Originally Posted by
StephenH
I was kind of in the same boat, and just went ahead and bought a new complete bike, and that's what I'd recommend. Or if you want to work on stuff, buy older bikes and work on them.
One problem is knowing if Widget A fits on Frame B and whether it is compatible with Widget C.
One problem is knowing if Widget A is really worth $100 more than Widget B when you haven't ever used either one of them.
Some of these people that are building a bike up already have half the stuff for it, so they don't have to go buy everything new at one whack like you or I would.
I agree. A biginner is best buying a complete bike and then if they want to change a few things they can do it incrementally. I'd never buy a complete bike now as all I cam see on stock bikes are all the things I'd like to change; tweek the gearing, install barcons, better brakes etc. But for just getting out there and riding that's not really necessary
As far as quality components go I'd still recommend paying a bit more for quality. I've had BBs a d freewheels fail on me after a few thousand miles