Originally Posted by
CliffordK
Check out the Velo Cheapo Contest:
http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...stick-pig.html
http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-favorite.html
(Plus previous years).
I must admit that I failed miserably, coming in at about $400, but had the only Titanium Litespeed bike. Others seem to have been better at scrounging parts. Hopefully I'll get a jump on the contest for next year
Anyway, theoretically it is possible to build a nice bike on a shoestring budget.
Those that did best either restored a cheap Craigslist junker, or salvaged most of the parts off of a donor bike. Buying it one piece at a time can nickel and dime one to death.
Do you have the collar?
How close of a fit is it?
Do you have machinist's calipers?
Any trips planned south?
If the collar is close, then trimming it would be very quick and easy. I could probably do it as a fun project... with only the cost of shipping. Making a collar from scratch is possible, but would be more of a pain.
Excellent idea to "practice" on somebody else's bike.
What I will say is that I think my brother and father built the wheels for our little 24" "racing" 5-speed. But, I have done essentially 100% of my bike maintenance since I was about 10. I'm sure I was building wheels in my early teens.
Here is the truing stand that Dad built... years ago. A pencil or pen is the truing guide.
I never know if building wheels is actually worth it, although you can get exactly what you want... more or less. But, I managed to score two pretty nice wheelsets on Craigslist last week for $50 each set. Good to 10s, I think.
Anyway, I would encourage you to involve your son as much as possible with this project.
I couldn't build a bike to save my soul on the sort of budgets that the pros do it. But I do own a particular Spesh in the right spacing to build a nice roadie. I updated the original post, look for type in
blue that shows that there's a bunch of stuff that's been sitting around.
I haven't bought the collar because the width of the collar is not compatible with the angle of the head tube.* I'm going to go out on a limb here but, I think there's little threat and I'll ride, essentially, with my hand on his saddle.
The wheel build will be fine. I'm good at this sort of thing and have done wheel maintenance since the 70's. I have a pair of Handspun DT Swiss RR465 rims laced to 32h Dura Ace hubs. I'm going to copy these and use them as my guide for the work. I've also been doing research. Still, it's a benchmark of sorts.
I'll fashion something using the fork from Amazon that arrives on Tues for the stand.
Stay tuned.
* The head tube is not of uniform width because it is designed for an integrated headset. Unlike a steel tube that would be the same width from top to bottom, the head tube flairs to the top (and bottom). This flaring makes it impossible to "fit" a constant-sized collar of the "pipe clamp" variety that I've so far identified.