h0axwa7k

I started riding a fixed gear last year mostly as an alternative to running. I then got sick of fearing and avoiding large hills. I live in a very hilly region of Colorado, and, although I can climb on the fixed gear, it's not something I want to try to do for miles and miles at a time.

So I decided to find a 'real' road bike. On the top of my list sat the CAAD9. One of the local shops here in town had one in my size, and I stopped by every so often to see it. But the folks who worked there wouldn't talk to me. The shop with the cool guys working didn't have one in my size. I apparently did not want the CAAD9 that bad. I started thinking, maybe I can do better on my own? Maybe I'll learn something at the same time? Maybe one of those cheapo Nashbar frames and some used parts would be less expensive and more fun than buying something ready made?

Then the new BB30 CAAD comes out with Force/Rival, and I'm kind of wishing I had waited. Or not. I don't think it matters much at this point. Without saying anything else, here's the build:

Nashbar ALuC frame (arrived June 26)
Easton EC70 SL fork
Shimano RS-10 wheels

ITM Lite-luxe stem/bars, Profile wrap
Cane Creek headset
Flite Ti saddle, American Classic post, generic clamp

Bontrager tubes, Maxxis Detonator tires
Profile Stryke cages, Egg Beater SL pedals

Dura Ace Cables

'08 Force: levers, brakes, derailers (used)
'08 Rival: crankset, 11-23 OG-1070 cassette (new)
Red: PC-1090R chain (new)

It must be said that I already had the seat, post, tires, and tubes.

The whole thing cost me $1264.89 as per my receipts. The group was acquired both locally and on Ebay, at a cost of $618.05. These figures include shipping but do not include the tools I had to buy. I bought a cable puller, cable cutter, and a chain breaker. I should probably mention that I am both mechanically inclined and have some idea of how bicycles work, otherwise I imagine the assembly would have been somewhat difficult. LBS installed the cranks and the headset for me. I did everything else last Saturday afternoon. LBS also supplied the cassette, chain, headset, and the compression plug for the fork - all at a better price than I could get online. Labor was $20. I tried to get everything as cheap as I could, keeping in mind I actually wanted to put some miles on the bike before it gets cold here.

I have a "one that got away" story that goes with it. I saw an EC90 SLX fork on the local CL for $125, waited a week and offered the guy $100. By then it was sold. I should have snatched that one up as soon as I saw it, but I got greedy.

The whole thing weighs 19.04lbs in a large (58cm) w/ 25mm tires, pedals, and two water bottle cages.

How does it ride? What's that about paying a lot of money for something and not wanting to say anything bad about it because I might then look foolish? Some of that could be in play, but it rides nice enough for me. The shifting is fantastic. The bike is not as "springy" as my Steamroller, although I think it does a better job of soaking up road imperfections even though the Steamroller has 28mm tires. I love the shifting! It's not as "smooth" as the XTR on my mountain bike. The SRAM stuff lets you know it's there, which is something that doesn't bother me. I went with Egg Beater pedals because I already have a set of nice mountain shoes, and I'm used to them on the Steamroller and the mountain bike. Sometimes I like to park my bike at my girlfriend's office and have lunch with her, and walking a couple blocks in road shoes doesn't look like fun to me. I confess that I need to get used to turning a higher gear than 48/19. Spinning 53/17 all over town was a serious workout last weekend!

All things considered I think I could have done much worse. The worst part about this is I'm making you read a lot and don't have any pictures to show you for your time because the genuine article is at my girlfriend's house right now. Lucky you, maybe I get to take some pictures tomorrow. I hope you come back. I hope this story gets other people started on their own builds. I know I had a lot of fun with it.

I also joined my local cycling club. I'm very much looking forward to some group rides before winter.

Walter

Pics!

khatfull

Seriously, you can't ive us that story and details without pics?!?!

Besides, POIDH.

williamset

Sounds really cool...I'd love to see some pics.

What did you budget for the project? What would the comparable CAAD9 cost you?

Quel

I had about that budget, and was thinking of going the build route. But just the other day Performance had a 20% sale, and the Scattante CFR Race (https://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._1072801_-1___) was on sale another 20%. Out the door for $1215, plus an additional $190 in store credit, which paid for the pedals/bottle cages/computer/new helmet. I'll have to sink another $100ish into getting a new Ultegra cassette since it came with a 11-23 though. There are probably a few other things here and there that I'll have to upgrade over time, but overall I thought it was a damn good deal.

