mt210

Hello I am looking to biuld a new bike. I am a bit of a novice but love riding bikes but I don't have a great knowledge. I am looking to buy and old frame some thing that looks special I want it to be hard wearing, capable of doing some fairly serious touring and day to day riding. I have up to £900 pound to spend on the whole build. I want to fit the bike with modern breaks wheels and gears. Any advice, books to read, places to start looking, suggestions on frames and fittings would be most appreciated.

Standard Issue

If you have that kind of cash just buy a new bike. You can get a quality steel road/touring bike for that kind of scratch. If you want to build, the Fuji conneseur frameset from nashbar might be a good place to start.

Gravity Aided

Or you might look at their aluminum touring frame . I hear good things about it .

Chrome Molly

Alternately, buy a higher quality old bike that doesn't need many updates.

In terms of updating old frames by transferring parts from an new bike: The main incompatibility issues will be with the fork and stem (1 and 1 quarter inches vs 1 inch), the handlebar diameter (older usually smaller), and seat post (older usually smaller). Otherwise, the parts are somewhat interchangable (see the retro roadies with STI thread for examples). You might also need to consider your rear dropout spacing (126mm can pretty easily accommodate 130mm wheels, but a 120 frame may require cold setting if you update). For these reasons, if you really want the older frame, start with something that's already built out nicely. The quality 80's and 90's bikes don't give away much to the modern ones, and for the same money you sometimes wind up with something better.

Or, if you find a perfect bare frame, also find a quality older donor bike. Then transfer the parts, and sell the spare frame. Sometimes the parts are worth more than the whole, meaning it may be cheapest to use a donor bike even if you have a perfect older frame in mind. Just get a donor bike of the same era, vs a new one, and most of the compatibility problems will not occur.

Road Fan

MT, with this advice, keep in mind that Nashbar is a USA company. You have a lot of good internet/mail order bike companies in the USA, and it should be possible to find some decent but cheap frames. But check out the cycling magazine Cycling +. Recently they have a story about great 500 pound road bikes, and if I recall old articles along the same lines, there should be some pretty good products out in the 800 pound range.

This way you can learn to wrench while learning to ride - start with a decent bike and some kit and learn to take care of it while you enjoy it. It's not quite the in-depth tech experience, but maintaining it and putting it into top shape will be. Many of us believe that all new bikes should be overhauled by the owner to make sure everything starts its useful life properly.

There are also excellent books on maintaining, repairing, and maintaining a bicycle, old and new. Within your budget you can afford one. I'd suggest one, but I don't know what's available in the UK. Here in the USA I'd suggest "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance," by Lennard Zinn. Spending a year riding and maintaining with this as a guide will have you prepared for a tech experience of almost any depth. The rest will be learning by doing.