cost of building a mountain bike
 

I am really torn in between two things. First being whether or not to buy or build a bike. Second whether or not that bike will be a hardtail or full suspension. Assuming I want to build the bike, how much will it cost to fully dress the bike after I have the frame and fork. I would like to see the price difference between a hardtail and full suspension. I am also curious if building the bike will be cheaper then buying one thats already setup.

if you take your time and buy parts that are good deals you might have a bike that is under a 1000$

+1

If you take your time and watch for deals, you can build a killer machine for budget prices. I built mine for ~ $1600. There's no way you could get a fully assembled bike like mine for less than $2500 or even more complete from a shop.

I'd love to build my own bike since i can't afford one of the pre-built bikes that will fit me. 6'7" 280. Where would you guys reccomend we look for parts etc? i check nashbar on ocassion. anywhere else?

Salsa spent @ $2500 (frame & fork included in that total) on his hardtail build, but I would guestimate that you couldn't buy an equivalent for less than $4K. He started collecting parts last October, made good use of X-mas & his birthday, and completed the build in March, just in time for his 1st race of the year!

His fork & frame were $1200 (the frame was a crash replacement - full price, add $300) - Salsa Moto Rapido, Carbon Lefty fork. He's got Magura SL discs, a collection of CF bits & pieces, scandium seat post, SRAM 0 & 9, etc.

If you go to www.qbike.com, they list dozens of sites that have good deals. Not all of the bike sites are listed, but many. Pricepoint & Jenson are good for framesets. Qbike is also pretty good for searching for parts.

It'll take diligence and certainly time to beat a full bike price. You might also take a look at bicycleblowout.com and rscycle.com and performancebike.com. They all sell prior year models of a few mfgrs for close to 50% off. Doubt you can build for those prices. Of course, unless those shops are near you, you can't ride them first.

it's always cheaper to buy a built bike, but i did this for my wife:

I found a good frame, fork, crank...bought a 1 year old used donor bike with a good build for $400.00...swapped most of the parts but had to buy a seat post, tires, cables and covers, and she opted for a new seat, then sold the old frame/fork/crank for $250

worked out very well, and she loves the bike

watch ebay

I built this for just about 600 over time, my LBS said they would sell it in their shop for 800...so i saved 200 bucks

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...y/DSCF0031.jpg

Hmmm...

I bought a frame on ebay (Trek Alpha Aluminum) brand new for $15 shipped. I bought the fork for $25'ish. I got a decent crankset for $20. Shifters (sram 3.0) for $15 new. Post, stem, bars for next-to-nuthin'.

I alread had tires and a saddle.

It was a dang good bike for about a bill.