Originally Posted by
paulthewall
I'm about to purchase a LHT, but am wondering what people think of buying the complete bike vs just the frame and building it up. I've never built up a bike before and don't know exactly how to go about picking out components. Is there a list somewhere? Plus my mechanic skills are lacking (I know they have to improve before any long trips) so I have to keep in mind the cost of having my LBS build up the frame. Obviously with the complete bike, I would change the seat but don't know how much else I would change.
Given what you've said, I'm wondering why you would even consider building your own bike...
Buying a frame and a bunch of components you know nothing about then dropping the whole lot off at your LBS sounds like a recipe for spending a lot of money and ending up with a less than ideal bicycle. You might do better to buy a complete bike, ride it, then upgrade individual components as you find a need. If you want to learn about maintenance or upgrades, it's often easier to start with a bike that's currently working than to try to build something from the ground up.