so in the spirit of winter ending, and spring racing starting in brooklyn in little over 2 weeks, i decided to make a crit bike that i wouldn't mind crashing in cat5 races. it actually makes no sense that i would have a caad9 (great as a crit bike) built up with sram force/red that i don't race, but i'd like to hold off on using that until i personally feel a bit more comfortable avoiding the pile ups. anyway, i was looking for a cheap frame for the past month, and after failing miserably, i figured how bad could a performance frame be, and at 90 dollars shipped, it wouldn't break the bank (even as a college student). plz ignore the mess (i was assembling this as a break from studying).

current build plans:

performance house brand frame ($90)
carbon fork from an orbea ora ($60)... yes i know this is from a tt bike
alex r500 wheels ($110)
shimano 105 shifters + derailleurs ($130 total)
shimano ultegra chain ($25)
shimano ultegra cassette ($20)
fsa gossamer crankset ($35)
easton ea70 ergobars ($15)
easton ea50 stem ($4)
easton ea50 seatpost ($15)
assorted other crap... saddle, bars, cables, seatclamp ($100)

total cost: $~600 for a full 105 bike, not too bad right?

one thing that does elude me are downtube cable stops (will take donations on those )... i just don't understand how the little buggers can cost 25 dollars! anyhoo, will eventually post pics of the complete bike, just thought i'd post about the frame since some people have asked me when i first planned the project. build quality is moderate, the bb and headtube are properly faced, only drawback is that it's kind of heavy and the welds aren't gorgeous...

on an unrelated sidenote, the sram crankset boxes make really good makeshift bike stands!

Nice work stand; is that original? Lp

i'm sure those performance frames ride just as well as the branded stuff, given the same geometry, looks good.

whats your major, major?

Keep the pictures coming!

+1

I like the looks of the frame. The fork, is it from a black/white Ora? If so, it should look like pr0n.

oh it is, good thing i kept my red crank box around... i thought it looked nice, but i didn't think it'd have a second purpose

chemE... or matsci, i haven't decided yet. i have 2 weeks to pick which goes on the diploma. 1 thing is for sure tho, i'll be in matsci for grad school next year... now to pick between penn, mit, harvard, and stanford tough life i know...

will do... if ebay sellers ship things on time, and my school's package center doesn't take an additional 2 days to process a package

oh it's black and white for sure i bought the frame AFTER i bought the fork

more stuff came in... this'll be more or less what it looks like (i need to get the headset pressed in) but yeah, it's not all that bad looking a bike with all the decals removed.

Wow the search feature here stinks....I was just asking in another thread about a build like this.

Do you think that if you had chosen all used and or lesser components that this build could come in at right around $300?

Also, which size frame did you order, and what size (cm) did it actually turn out to be?

uh... i did for the most part use used components, the 105 shifters, rd, crankset are all used... only the small parts (seatpost, bars, fd) are new. uh... i highly doubt it'd be possible to build a raceable bike at 300. the frame comes out to 90 and the fork would cost 30 or 40 at cheapest, and even a cheap wheelset is 70 or so. you won't find a group for 100 dollars.

i got a small, and it came in at a 51 cm ST, but the TT is actually the same length as my caad9 which is a 48. fit is comparable actually.

finally finished the sucker, which is unfortunate since i can't even ride it (friggin rowing injury the week before the first race of the brooklyn spring series).

optimistic timeline 6 weeks
non optimistic timeline... let's not talk about that

great budget build

great budget build for sure. where did you find those deals - ebay?

i had a feeling you'd like my performance build did you get your fit dialed in on the scattante? no more attack of the spacers i hope? (just messin' with ya)

half from ebay, 1/4 from teammates, 1/4 from EP in a shop, mostly the bars, stem, assorted other parts

Nice work! I had been looking at that frame as another project build too....

Do you happen to know the frame weight?

1726 for the frame (pretty spot on to what was listed)

and in the interest of full disclosure, the final build didn't cost 600 like anticipated haha, the small parts really added up + assembly costs for the HS etc. i ended up paying about 750 or 800, which still seems really solid for a 105 bike.

Your not finding better prices than what he paid for almost each item. NO way you will find things like the Stem, Handlebars, seatpost cheaper. Very nice build on such a fantastic overall budget. I think the front fork gives it just enough character to pull off all the other white.

Starting to look really nice mate!
The Orbea fork looks awesome on this build

great work on this build. i like it, looks very functional.

i am also convinced that white bar tape can make any bike look better.

Out of curiosity, where did you find those parts at those prices? Ebay? Used?

I have NFI why anyone says that... it looks almost universally shiesen to my eye.

Black FTW.

Besides, if you reckon white looks good, how about the colour it becomes after you use it?

It's just silly. And ghey, IMO.

Well, i certainly wouldn't want my bar tape to be 'ghey'.

Puce would be manlier.

The white tape tradition just leaves me totally puzzled sometimes... I've seen so many badarse bikes with their sleek aesthetics just totally spoilt by by this arbitrary splash of white, often the only instance of the colour on the whole bike.

Tradition, is the only reason I can come up with. I can feel a thread coming on...

"ghey" is that a brother to whey?