Hey all.

I've got an old steel frame that I may be looking to build up into something worth riding sometime soon. Before any of that happens I would plan to sand and repaint it, spread the back end, and get a whole new set of components. Since this is really just a fun project, I'm just looking to do it cheaply (ie cheap wheels, older/used cassette, rings, crank, BB, and microShift to see how that goes.) Granted it's summer right now in the states, but given how much free time I'd have and how long I'd expect this to take, I don't plan to have it done by the end of this season.

That being said, I'm not blessed with an overabundance of spare cash and before I tackle this, I want to price it out. Right now it looks like I could do it for about $550 (USD) which is kind of acceptable. Though it doesn't account for much going wrong. But since I've only just jumped into this recently, I've never priced parts in the predominant winter months. Do components like that (eg 105 cassettes and chains) tend to be any cheaper in the winter, or is it a mixed bag the whole way through?

Thanks for any input you may have. I'd appreciate it.
Also if I've missed something and this has been asked before, feel free to point me to the thread and that will suffice. Take care, all!

It is fun building a bike up from a frame but it is almost never worth doing so from a straight dollars and cents point of view. Still it sounds that you have the right attitude since you are doing this for fun.

If you really want to save money on parts, you could go pre-indexing. Then you can hunt for parts in a bike co-op and/or find a cheap vintage bike as a donor.

Since you're spreading the frame (presumably to 130), it seems that you want some kind of modern indexing system. Best bet to save money is to find a donor bike. The other possibility is to look for deep sales which do occur from time to time. I'd sign up at some of the usual mail order suspects for their specials. Nashbar will blow things out from time to time or have fairly deep sales. Amazon doesn't do specials but its prices are often very aggressive. Bike island (which is the sister site for bikes direct) sells parts and wheels and its prices are often very, very good. I'm looking for a wheelset and it has excellent prices on those.

Based on what little you posted I'd caution you to see if the frame is worth fixing up. It's one thing if you have a bike that is somewhat compatible - English BB, short reach brakes, some normal kind of seat post diameter. I'm assuming 1" steerer so you'll probably need to stick with a quill stem, although there are 1" threadless forks and all 1 1/8" stems work with such forks with a spacer that used to be included with every stem purchase (so lots of people have these unused spacers laying around).

Depending on where in ME you live you may be able to visit local shops for various things - said 1" threadless adapter (and maybe even a reasonable fork), quill stems, bars, saddle, post, etc. A lot of shops will have "take-off" parts, stuff they removed in either new or lightly-used condition, stuff that can still work for years and years. Usually it's fit or less/non-wear related, so bars, stem, post, brake calipers, maybe cranks.

Finally a donor bike might make sense. If you have some basic knowledge on bikes you may be able to get a bike to strip down, with a modern drivetrain, wheels, etc. I was seriously contemplating this for my beater mtb - I could get a bike that was too large and use most of the components on my current mtb. I could then sell the frame/fork set up to make some of my money back. I never did this because it's truly a beater bike, but that's a thought. For you it would open up some options - buying a bike that's too big isn't a problem if the wheels, crank length, drivetrain, and you can use some of the other stuff.

Based on friends/family that live in ME (Camden, Alna, Kingston) there are shops out there with pretty good stock of older/take-off parts.

Hope this helps
cdr

i've had fantastic fortune at retrobike and london fixed gear forum classifieds.. BF also has a good c&v classified section.

https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...-Vintage-Sales

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=22
https://www.lfgss.com/forum6.html

i will echo the above statement that you should start with a frameset that is worth building up, which you can also find on those sites.

Thanks for your input, bikemig. I don't know why I never checked those earlier, but ehy're already looking better.

You're right, I do need to check on the brakes and bottom bracket. Those are the pieces that I'm mostly concerned about. I also don't remember if this particular frame is an integrated derailleur hanger or not, which could cause some problems. The bike in question is about 2.5 hours away at the moment, so I am really hyopthetical at the moment, but those were on the to-do list. Also the fork, headset, stem, and bars are all already on the frame, so I wasn't explicit, but I don't plan to get new ones of those.

I do like the idea of a donor bike - another thing I hadn't thought of - but I think I'm going to avoid it if possible. There were three reasons for this (hypothetical build): To build a bike for the kicks and experience of it, to experiment with the microShift levers and mechs, and to use up the frame that's been sitting in the garage. It kinda bothers me to have it and not use it. So a donor bike would get this off the ground, but leave me with that same problem. It's a little compulsive, but you know...

I actually do have most of what I'd need to do a pre-indexing, but I like the idea of indexing for a few reasons: it makes for a better ride (at least in my opinion), it would be nice to have a steel bike with indexing, and i want to play with the microShift mechanics.

Thanks for your input. It's very helpful!