stevenlsmith87

I have a bike. It happens to be only the frame, fork, wheels, and handlebar/stem. The rear wheel has a cassette on it, and the the frame still has the BB, crank, and pedals. There are no grips, breaks, gears, chain, levers...nothing like that. I would love to turn this bike into a commuter, and don't really want to drop a ton of money into this thing.

I realize that I need some tools and am okay with dropping the money on those since I can use them to work on my other bikes. My main question is how hard is it to fix this thing up having never worked on a bike before? Is this to big of a first project to take on? This would be a slow on going thing, but I do not want to pour money into something that I won't be able to finish. Just a little nervous since I have never worked on a bike and now I am trying to pretty much build one.

davidad

If you are mechanically inclined it is not difficult. Start here. https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

cny-bikeman

BRAKES, not breaks. Biggest variables that determine whether it's worth it to build up what you have is condition/wear of cassette and wheels, the overall quality of the bike, and finally what you are trying to build. The levers and derailleurs can set you back quite a bit. If the BB and headset are in good shape you will not need any pricy tools.

Then it comes down to your thinking style, the ideal being not necessarily "mechanically inclined" as a more general ability to think logically combined with a practical grounding in physics and math.

RubeRad

It is definitely doable, especially if you are generally handy. Like davidad said, the Park site is your friend, also youtube and sheldonbrown.com and here. Certainly overall quality of the parts you do have would help us advise you whether it's worth building up, or if you would do better for cheaper just buying a whole bike on CL (maybe selling what you have, either whole or in parts, on CL to subsidize). Pics? Or at least brands/models?

Check out this cost breakdown for the bike I put together. It will give you an idea of the lower end of prices for individual parts, mostly off of eBay. It takes careful shopping and sniping and time though. Another option is to buy a really cheap ($50 or under) suitable bike that would give you a whole donor bike's worth of parts (then the question would be, why not ride that one?)

For tools, there are "what tools will I need to get started" threads popping up here every day. Here's a link into the middle of a recent thread where I put my advice. You should read the whole rest of the thread too.

stevenlsmith87

[QUOTE]BRAKES, not breaks[/QUOTE]

Yeah....I typed it on my phone....I would not be shocked if everything was spelled wrong or auto-corrected to the wrong thing.

stevenlsmith87

The frame is a mid 90's Royce Union MTB frame, forks, wheels, handlebar, stem....I know its not worth anything, but I just wanted something to mess with and learn how to fix/build bikes so I can perform general maintenance on my other bikes without always having to take it to me LBS for little things.

cny-bikeman

That makes things much more clear. Don't do it, as you will just end up spending a lot of money (and/or time trying to source parts) for what will still be not a very good bike. Further, if you want to learn how to fix bikes then start with the bikes you have. You will learn about compatibility for parts replacement as you go, and what you learn will be much more applicable than it would with a 20 year old bike.

Building a bike from scratch is an expensive process that teaches very little about the most needed maintenance tasks on a bike, compared to putting the same amount of time into working on several different bikes, or even overhauling and adjusting one or two used bikes. Installing new parts on a new bike is about 1% of the world of bike repair.

Finally, one does not learn about repair by "messing with" a bike - implying trial and error. Mechanical systems work according to the logical, predictable laws of physics, and one has to take a logical approach, supported by at least a basic understanding of physics and math, to work on them. Use the previously recommended sources for guidance as to how to do repair procedures. While you are working on a bike always be thinking about how parts interact with each other, what about that interaction could be causing a particular problem the bike has, and why what you are doing has the intended effect. Sheldon is particularly good at offering some of the how and why.

Retro Grouch 

[QUOTE=cny-bikeman;15741246]That makes things much more clear. Don't do it, as you will just end up spending a lot of money (and/or time trying to source parts) for what will still be not a very good bike.

That's what I think too.

I once had a friend who messed with old cars. He told me that he once towed a car home that was better than the one he was towing it with. He had them the wrong way around.

Traditionally, the cheapest way of sourcing the parts that you need is to acquire a "donor bike". Once you do that, you might as well use the donor bike for your commuter.

RubeRad

Unless maybe you find some kind of super-cheap or free donor bike which is broken in ways that your current bike isn't, like a frame snapped in half, but there's plenty of good components, etc.

Retro Grouch 

That could actually happen. OP's bike has a rear wheel. I wonder it it's usable.