bikebuilder14

What does your best bike (built by yourself) look like?

Currently working on mine, will hopfully have pics soon

stapfam

Depends on how much built by yourself means.

I bought a Tandem for offroad use- I mean a serious Tandem.

But first ride out and the front suspension was found to be no good for our use.- Then the wheels had to be upgraded to Downhill spec and due to the Faster speed we now had as we were getting confidence- Had to go disc brake. Then watching the front forks jump about so much with the better braking-had to get better front Suspension and also get a bolt through axle. Then things started breaking. Seat post and bars were the first to be changed after bending the pilots seat post and breaking the bars after a lumpy fast downhill. Had to go full Downhill spec for these. Basically the only part left of that original bike is the frame. Everything else has been upgraded to either Full Down hill spec or at the minimum Freeride.

Not the ideal way of getting a Tandem that works for offroad as it has cost a fortune to upgrade. It also cost's a lot to maintain in both time and money. It has to be stripped down to the bare frame every year just to clean it- but also to check for worn and broken parts that will not last another season of punishment.

But found out that the only way to get the bike you want is to build up from Frame and Forks and spec the parts you know work for you. Done this on a couple of Road bikes now and they work. A Boreas Ignis with mainly Ultegra and a Giant TCR-C that started as a TCR-C3 and transferred the bits over to the Lighter frame-with a few subtle changes like better wheels and Bars.

BlazingPedals

When you say "built" do you mean build the frame, or do you mean buy the frame and all the stuff, then assemble it yourself? The only frame I built was too ugly to show, but these two were assembled from existing frames.

JanMM

Does a bike you build have to have wheels that you built?

cyclist2000

These are my favorites, I did the buildup on all of these including the wheels, except the wheels on the Eisentraut.

Cyclaholic

I built my daily commuter/utility bike on a Surly LHT frame.


I built this one from roadside finds...

Doesn't look like much until you see what it looked like when I first picked it up...



The boy was a collaborative project; I had a lot of input at the initial design stages and mom finished the details ...but the bike was all my own work




I also built this trailer...



I also built this 'stretched' bike...

made it out of two bikes - the rear is a 24" frame, the front a 26". I did all the pipework between the two seat tubes from scratch....

I added a big cargo rack with baskets and sold it shortly thereafter. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the bike as I sold it, but it looked great - very purposeful.

bikebuilder14

Like what you did to the strada also the cannondale and surly

AdamDZ

Are you trying to ignite another "build vs. assemble" discussion again?

Adam

JanMM

This is the C-Dale hybrid that I "built" (disclaimer: I didn't fabricate the frame or build the wheels but I did replace all the original parts over a period of time). Sold the bike last Spring.

Retro Grouch 

I used to think that too but I may have to change my opinion.

Mrs. Grouch and I are in the market for a recumbent tandem. We're used to riding some pretty good stuff so I'm pretty particular about which components I think will suit me. None of the stock recombent tandems that I've looked at suited me.

Until I checked out the Angletech website. Other than chainring size, which I assume they'll change out, I can't find one component that I feel I'll need to change.

Ask me again in six months.

achoo

De Rosa Neo Primato, Dura Ace 7800 with Campy Record 10-speed crankset. I think it came out pretty good - I know I'm proud of it. I was really sweating how the gold wheels would look, but I just HAD to try it.

I probably need to take some new pictures now that it's done. Of course, there's still a couple of feet of snow on the ground here in Virginia.

AdamDZ

That looks neat! I had no idea white cable housing would have such a nice effect. Not for bad weather though. Not sure about the gold wheels though, I think it's hard to see on pictures.

Adam

Cyclaholic

I'm not a fan of white saddles but that is one sweet ride!

...is that the ultraweightweenie chain?

achoo

Normally, I'd agree. But for some reason I think it just works on this bike. I think it's more of a retro style, which is what I was looking to do. Along those lines, I also would have put a silver/chrome seatpost in, but the Campy carbon post I put on it was too good a deal to pass up.

Pedals, too.

If you look closely, you'll also see that the RD cable isn't cut in the photos.

It's pretty much done now, I just don't have any newer photos. Only thing left is a set of 105 pedals on their way over the pond from Ribble.

illdoittomorrow

cyclist2000, the frame bag on the last road bike in your pics- did you make that? I like it!

AdamDZ

My first and so far only build, but I've started gathering resources for 2009 Kona Sutra frame build.

Nothing extraordinary, it's not supposed to be flashy, but it works well, handles well in bad weather of all sorts including blizzards And I'm quite fond of it, I wanted a dedicated commuter bike with all-weather abilities and decent cargo capacity for occasional errand.



Adam

cyccommute 

Commuter bike

Salsa Las Cruces, in winter trim. Yes, I built the wheels myself



Moots YBB. Yes, I built the wheels myself



Cannondale T800. I've replace everything stock on the bike and, yes...again...I built the wheels myself



My really bad weather commuter is a 1998 Specialized Stumpjumper Pro that has had every item on it replaced...including the frame. And, yes, I built the wheels myself.



My current build (about 95% complete...waiting on a King bottom bracket) is a Dean El Diente Superlite. I don't have pictures yet And I'm not building the wheels for that one...yet

calamarichris

Frame paint restoration by Cyclart right here in Carlsbad where my bike was made back in 1984:


My current project (buying the components one payday at a time):

iforgotmename

Last week in Savannah Ga.

JohnDThompson 

I like this one:



Build history here: https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnDThompson/FixedFrame

AdamDZ

Interesting, the same color scheme and general appearance as one of the calamarichris' bikes above, down to maroon sidewalls, except yours is a singlespeed BTW, my legs started to hurt just from looking at that gearing

Adam

reueladhikari

This is my "best" bike; well, I've only got two. Wheels were also built up at home.

JohnDThompson 

It's not so bad: 46x17.

bikebuilder14

FYI I was only kidding about homemade wheels but, its still cool

stapfam

I build up my bikes from Frame and forks- but wheels----I would rather leave to the experts. I can retrue well enough but I reckon that after 3 retrues I might aswell get them retensioned as I am obviously doing something wrong.