baldinbro

I just picked up an old Ross Adventurer frame in good condition at one of my local bike shops for $50. It's steel and in my size, but I didn't realize that Ross had such a bad reputation until I started googling when I got home.

The frame itself doesn't feel so bad to me, but I really don't know anything about this stuff. I built my last (beloved) SS bike from an off brand vintage road frame called "Campania" and loved the hell out of that bike until it was stolen a few weeks ago. I'm not against a crap looking frame (helps deter theft at least), but if it's gonna ride horribly maybe I shouldn't start on this project.

Obviously I need to buy ALL THE PARTS... maybe it was a bad idea to get this frame? Is it so bad? Thoughts?
Here are some pics : ROSS ADVENTURER

hairnet

It isn't the worst thing out there. It should serve you just fine until you find something better. Try find as many second hand parts as you can, it isn't worth it to pour money into with new parts. It will cost $$$$ either way unless you are the king of cheap.

You can also do well finding a good complete 80s road bike and converting that. You will have most of the parts ready to go on the bike.

seau grateau

I don't think I'd have paid $50 for it (maybe if it had a fork and headset), but there's nothing wrong with building it up to get something on the road. As long as it doesn't require oddball sizing or threading for components, you'll be able to be able to migrate pretty much everything to a different frame later on if you want.

baldinbro

All good points!

GENESTARWIND

I never understood the don't pour money into an old frame advice. Because once you have all the bling you can transfer to a new frame and parts like wheels, cranks, bars saddle.

TejanoTrackie 

Except, that it's better to get a complete frameset including fork and headset, which are typically not transferable. I did this twice, first with the VISP -> Dolan, and then with the Motobecane -> Cretin transfers. In both cases it cost me less than an additional $50 for the few parts I couldn't transfer.

prooftheory

The thing is that he will have to spend $100 on wheels, $40 on a crankset, $50 on a seat, $50 on fork and headset, $50 on stem and bars, $50 on pedals and seat post and brakes and $50 on tires and tubes if he can find the absolute cheapest parts bin stuff out there and he'll have a bike significantly worse than a $300 Windsor the hour, whose parts would actually be nicer and transfer better. Cheapo conversions only make sense if you already own a big parts bin.

TejanoTrackie 

Well, I own both a Motobecane Messenger and a Windsor Clockwork, both $300 bikes, and while I'd say the stock parts are adequate for their framesets, I don't consider them good enough to transfer to a better frameset. It will always be the case that it is much cheaper to buy a complete bike of decent quality and make minor changes and/or upgrades, than to build a bike from scratch. You build a bike for the experience and the pleasure it affords.

prooftheory

As long as that is what the goal is then fine but don't go thinking you are getting a good deal. You are paying extra for that experience and pleasure. OP's sunk cost still doesn't warrant him building it up if what he is looking for is cost effectiveness. It is always disappointing that fixing up used bikes doesn't really pay for itself.