Sounds like you've got a nice bike though. And it wouldn't be too difficult in the future to buy something like a PedalForce frame if you are looking to upgrade to carbon, since you've got the quality components. Kind of wish I had went with a SRAM bike instead of ultegra.

williamset

Quel,

I have that same Scattante CFR Race which I got it for a similiar deal around 8 weeks ago. I am very pleased with the purchase and have not regretted for a second. I rode other manufacturer's bikes and found the Scattante CFR frame to be in the middle of the pack as far as liveliness. It was, however, a smokin deal considering all Ultegra, Mavic wheelset, FSA carbon crank, etc.

It's interesting to see how the Nashbar AluC frame stacks up to other more mainstream manufacturer's al frames.

mr handy

I didn't see any pics so I didn't read.

scotch

rampant text with no pics = bad.

JF1

Great to see budget builds. Post a pic!
I built this earlier this year with what I think is a Nashbar frame that was given to me and generic carbon fork. Used mostly parts that I had laying around and used parts I got off of ebay and it came up to about $200 total. Rides great.

urbanknight

+1 I only read the responses because they're shorter.

h0axwa7k

Enjoy the PICS!

My budget was $1250. I came in $15 over. Unsolicited observation/advice: markets are great for transferring wealth from impatient people to patient people.

I pilfered the $$$ ti pedals from my Steamroller. I replaced them with stainless ones, the cost of which ($$) is accounted for in the budget. The seat and post came off my mountain bike. I replaced the post and installed my Steamroller's stock seat on it for $15, which is also accounted for.

I'm pretty sure a comparable CAAD9 would have cost me quite a bit more, say $1500 after all was said and done. My bike does, however, have a set of stock wheels taken off of a CAAD9.

I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but the wheels have red spoke nipples. It matches the rest of the bike really nicely. The worst part about the build was pealing the stickers off of the wheels. I gave myself a terrific blister on my thumb trying to rub the adhesive off.

urbanknight

Much better. That thing looks sharp!!!

ridethecliche

The ride is very respectable.

Awesome build.

JakcBeNimble

You're bike looks amazingly like my build from last summer, which was a ***** Tonk frameset with too many different parts to list. I was too afraid to build it myself at the time, but I remedied that this spring building up a different bike doing all my own labor.

Trucker Dan

I have a motobecane century team which is the same frame as the nashbar frame. Its been good for 5000 miles, however expect to get a big crack in the paint where the carbon seat stays go into the al tube. I have seen several with this problem.

Sonoma76

Great looking bike!

Just one small problem. Your quick release levers are on the wrong side. They shouldn't be on the drive side of the bike. Same with the front wheel. Just reverse it and you're good to go!

BTW, now that you're a roadie rather than a fixter, have you bought all the other requisite cycling gear? Shorts, jersey, things like that? That side of road cycling is pretty expensive so consider yourself warned! (but there are great clothing deals online)

h0axwa7k

I wear bib shorts, a jersey, and a nice helmet when I ride my fixed gear. I need some gloves, if only because my palm still hurts from smashing it at work a couple weeks ago, some padding would be nice.

Thanks for the tip! Skewers are now on the other side.

canam73

I love the simple cosmetic scheme. I built a bike up with a similar budget for my wife using a powder coated Spicer frame I bought from Spicer on eBay for $150. He was nice enough to not put on all his stickers and just shipped them loose. I used Shimano r600 STI's and crankset for the short reach option and compact crank, and went with a R560 wheels 'cause I got them cheap and she is small so she shouldn't be too hard on the low spoke wheels. I'll post a pic when I'm not feeling lazy.

Enjoy your ride!

Steven.

Yaniel

I'm in love with this bike. It has a really elegant looking frame and i love that it has no decals. I think i may have to try out the frame as everything on my current bike will fit perfectly and my current frame feels a bit small.

Fat Boy

I've kicked around the idea of a similar build. Very well done.

The good news is that you now own a bike that is beyond what your abilities will ever be. The bad news is that you now own a bike that is beyond what your abilities will ever be.

I guess the further good news is that you spent less than just about anyone else on your new bike.

TriEngineer

+1

superdex

Looks veery nice. What part of CO are you in? Lots of BF folks round these parts....

roshea

Nice looking bike - good job!

Some minor cosmetic tweaks, IMO (and if the aesthetics matter to you):
- black spacers under the stem
- black seatpost

orangefunk

Very nice looking. Did Nashbar change the red color? From the photo, your red looks like a nicer semi metallic transparent red, compared to the bright fire engine red of others's I've seen.

cyclefreaksix

Clean build man, congrats! Now ride dat Beeyotch like you stole it.