Inertianinja

My new frame comes today. Ive never built a bike frame-up, but i have done assembly of a complete bike bought from bikes direct, I've done maintenance, I'm good working with my hands. I've read the component install manuals and, fortunately, SRAM has a YouTube channel where they demonstrate how to install their groups.

My options are -
(1) buy a torque wrench and attachments, build it myself, pay for a shop to fit me and check my work. Caveat, If the BB isn't chased and faced, I'd bring it to a shop.

(2) pay for a shop to build it ($250) or let me participate in the build ($300) and learn like an apprentice. I would do some of the easier setup before going to the shop or at least hand-tighten the parts to save time.

What do you think?

leooooo

Do it yourself. After completing my first build, I realized how much easier it really is (compared to all the info I've gathered before hand i.e. reading instructions/warnings, watching videos).
As an added bonus, I enjoyed buying the tools, which allows you to totally service the bike yourself.
BTW buy a bike stand, not entirely necessary but highly recommended.

LowCel 

The shop is charging $250 (or $300 if you help) to build your bike? They must not like you very much! Most shops charge around $100 - 150 to build up a bike. For that price it is a no brainer, build it yourself.

mazdaspeed

+1 on getting a bike stand.

Building it yourself is very possible. I even installed my headset myself with a tool I built. It really just comes down to your motivation. You do need quite a few tools and a good idea what you're doing.

About the torque wrench, craftsman makes a 3/8 drive beam type torque wrench you can get at sears for $25. The hex bits are ~$9.

I don't think you need the bike shop to check your work. If something is wrong you will be able to tell when riding right? That said, again, bike stand, it will make adjusting the derailleurs/shifting way easier.

Inertianinja

this is just one shop, one guy who does this kind of thing exclusively. it's 250 for a complete build, but 300 if he's going to teach while he builds. i probably won't go to any other stores, because around here they're very snobbish when you bring in stuff you didn't get there. this guy affirmatively states that he doesn't care where you got the parts, he's just happy to do the work. which i like.

Inertianinja

i've read about people using their bike trainer to keep the bike steady while adjusting derailleurs, i think i may try that.
i'm in a small apartment, really no more room for equipment.

yokotas13

of course he does when he is overcharging the crap out of you

buy the tools, buy the stand and go at it. It is what i did. If you cant figure it out between youtube, parktools, and google, then honestly you shouldnt ride a bike. Part of riding a bike is being able to fix stuff out on the road to get you back home...knowing how it goes together is part of it

LowCel 

Also start a build thread here. Any questions you have post them and you should get advice pretty quickly. I did that when I built my first bike and people walked me right through every issue that I had.

AngryScientist 

does the bike have the headset installed already?

what frame are we talking about?

if i remember right you live in NYC, the shops there are all pretty expensive and worse, busy. build the bike yourself and save the build $$ and the headache when something goes wrong and they want you to wait a month to get it back.

its pretty simple, it really is.

vanno.velo

Do it yourself. It's easier than it seems and much better in the long run.

scirocco

I agree. Well worth doing yourself. The only bit I would recommend a noob skip over is doing anything like pressing the headset into the frame (which might not even be necessary). Everything else is just meccano.

You don't even really need a stand. Lie the frame on its side on the floor to screw in the bottom bracket cups, because that takes a lot of force. Fit the shifters onto the bars and the cassette and tyres onto the wheels on a bench. Fit the fork, stem and bars but don't worry about torqueing them up yet. Put the wheels on and stand the bike up. Now you can do everything else with the bike leaning against a wall.

To do final gear adjustments with the wheels off the ground you can hang the bike from the seat and bars with a rope from a convenient overhead attachment.

cappuccino911

build it yourself, it's not hard. If there are any individual tools you don't want to spring for then take it to the shop. for example, the first build I did, I had the shop install the headset and do the crank for me but I watched and learned. The second time around the frame already had the fork installed but I did the crank myself. assuming you bought a carbon frame since you mentioned a torque wrench, as long as you know how to do it thats fine. If the $250 fee includes fitting then great but I wonder if you already have specs from other bikes you own that would let you get it dialed in yourself for cheap?

My bike shop here in the city always has a stand outside (sometimes they do some simple work for people out there on it) when i need to adjust my deraileurs i go there and throw it on their stand. It really makes it a lot easier to make those adjustments than putting it upside on the floor and trying to shift it without knocking it over.

