I wanna make a custom bike and was wondering is building bikes hard? How do you know what size something is? Do chainwheels have different sizes to fit on the bike or are those sizes just for how big it is in general?

here are sizes you need to know.

top tube- 20 inch - 22 inch
rims- 20 inch by 1 1/8 i believe.
hubs- 36 or 48 hole
axle- 3/8 or 14mm. go for the 14mm if you plan on grinding.
fork- 1 1/8 inch steer tube w/ 14mm dropouts or 3/8 dropouts.
chainwheels- 39-14 36-13 33-12 30-11 28-10 25-9 23-8. those are the standard gear ratios.
crank arms -170-180 mm
bottom bracket- American (standard) euro, mid, and spanish.

If I were to list the parts i wanted for a bike would you be able to tell me if they're compatible?

sure

Okay, Im looking at the Stolen Five-O, it says (the description in the magazine) Integrated headtube has dual gussets for strength. Wishbone chainstay, 14mm dropouts 3/16" thinck, seatstay U-brake mounts, cable guides 13.75"
Sizes are 20.5 and 20.75 (Euro BB)

So my question is, how do I know what i can do with that?

You can buy any 1 1/8 inch threadless fork, but you can't use any old headset. it has to be an integrated headset, (hence the integrated headtube). You will need cranks with a euro bottom bracket, and you will need to run a 14mm axel in the rear. Thats just the basic stuff that you can figure out by the frame specs. ither then those few nessesarry things you can pretty much do what ever, you don't have to worry about your rear brake and chain clearance because you have seat stay mounts so you can run as small a gearing as you want. Remember though, the smaller sprocket you put up front, the smaller driver you have to put in the back. If you have the money your best bet is to buy a cassette hub. They can accept a smaller gear and they are usually stronger and more reliable depending on which one you decide to go with. I dont have much experience with cassettes though but there are a few people on here that could give you some advice on which one is good to go with .As for other things like bars, rims, tires, whether you want to run a gyro or not. it depends on what kind or riding you will be doing but alot of it is just personal preference.

Once you have all of your parts, building a bmx bike is very simple. This fits there, that fits here. It's pretty much as simple as a bicycle can get. It would still be a good idea to have some one around who knows what they are doing. Good luck with it.

Sory to rain on your paraid GreenRamper, but if you don't know how a bike goes together, and you don't have simple compatablility knowledge, then maybe a custom bike is not the way to go.
My friend got into biking about 2 months ago, and he realy liked it and he was learning realy fast, then he felt like he needed a custom bike. well, he got it together(with a LOT of help) and it was all good for a while, but then he didn't know how to do the maintenance on it, and his 1000+$ bike started to fall apart. He didn't know how to tighten loose spokes in his expensive wheelset, he didn't know how to maintain a euro BB, it was bad.

Well, moral of the story is, "don't get ahead of yourself".

Thanks for reading my compelling story, and I hoped it has swayed you.

The convenient thing about integrated headsets and euro BBs is they don't require cups to be pressed in, so you can pretty much fully assemble the bike with normal tools. It's not too hard, just remember one thing:

Grease every bolt. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

<BS>
all you need is a hammer and some vice grips. dont listen to that bit about grease, that's crazy talk!
</BS>

I cannot stress this enough.

And don't forget that every good build includes carbon fibre headset spacers.

So...what are you getting at? Your friend just threw it all in the trash and bought a Haro? All of that stuff can be fixed, I don't understand the point of the story. Your friend was a rookie. So what. Rookies learn if they keep at it.

You can avoid stuff coming loose if you grease everything that's got threads on it. And even if you don't know how to true a wheel or you don't have a proper truing stand, if you've already spent $1000 on a bike, what's 20 bucks to take it to the LBS and have them true your sh*t? I'm confused. If you take your time, ask (the right) questions (of the right people) and genuinely listen to experienced advice you'll do fine. You're not dealing with carbon or Ti or other exotic materials and delicate components that require special handling and can REALLY get f*cked up if you do something wrong...everything on a BMX bike is pretty easy to maintain and generally hard to bugger.

BMX bikes = The VW Beetles of cycling.

building bikes is bery easy if you know how do it
a few suggestions
grease everything nuts bolts chain bearings freewheel hubs
use the right size wrench or socket allen wrench adjusting arm wrenchs are very nice when making a custom bike with diffrent size nuts and bolts switching sockets can start to get annoying
try not to strip anything
use the right size parts
dont over tighten spinning parts
fill tires to max psi
if using axle pegs that are threaded put them on first then nut to be sure they arent going to come lose
and i hope some this helps good luck and have fun with it

Pardon my french but, **** YOU BMICHAELX, I was trying to figure out how to do stuff and you come in giving me all this ****. You dont need to come into an area where people are trying to learn stuff and tell them all that discouraging ****, thats just ****ed up!

ya know that is one of the best things ive heard on this whole forum site
nice good job

no, his post was wrong because bmichaelx was trying to help him, but with bad advice. he was trying to help him though.


this is a fine example of you being stupid. this is why many people hate you. But as you said "why the **** would i care?"

First, you need one of these:




Now, the French don't use that word. Understand that some people on this forum are idiots, and some will try to help you. If someone asks a really stupid question (like putting disc brakes on a BMX for example) they can expect to get all sorts of crap. You asked some valid questions, and some of us gave you helpful answers. Learn to ignore the stupid people. If you have a few tools and a few brains in your head, you can build and maintain your own bike. It ain't rocket science.

I gotta watch 3 guys with a forklift remove a wall mounted air conditioner. Now that's scary.

First off, I want to apologize. I didn't mean for it to be taken offensivly. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get ahead of yourself, and go buy a custom bike to soon.

And as for queensrider86, and Expatriate, now that I read over my story, I realise that it dind't make the most sense. Again, all I was trying to say was that he shouldn't get ahead of himself.

Cool, maybe we'll all get along at some point.

By the way, these guys did try to get the A/C unit out with a forklift. They were going to pull it out from the brick wall. Seeing as how it's my office, I had to remind them that the unit needs to be pulled out from the inside. They would have torn the whole wall down. You guys may not care, but it made lunch entertaining.

this could very well be a good thing lets all get along i doubt his would ever happen but what the hell

What do you mean, "Let's all get along"? You're the annoying little snot-nosed punk that's been causing all the disturbances lately.

oh trust me i know

Those French have a different word for everything!