sportbiker

When building a bike from the frame up (a standard frame, not bespoke), are there any rules of thumb about where the money goes? For example, "The frame should be 50% of the cost, and what you hang on it is the other 50%." Or "Frame: one-third; wheelsets: one-third; everything else: one-third."

I pulled those two examples out of my a$$. Are there any real-life rules of thumb?

inkdwheels

No rules at all. The bennefit of building up your own bike is having exactly what you want on it. Its impossible for me to buy a complete bike without selling half the stuff it comes with. Nothing wrong with a $200 frame and $500 wheels if its what you want.

chrisvu05

I spent:
$600 2003 Cannondale R3000 CAAD7 Frame
$895 2005 Campy Centaur 10 speed grouppo with Record Front derailleur and 13-26 veloce cassette
$300 FSA Stage 1 build kit (Thomson Elite Post, Selle Italia XO saddle, FSA Wing Pro Bars, FSA Stem, Cinelli
Bar wrap)

$375 Mavic Equipe Wheels
$70 Time RXE pedals
$95 Shimano Shoes (will replace when I can afford it, mixing shimano shoes and campy components makes me uneasy)

$120 Pro Build (includes tapping and facing the bottom bracket casing)

Total
$2450

Percentages
Frame- 25%
Components- 36%
Build kit- 12.2%
Wheels- 15.3 %
Pedals- 2.9%
Shoes-4%
Build- 5%

blandin

This is how it breaks down from my latest build project.

402.00___16.4% 58 cm TST Titanium Frame (including freight)
900.00___36.6% Group: NIB full DA 9 speed
98.00_____4.0% Headset: Chris King Headset – Silver
125.00____5.1% Fork: Profile Design - Full Carbon Fork
123.00____5.0% Seatpost and Collar: Airborne titanium
105.00____4.3% Saddle: Fizik Arione
115.00____4.7% Stem and Handlebars: Ritchey WCS
495.00___20.1% FSA RD-400 Wheelset
49.95_____2.0% Pedals: Performance Forte Pro Mg Ti
5.95______0.2% Bottle Cage: Minoura TiAlloy
38.96_____1.6% Tires: Panaracer Stradradius Pros - pair
2457.86_100.0%

55/Rad

Seems like everytime I do a build, I need a tool or two I don't already have. Something to keep in mind when doing your equations.

55/Rad

chrisvu05

that's why I included the price of a build....i was gonna build it myself but I met a great mechanic who was more excited about this project than me and I let him do the work.

my58vw

Cervelo P2K

Frame - 600 dollars (w/fork, head set and seatpost) - 20%
Wheels - 1100 dollars (cosmic carbone SL's) - 36%
Drivetrain - 800 Dollars (DA10 with bar ends) - 26%
Aero bars - 550 dollars (easton attack bars) - 16%
Saddle - Had Already (80 dollars)
Pedals - Ultegra SPD-SLs - 100 - 2%

The bike was actually a bit more but I can not think of where the rest of the cost went too.

On my trek I basically stripped it to the frame and started over - handlebars and stem, the frame still ends up about 30% of the bike cost.

Personally the equation =

Bike Frame + Wheels + Drivetrain +Saddle = Main Part cost

Total Budget = Main Part Cost - Extras (bars, seat post, cages, etc)

You can see where the emphesis is.

Patriot

I'll just post a pic. And of course, there is the Trinity link below. I have a vague rememberance of how much I spent. I prefer to forget. It took weeks getting over the trauma.

shimanopower

so umm... how much?

sportbiker

Three responses included costs and not one person spent more than $600 for a frame, and that frame was titanium. How are you doing it? I spent more than that on a closeout frame!

Or should I modify my OP to say, "At regular retail prices..."

gcasillo

Totally subjective advice here...spend a little extra on wheels. Biggest difference you can make in ride quality. Deduct from parts that you don't come in contact with like derailleurs and brake calipers; lower class parts can move the chain and stop the bike just the same. Get a good alloy crank; they're oodles cheaper and even the big dogs of the Pro Tour like Boonen and Petacchi use them. Avoid pricey carbon cages. After a while, they become more cage than carbon.

Don't go cheap on contact points like saddle, pedals, or bars. Get those which suit you best.

Be aware of peripheral stuff adding up. Bar tape, rim tape, bottle cages, tubes, top cap and (possibly) compression plug or star nut, cables, lube, degreaser, etc.

fmw

I think building a bike from parts at retail is always more expensive than buying a complete bike. So I bought a complete bike mail order and moved most of the parts to a new frame. The most valuable part of the parts bike was the wheels. I sold those along with the front DR, seatpost (didn't fit the new frame) brakes (wanted better ones) and saddle (didn't fit me.) Those transactions netted enough to pay for the replacement parts, the wheels I wanted and a bottom bracket upgrade, new bar tape and a pair of carbon bottle cages. The net cost was $1650. The frameset was almost half of that or $800. The result is:



The trick was getting a very inexpensive parts bike with expensive wheels and a good gruppo. If I had had to buy those parts retail, the bike would have cost well over $2000 and the frameset would have cost about 1/3. By the way, I still have the frameset from the parts bike so my next project will have a zero cost for the frameset.

my58vw

Well I bought my frameset used, 2001 model, a new P2K frameset is arounf 1300 dollars and is fugly IMO!

After you subtract all the components off my current Road Bike the net cost of the frame was about 800 dollars.

blandin

Always surfing and looking for bargains . Until I found the TST Titanium frame I picked up for $402 including freight, I had been squirreling away new DA group components over 18 months picking up a piece here and there as I found bargains. I already had the wheels, so once I found the frame; it was easy enough to pick up stem, bars and seat and seatpost. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind who would do this at retail - where's the fun and savings in that?

55/Rad

Neuvations are expensive? I paid $211 for mmy M28 Aeros.

55/Rad

ks1g

Rule of thumb? "Buy it Now" on Ebay is ALWAYS too much (don't ask ). But the experience (and the ride) is worth it!

nitropowered

I have a $200 frame with $500 wheels on my fixed gear.

But when you build a bike, you build it to your specs. Buy what you want so you don't end up wasting money replacing parts later. I've spent around $500 on my pre-built on replacing parts (saddle, bars, stem)

fmw

No, American Classic 350's are expensive. The Neuvations are what I bought with the proceeds. I spent $187 for my wheelset.