Inertianinja

yep, i'm in NYC; Frame is a 2010 Felt AR1; i believe the headset is already installed.
i don't know if the BB is chased / faced...which is a worry because i know the guys at the shop nearest to me will gouge me on the price. i don't think the build price includes fitting, since the guy shares space with a guy who does fittings.

I'm also a little leery about fitting carbon parts together - do i need any special grease to fit a carbon stem to a carbon steerer? wheels to carbon dropouts? i'm not of the belief that carbon is magical fragile plastic, but i want to do it right.

generally i have no problem building stuff. screwing things into other things. I grew up with a Ford truck that needed a lot of work, so i did a lot of it myself. it's just the odd tools i have to buy (BB / lockring / etc) and the torque wrench i don't have. Usually i just tighten things to "tight without stripping the threads"

and, yep, i can do a ballpark fit myself. saddle height, handlebar height, saddle tilt and foreward/aft, etc.

if i can get this all done myself, i'm fine bringing it to a shop to have them check the fit/build for $50 or so. that's what i did with my fiancee's Kestrel that we bought from BikesDirect and it worked out well.

thanks for the responses. I was half-expecting "you're going to screw it up, if you don't know how to do something as simple as a bike build you should pay a shop."

Inertianinja

oh, and another thing. this is kind of embarrassing.

the thing i'm most worried about screwing up: bar tape.

Of all the working-with-my-hands projects i've ever done, including messing with delicate electronics, for some reason i cannot properly lay anything that has adhesive (stickers, etc) or paint anything.

LowCel 

Don't worry too much about the bar tape. If you screw it up just unwrap it and do it again. The adhesive isn't extremely sticky so you can do it several times until you get it right. I very rarely get mine right the first time.

Steve90068

Get a bike stand and use bicycletutor.com

mrbUSA

Their charge is ridiculous! I recently built my own at a shop and with their help for 100 beans. I wanted direction since it was my first ie, sizing the chain, dialling in the RD/FD etc. It was a great lesson.

rdl456

If the headset is installed then the hardest part is already done for you. I tried the different homebrewed styles of installing the lower race and failed. Ended up having to go to the shop to have it seated properly. You can buy carbon installation compound from any of the big online stores like Jenson, Universal, etc. I purchased a torque wrench for my build. Never used it. However my Ritchey torque key did come in handy. Still use it. Buy 2 grip tape sets. You will screw up the 1st one.

StanSeven

How long do you think it takes to build up a bike? What do you think the going rate for labor is? Then multiply the two together.

Inertianinja

you didn't use a torque wrench? i was under the impression that the torque numbers were really important.

but that's probably just because i haven't done one and seen that nothing goes wrong if you just eyeball it.

LowCel 

A good mechanic can build a bike in two hours or less. A decent wrench should be able to build one up in less than three hours.

ptle

Do it yourself. With the $250/300 you save you could get a nice set of tools.

I built a bike up myself, which I really enjoyed. It was also a good learning experience for me.

I didn't use a torque wrench.

(Y(L|S+

I'd recommend building your own if you have a desire to do it, are mechanically inclined, and have the right tools for it (especially a stand). I know you said space is limited in your apartment but a stand folds up when not in use. I have built or rebuilt several bikes myself. I'm a DIY knid of guy. So if you want to know how to do it, go for it. It'll let you become more intimate with the workings of the bike. Plus, as already mentioned, for $250-300 you can get tools and a stand. Then you will have them for servicing your bikes in the future.

The only thing I need to learn to do now is build wheels. Soon enough....

merlinextraligh

As I recall, you're starting out racing. It's really helpful if you race that you can do most anything you need to on your bike. That way you don't miss training or have your bike sitting in the shop when you have a race.

Thus buying the tools, and the stand, and acquiring the knowledge will be valuable down the road.

Even if you don't plan to do your own maintainence, its good to know you can when you need to.

dstrong 

I built both my bikes from the frame up without previous experience. It's great to have the knowledge and experience and you can save yourself a lot of trips to the LBS by doing your own maintenance. My ParkPre has an integrated headset, so no cup pressing required. I had the LBS press in the cups on my Interloc for $25 I think.

The 4,5 and 6mm allen wrenches will get you most of the way there, along with a BB tool and cable cutter. The Park Tools and Sheldon Brown website will tell you everything you need to know.

Regarding bar tape, watch Contador's mechanic wrap his bar tape near the end of the video. He makes it look so easy (I'm sure he's done it thousands of times).