Nashbar component quality
 

My grandson has expressed an interest in doing some touring with me. This is good news on a couple of levels. The most obvious one is being able to share and pass on one of my passions to my grandson. I have puttered around with bikes for eons, I have repaired, modified, replaced parts and partially rebuilt this and that. But I have never built a bike from the ground up. This is my opportunity to build one. Teenagers being what they are I do not want to spend a ton of money on this only to find that touring is not his cup of tea. From another recent thread I gleaned some information about Nasbar touring frames $99.00 and touring forks $49.00. The price is attractive and will fill the bill nicely. Obviously I will be doing more research and searching on the web before dollars are spent. Ebay is always.a good source. Getting to my direct question. I'll need to buy all the other components also. While on Nashar looking around I noticed that they have a bunch of Nasbar branded components which are very attractively priced. I am wondering if any of you have used Nashbar components in your builds and what you like and dislike about them.

This is only my opinion, but based on experience. The economics of buying a frame and fork and all the components don't equal out to a very cost effective plan. However, if cost is no object and the fun of building up a frame and fork is something to look forward to, go for it. Enlist your grandson to help you out.
Not knowing if he'll embrace touring, and not knowing your budget, I suggest starting out by buying a medium to high quality older mountain bike, adding a rack and appropriate tires and with your grandsons help, repacking all the bearings and cleaning everything up.
Either way, you're a lucky grandfather to be able to take on something as great as touring with your grandson!!

Well said. This would be a fantastic learning experience for your grandson and a great bonding experience for the both of you (assuming you can avoid killing one another till after the bike is built ;) ). But it is going to cost a bit more than a pre built bike.

A friend of mine built a bike almost from all Nashbar components and he is extremely happy with the build.

Nashbar can hardly be beat. Great reputation for solid stuff.

But the others are right - parting out a bike can be daunting. They say Time is Money; I suggest you get one used and modify it as needed.
Use Nashbar stuff.

Poppabear, If your grandson is interested in bicycle mechanics and you have the needed tools, it should be a fun project. It will cost more than a nice used tourer undoubtedly, tho'.

Brad

They don't make any of it,
Performance bike Owns the company , now,
FWIW..
the clout of large order size, gets things re labeled with their name on it.

Or yours .. , just order enough.. hundreds or thousands..

No doubt. Their stuff most likely comes from the same Asian factories that turn out everyone else's stuff.

I have a couple of thousand miles on Nashbar pedals (one side has clip for cleats, the other is flat for flip-flops, cost around $40), that I bought as an experiment to see if I liked that type pedal on moving from a "fast" bike to a "touring" bike. I've had no problems.

The only thing is you might have to buy tools you may only use once in awhile,
and good tools can get expensive

You can use inexpensive downtube shifters on the Nashbar touring frame.

http://www.amazon.com/Sunrace-Stem-D.../dp/B004JKI29S

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...hL._SS500_.jpg

I have a lot of Performance/Nashbar stuff. Their clothes cannot be beat for the money. The ONLY product with which I've ever been unhappy was a pair of Forte clipless "Campus" pedals. The retention mechanism was either impossible from which to unclip, or so loose it was unusable. As others have said, they're made in the same factory as everybody else's stuff. I'll bet you can build a nice touring bike for the grandson by using eBay, Performance/Nashbar/Price Point, and other mail order bike shops. When I built my Gunnar, I found that Lickton's bike shop( http://www.lickbike.com ) could beat the big boys' prices. So does Kozy's in Chicago (http://www.kozy.com). Hunting for the right parts at a bargain is half the fun of building a bike!

I'm also a big Nashbar fan.... but I'd stick to a Surly frame. it's 2X the money, but 3X as good. Plus you can sell a used Surly frame for $250 very easy if he out grows it, or doesn't ride it. But deck it out with Nashbar parts, by all means.

How do you figure that? Surly frames are cheap-ass 4130 steel. Retail pricing on double-butted 4130 bike tubing is less than $100, which probably means that Surly's paying $40 or less for the raw materials. I don't see that the LHT offers anything the Nashbar touring frame doesn't... other than a much larger price tag!

Or shop used/NOS and get something really decent in the same price-point. If there's a Co-Op nearby, you could easily round up parts to make a suitable touring bike. It doesn't have to be something insane at this point - upgrades are always possible in the future. Prefer used myself :). E.g.http://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-Suntour-Downtube-shifters-6sp-friction-index-braze-/120742489899#vi-content

Sunrace make ya' cringe? He's building a $99 frame with a $49 fork, not an heirloom.