrain, have you thought about a regular flat bar setup? mountain bike shifters are way cheaper than brifters and then you could go modern derailer and have indexed shifting and 8/9 gears on the back instead of 6 or 7 that a freewheel offers.

dont get a threadless adaptor, that is only going to add weight, instead get a titanium or aluminum stem and then go with either stem shifters or downtube shifters. if you go threadless, go all out and put a new carbon fork in there, allow stem and bars and maximize weight savings.

Some numbers from my build

Existing
Steel barss 646 grams
steel fork 749 grams
quill stem 431 grams

total 1826 grams

New
Aluminum bars 303 grams
Carbon fork 550 grams
Stem 185 grams

total 1038

Weighing stuff out on a spreadsheet is good so you can see cheap ways to save weight. For me, the old seat on my project bike weighs 535 grams! new cheapo $15 seat weighs 300. The pedals weigh 250 grams each, new ones weigh half of that and also cost me $20. removing reflectors is free and saved me another 125 grams. those items right there saved me 610 grams and only cost me 35 bucks.

When all is said and done i'll have spent $340 on my bike and taken it from a 32lb 10 speed to a 25 lbs 14 speed. In the future I may look to replace the crank if the price is right and weight savings is there.

Sorry for being all over the place, I'm excited for you!

True enough- it was before I started being serious about my wheels. But the freehub was wearing out as well, so I ended up pitching the wheelset.

+1 on everything CPFITNESS says!

Another consideration is that the current wheels are likely 27", which are 4 mm larger in radius than 700c. So you may need new long-reach brakes, but you should certainly measure to see if the brake pads can be moved down. Tektro has some nice long-reach double pivot brakes that people swear by. But the local bike recycler may have some good center-pulls that will work well, too.

The cottered steel crank on that thing is a real anchor- you can save a bunch of weight by changing to an alloy crank. Be careful choosing the bottom bracket- I don't know if Steyr were Italian, Swiss, French or English threading, all of which are different and incompatible.

FYI, my diacompe brakes worked fine with the switch to 700c. The wheels I showed you in the link are available in 27" for the same price. I put pasela tourguards on for rubber and they ride nice. My fork arrives tomorrow so I should be finishing the conversion then.

Most important component is the wheels. Bicycle Wheel Warehouse should be able to deliver a pair of Mavic A319/Shimano 105 for $190.

The Brooks Flyer is another excellent sprung saddle designed to smooth out many road bumps.

https://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com...d&productId=73

Ditch as many of the steel parts as possible, but don't obsess about grams. On my commuter my bag daily weighs 8-10 lbs that's lbs not grams. Wheels and crank if both are steel will give the most bang for the buck if replaced. Keep your eyes open for a possible donor bike too. I picked up a 80's Raleigh mixte with all alloy stuff for $40 when I was building a bike for my daughter - then sold the cro-mo frame for $20 after I stripped it.

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all the helpful input! My frame is being powdercoated maybe even as we speak, and the project cannot be finished soon enough. I love the idea of getting a "donor bike" and swapping out parts, but if I found an 80's Raleigh mixte with a cromoly frame, I probably would just want to keep that bike! Haha. I've definitely taken everyone's suggestions into consideration, and I'll post pictures as soon as the bike's all done!

You'll need friction shifters if you go with the old rear derailleur. If you go with indexed shifting then you'll need to be careful with compatibility between the shifters, derailleurs, and cassette.