Originally Posted by
IAmCosmo
I've decided to get back into racing. Specifically, crit racing. I went to the local crit over the past weekend and got hooked all over again.
My main bike is carbon, but I want to build up a bike just for racing. I want to go with aluminum because of its ability to withstand the inevitable crashes that I know will happen.
I'm looking for a good, stiff aluminum frame. I would like to buy new if at all possible, just so I don't have to worry about the history of the frame. The problem is that most companies aren't making aluminum frames any more, and if they are, it's hard to get just the frame.
So, I'm looking for suggestions as to places to get a frame. I probably won't need custom sizes, and I don't care about custom paint.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
I would suggest buying a bike of your choice from Bikes Direct and then selling the groupset. You will certainly be very close to breaking even, at the least getting a new frame for close to nothing. Even better, if you could be proactive and strike a deal with someone for whatever particular groupset they want and then order that particular model. It's a win win if you can sell them a new groupset for substantially less than they could ever get it for online, and you wouldn't have to worry about the history of a frame and it would be in the right size for you.
And yes, there's that much room to navigate with BD's discounted prices. Strips and take offs are done all the time, although usually in reverse that I am suggesting to you. Shimano is a lot easier sell than say a Motobecane frame even though the common sense, informed folk know that MOST of these frames are coming from the same 3 factories anyway.