wphamilton

The last time I priced it out, it was about the same price building (a cheap bike) when you already had wheels and buying something equal. That's with just the going rates at big internet sources (Amazon, Nashbar etc) without searching for killer deals. The cheap bike probably comes with really cheap wheels though and you kind of want to replace them anyway.

PatrickGSR94

Building is cheaper if you have lots of spare parts. I took my old KHS bike with lots of custom build parts, bought another frame for $60 and disc brakes for $100, disc 26" wheels for around $80, and transferred all the other parts to the new frame. Then I took a bunch of spare parts, plus a used triple crankset and RD bought from a local guy, and re-built the old KHS bike. So I spent about $300 and made one bike into two bikes.

Darth Lefty 

IMO the best reason to build a bike yourself is to have exactly what you think you want, in every single component. You might say to yourself, "I want that neato coating on the bearing races and it only comes with Ultegra hubs, and I want ball bearings in the derailleur pulleys but don't care about weight too much so I'm going to get a Tiagra system but swap out the pulleys..." etcetera.

This is not a path to low cost.

jade408

Build is more expensive. But I ended up going that route (hiring someone to build in my case). The features I wanted weren't available in many stock bikes. Adding on to a stock bike was fairly pricey anyway and I'd compromise on looks.

I found a stock bike that had what I wanted (but was a bit too big in the smallest size) and in reality it was 20% cheaper than my DIY build.

My DIY build generally had nicer components. I learned a lot. And i got to spec the bike I wanted. I splurged for powder coating.

Now it has been a year and I am making some tweaks. On the whole it was an awesome experience. And maybe on my life bucket list I'll get s custom frame and repeat the whole thing again in an even more informed way.

PatrickGSR94

For me personally, I just like building things. Always have. That's probably why I'm a DIY'er for almost everything. Home improvement, auto mechanic work, building bikes... heck I even design and detail buildings for a living!