fluidj

Greetings.
I'm in the process of building up a geared bike for my daily commute. I'm on a single speed now, which is fine except for the many hills. Some days I need to haul stuff, and I figure gears would make that task a little easier.

My base is a Nashbar X cyclocross frame. I'm looking to build up something similar to the Giant Escape City bike.
I had started down the path of building it up with drops, but I think flat bars are just more my speed.
So far I have the frame, a Shimano FC-CX70 crank, ultegra bottom bracket, and the FD-CX70 front derailleur.
I have a bit of confusion on how to match up the proper shifters, RD and cassette to achieve the setup i'm going for. I'm kinda worried that I pulled the trigger on the crankset too soon and i'm not even going to be able to use it for the build i'm going for.

I'd appreciate any input and suggestions, and I hope I've provided sufficient information. If not, let me know what I missed.

Thanks!

cs1

I just bought my son an Escape last week. My brother liked it so much he bought one this week. You'll never be able to put one together for what a new one cost. They're only $400 bikes, just buy one. You won't regret it. Good luck

fluidj

Yeah, unfortunately I found that out too late I purchased the frame on a whim last year with a 20% off Nashbar coupon..... and I found the crankset on sale at Amazon a few weeks ago. That's my weakness...sales and bright ideas lol...
Went to my LBS to have my wife's bike tuned up yesterday and I saw the Giant in there...sat on it and fell in love. Figured I could change course and plans with the Nashbar frame and build up something similar. I realize it's going to be a lot more than the $420 price of the Giant though....
It's my first bike build so I figure maybe the enrichment and satisfaction will be worth the extra money.

dsbrantjr

"I realize it's going to be a lot more than the $420 price of the Giant though...."
Sell the frame and pieces and use the money towards buying the bike you want. You will have fewer headaches and you will probably be money ahead.

BobLoblaw

Any Shimano nine or ten speed shifter (except Dura Ace 7900) will drive that front derailer. You're fine. Don't worry about it. Any rear shimano road derailer will work, too, all the way back to 6 speed SIS. That's the beauty of Shimano, the backwards and cross compatability.

Just make sure your shifters, chain, and cassette are all the same (i.e., 9 speed or ten speed). And if you want anything bigger than a 28 tooth cog on the rear, make sure you use a long cage rear derailer.

fluidj

Could you educate me on the potential headaches? I'm just trying to grasp whether it's just not doable...or something else. Cost wise, i'm only around $350 in. Is is not feasible to finish this bike off for an additional $400 or so? While the Giant is nice, I realize that the components are a tad on the lower end. and heavier weight side.

fluidj

Thanks! That's good to hear. Definitely not going Dura Ace....going for a lower price point than that...much lower lol. I'm thinking a 9-speed setup. I also noticed SRAM components are a little cheaper than the Shimano. Am I stuck with Shimano or could I got SRAM for the rest of the components?

BobLoblaw

It's completely doable, and it will be a great learning experience. You should be able to do it for $400, maybe less if you go with go with used parts. For a utility bike, tiagra or sora would be fine. The only showstopper would be if you don't match the number of speeds on the cassette, chain, and shifters. Make sure you know what you have, and that the speeds are correct. Other than that it should bolt right up and you will figure it out as you go.

BL

BobLoblaw

You could use SRAM cassette and chain, but not shifters or derailers.

fluidj

Looks like the Tiagra & Sora are Road bike groups; in order to match the feel of the Giant that i'm going for, I'd like to go with a MTB style shifter setup. Any suggestions on that route? Deore Rapid fires?

BobLoblaw

Deore rapid fires will work fine. In fact my wife's bike has a Sora 9 speed front D, a 105 10 speed rear D, both driven by deore rapid fire shifters on a 9 speed cassette and chain.

BL

jonnyboy77

Interesting, I didn't know you could mix a 10 speed derailleur with a 9 speed shifter/cassette.

fietsbob

I see disc brake tabs in the N'bar picture..
BB7 caliper & Speed-dial levers are a good thing.

If you get a Shimano centerlock hubset there are adapters to use 6 bolt discs..
on them .

Of course lots of hubs have disc ready 6 bolt mounts..

demoncyclist

The indexing is in the shifters, not the derailleur. Anything with the same pull ratio will work, especially since the range of motion across the width of the cassette is about the same from 8s through 11s

BobLoblaw

6, 7, and 8 speed rear derailers, too. Provided they are Shimano. It's dependent on the rear derailer parallelogram, and Shimano derailers have kept the same basic parallelogram dimensions since the 80's. Won't work with SRAM or campy, though.

BL

gyozadude

I did the same thing with an impulse Nashbar $10 womens Schwinn Sierra GS frame and some other frame. One was 26 inch and the other was 700c, both hybrids. I thought to myself, heck, at $10, I can't lose, right?

My build was:
- Vuelta triple crankset $25
- Vuelta seal cartridge BB $13
- Alex ZC1000 rims 2 x $13
- some old sealed road hubsets - free
- new 130mm axle w/ spacers and cones - $4
- Origin8 OEM/bulk linear pull brakeset - $17 front and rear
- Tektro 316AG levers - $11
- Shimano Altus RD - $16
- Shimano cheap DPBS FD - $11
- FD/RD cables $2
- Front/Rear Brake Cables $2
- Jagwire housing $3 worth from my bulk supplies
- Kalloy seatpost 27.2 - $10
- Vuelta wider MTB gel/foam saddle closeout (bought last 3) - $11
- Shimano 7 spd HG freewheel megarange - $11
- SRAM MRX shimano 3 x 7 spd grip shifts $16
- alloy stem 1 1/8th threadless silver - $12
- steel threadless headset - $8
- FSA branded stem spacers $5
- closeout 50mm rise 6 deg alloy 25.4 bars 580mm $10
- vuelta 7/8 spd chain - $3.50
- IRC metro 700x35c city tires - $15/pr or Camel 26x1.5 semi slick skinwalls $11/pair
- spokes/nipples - about $0.18 each set x 72 = $13
- rim strips $3/pr
- spoke protector $2
- seat clamp $4
- inner tubes 2 x $2.50

That's around frame plus $250 in parts when it's all added together. I had to wait 2mo and order and I ordered for lots of stuff at various merchants for multiple bikes which resulted in free shipping. So YMMV. But it gives you some cost scale. Bike turned out great. Add a $9 pump, a $2 water bottle cage, and $9 bike computer and $2 bell, and $19 rack, and $14 seat bag and $5 tools and patch kit, and it's pretty good to go.

fluidj

wow! impressive. I think I remember that frame sale they had....it was AFTER I paid $75 for the X frame though.
Where in the world did you find the rims for $13???

gyozadude

Rims for cheap, if they are in stock are at Husky Bicycles. Google them. TX company. Pay $150 for parts and get free shipping. Wheels/Rims ship for free after $250 in order. In fact, the current price on the Alex ZC1000 rims is just $10. Inner tubes, seat posts, headsets and other parts, I go to My Bike Pro (mybiketinley.com) and shop there. I have to check both places, like their mbp outlet and the regular store. I also shop CycleClubSports.COM, and Bikewagon.COM for derailleurs, cranksets, freehubs, hubs, brakes, levers, etc. The usual ebikestop, niagaracycle, jensonusa, walmart.com and nashbar are on my bookmarks list.

fluidj

Help me out a little here....direct link to the Alex rims for $10....I can't for the life of me find them on that site.
THanks for the other resources too!