I have a 6500 Ultegra groupset from a broken Trek 5200 that I would like to use to build up a hybrid frame. Searching online, I am not able to find too many options for a plain hybrid, V-brake frame.

Ideally, I would like to take a modern Trek FX or Giant Escape, strip the stock parts and put on mine. Is it possible to buy just the frame and fork from Giant or another bike manufacturer??

Don't buy crap like a Trek or Giant both of those bikes aren't worth your time. Do what I did get a New Albion Privateer (or a Surly Cross Check or similar type bike) and find a decent fork (I went with carbon because we had some old warranty replacements lying about) and build:
https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/yarrr...ablooner-34927

The pictures that you see are from the older 1x7 iteration but the parts are listed so you can get an idea and the bike looks pretty similar.

A nice steel touring/road/hybrid kinda do it all frame is going to give you a very nice ride and the carbon fork will add a bit to the ride and take a little weight off. Plus the frame I chose has clearance for 40c tires and an extra bottle cage mount so I put my ABUS lock down there and it is excellent.

Merry Sales, BTI or Hawley sell there stuff so any shop with an account with them could potentially order one for you or they do have some stocking dealers around 'Merica

For Surly you can go to probably any shop in the country (just about) and get one ordered since probably a good chunk of shops have a QBP account. Same deal with All-City but if there is a dealer nearby that shop cannot order and you have to go to the dealer but their space horse would be excellent

For Soma which makes some similar options any shop with a Merry Sales account should be able to help. Also I think you can order from Soma.

All of those companies make some fine steel frames that would make excellent hybrids or a flat bar road bike.

why do you dislike Giant Bikes?

Why would you say this? Do you know something about these companies/frames that we don't? Or are you just one of these people who has a more expensive frame and thinks that anything below what you have is crap?

Lots of hybrid frames have carbon forks, and most have enough clearance to fit 40+ tires.

You can probably find 2-3 year old Treks and Giants for a few hundred dollars. The higher models may have hydraulic brakes, and thus wouldn't be compatible with your 6500 brake levers, but the mechanical disc version certainly are. Also, the cable pull on the v-brakes will be different, so you may have to get short-pull v-brakes for you STI levers.

If nothing else Giant and Trek bikes are certainly a lot easier to find on the used market than what the other poster suggested.

I just realized you'd posted another thread regarding a steel frame build. You are abandoning that idea?

My frame is under $300. It is a very comfortable decently light Tange Infinity steel frame with a ton of versatility. It comes with semi-horizontal dropouts that are spaced 132.5 so I can run either 130 or 135 spaced wheels, three bottle cage mounts, ability to run downtube shifters, a nice long headtube that uses a straight steerer so I can run a standard EC34/EC34 headset (of which there are tons) and 27.2 seatpost. It also has a dang headbadge instead of paint or a sticker also the paint on the bike is well done and overall the bike looks decent even though it isn't very expensive. I was actually rather surprised at it for the cost and how much I love the bike. The idea was to build a cheap bike from parts I had laying about for commuting and locking up places but now I ride that bike a ton more than I expected.

The bikes listed from Trek and Giant tend to be race to the bottom hybrids let's make something of low quality with low quality parts and sell it for way to much. Aluminum isn't a great ride quality and the stuff they use is cheap. Sometimes the bigger brands do some cool stuff but a lot of times it is just them copying each other or making something not as practical for the end user.

I work at a former Giant dealer so I can say a lot more about them from the B2B side and how horrible it was to work with them but I won't get into it all. Everyone loves to stick up for Giant and Trek for whatever reason. Yes they might make a lot of bikes and sell a lot of bikes but I don't see that as an indication of quality but an indication of great marketing of cheap products.

Old Treks were awesome even some of their low end stuff had the nice fade paint jobs back in the 90s and of course their old steel frames were excellent from the 70s and 80s. Giant also did some neat stuff with the compact geometry but now they are way less impressive.

I came into this not knowing much about Bikes.. I just wanted a decent bike that I could get my ass back into shape with and would pay a lil extra for it.. as for maintenance.. I will learn as I go but wanted something I could ride right away with little hassle at first..
Id love down the road to do a Bike Build custom to me..

My interest towards Hybrid was my indecisiveness on whether to go towards Mountain.. or Road.. But now.. I stumbled upon another type that really seems like it is very popular.. BikePacking/Touring.. some straight bar.. some drop bar.. But VERY Robust.. they look like they are very customizable, able to take a beating and last many years.. Often they are steel frame and add in modern tech. One of the main companies that keeps coming up that I see that offers frame only and fully built Bikes.. is Surly.. They aren't cheap.. but they really look bad ass.. and even brutish.. If I continue to get into Bikes and Touring becomes my thing.. I could see myself picking up one.. or buying one of their frames and doing a full custom build.

Thoughts?

Touring is awesome and many of the bikes that come from that riding are awesome as well. The bike we are talking about here the New Albion is a touring frame and if I didn't already have a Co-Motion Cascadia I might tour on that. It is decent and cheap which doesn't always come up together. However if I did tour on it I would not go flat bar but either drops or a multi position bar like a Jones Loop or butterfly or something like that.

Surly makes an excellent bike with decent quality components that make for great upgrading. I had a Disc Trucker and loved it and the reason I sold it and went for the Co-Motion is I figured out what I wanted in my bike (at the time) and went with that...since then my mind has changed a little and I wish I had done a few things differently (though would still stick with Co-Motion). Getting a Surly frame and doing a build on it would be excellent. I am happy to provide tips and pointers or send you the build list on the Co-Motion (though you can find it through PedalRoom just search Wagon Queen Family Truckster or it is listed with the bike above)

I would also put in a plug for the Specialized AWOL Expert (with new cranks...road triples aren't ideal for touring) It isn't spec'd in drivetrain and shifting as I would like but the rest is excellent and it has massive tire clearance and a full complement of good racks, fenders and dynamo lights and charger.

Maybe something like the following?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/19-MARIN-CO...wAAOSwehZaAm3S

That particular seller I think buys a lot of overstock and parts it out. $90 for a frame is probably not bad.

None of the above is necessary for what the OP was asking. As for ride quality, people will say aluminum rides harsh and that steel is more comfortable, but to me I can't tell the difference. I have two steel, two aluminum, and one carbon bikes, and no one bike is more or less comfortable than the other. The fit of the bike is more important in determining how comfortable it rides. Maybe I'm not all that discerning, but I do put over 10,000 collective km's on them every year.

Well, that, at least in part, explains your bias against Giant.

Hell yea, I'd appreciate that.. I looked at the Comotion site to see what they build their Bikes with.. and Notice they often use FSA Cranks.. I know nothing about them and or if they are any good. IE FSA AFterBurner or FSA Energy
So, down the road.. After I really ride the crap out of my Toughroad.. I'll have a better Idea of what I want in a Bike. I do think I will do the build on a Surly Frame like the Ogre or Troll.. Everything else Will be determined later.

What do bare frames go for from Surly normally?

Fit is always important but I can tell the difference on frame material. 4 steel bikes 1 aluminum bike and 1 titanium bike, some have slightly different fits but in general my ti bike, one of my steel bikes and my aluminum bike are similar in fit and I prefer the ti or steel any day. Aluminum has certainly gotten a little bit better in terms of comfort but will not equal steel. Plus a carbon fork always helps dampen road vibration so if you run one of those it might add to the comfort or if you have really nice roads.

Yeah the being an ex-dealer does but I don't hate our other brands in the same way. The Escapes have the most trouble of any bike we have sold and I see a ton of them back in within a week of purchase (and sometimes multiple times) not because we didn't build them right or they didn't get properly exit tuned but because they are just cheap crap. Their higher end stuff fared a little better but they love their proprietary stuff so if your seat post breaks, you are screwed. If your rack fails you are screwed...other things like that and not talking aero or TT bikes those are a special beast for any company.

FSA makes a ton of stuff none of it that horribly exciting but it works. They might get a better deal on FSA cranks or FSA might do a better job for chainring sizing and triples then Shimano. If I was going double I would probably go with White Industries for MUSA factor or Sugino and triples I will happily stick with Sugino.

I didn't buy a complete Co-Motion and haven't bought a complete bike since my Surly. I would certainly say for a consumer buying complete is way cheaper but building up bikes is fun and I have particular things that I like and use and don't really like to vary and somethings I am flexible on but want higher quality then sometimes a brand will use for that part. Most companies will use round dropbars and I just don't like them I prefer flat top bars in particular the Zipp Service Course SL-70 Ergo (however for a weight penalty and price reduction the non-SL is perfectly fine and has the same shape)

A frame is probably between $600-900 or so. You might get lucky and find one cheaper on a clearance but usually around that is reasonable.

Hi Veganbikes,
Have you slightly changed your position on the Disc Trucker/LHT?


I thought previously you said that they were okay, but that there is a lot better out there(for presumably not that much more money)?


From reading this post, you appear to have a fondness for the Disc Trucker/LHT that pleasantly surprises me, as I am considering getting a LHT frame and building it up.


Were your previous comments about the DT/LHT more about the overall build that comes with a complete bike that Surly sell, or were you just talking about the frame.

6500 brifters will not correctly pull v brakes without travel agents.

My DT was a stock bike that I upgraded and modified overtime.
I did change to a setback post (with a Cambium saddle) and I believe I had a 90mm stem with Zipp Service Course SL-70 Ergo bars in a 42cm with 4 10mm spacers underneath (I believe) but when I moved to the Co-Motion I think I went with a higher rise 110mm stem because it needed to be longer with the rise.

I don't think the DT was horrible stock but I wanted better more comfortable bars and I think the only bars I could find like the ones I have but in a 26 bar clamp were some older Bontrager (not Keith but Trek) flat top bars in some shop far away who may not have even had them and I had no interest in trying to find stuff that would be equal cost to the new bars. I guess part of me wanted to be a little closer in but that might have been me getting used to road cycling coming from an old rigid mtb/hybrid.

Is that true for all STI shifter V-brake combos? Do they just not pull enough cable for you to run enough clearance with the rim?

I would totally rock one of those and not think twice about it.

TRP CX 8.4 are designed for road levers for cyclocrossers so no travel agent is needed. Apparently they are quite nice and I have considered trying them but the Revox cantis they make have worked just dandy for me.

I don't know of any other road linear pull brakes but I know Cane Creek does the Drop V lever for linear pull brakes on road bikes but you would need to use bar end or downtube shifters or go Di2 and use satellite shifters instead of the "brifters"

Agree that that Marin frame looks unbeatable for the price. About steel versus aluminum, to each his own. I have steel, carbon, and aluminum bikes. The steel bikes have just sat around collecting dust for the last 10 years. I love my aluminum bikes.

Yes. Dual pivot and side pull brakes use the same pull ratio. Cantilever brakes also use the same pull ratio as STI of your vintage. Linear brakes (and mountain mechanical disc) use a different pull ratio.

On the plus side, if you do go with a hybrid or touring frame, cantilevers fit on the same brake bosses as linear brakes. And cantilevers aren't nearly as bad as some would have you believe. I have several bikes with cantilever brakes. They stop just as well as any other brake I own.