build a bike

superandrei said:

Hello ,has any of you ever tryed or think about building a bicycle ? how did it turn out ?

i built this by hand from mail order parts..

mostly Shimano LX/XT bits, the frame is Easton Elite hand made, Marzocchi Bombers easton bits and pieces with Mavics on XT hubs.

cost about £500 ish i think...rides like a dream, climbs like a monster truck and descends like a bullet...

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Here is my summer project. I ride it to school every day now. I designed and built the frame myself, using carbon fiber cloth and epoxy, and a few pieces of aluminum. It works great!

TD

I recently "found" a tri/tt frameset in my LBS. I am building it up as a cross town sprint bike, see signature for progress...

Built mine up three years ago. I found a carbon beam frame that Trek made back in the late 90's, that can be had fairly cheap now since it's out of production. Added a new Campy Chorus group, Cinelli bars, Selle SLR saddle, Campy wheels, put it all together over a couple of weekends.

Assembly isn't hard. Installing the bottom bracket was the trickiest part - easy to cross the threads, and I had a real wrestling match when I ran the cables through the handlebars. Otherwise, it was pretty much plug and play.

It does cost a bit more to roll your own, but you get exactly what you want, and there's a certain sense of pride in riding a bike that's uniquely yours. Total cost wasn't that bad - around USD$2k, and that's with a new/never built frameset, new Chorus group, and new Zonda wheels. I probably could have shaved $500-600 off of that with a used Ultegra group and lesser wheels.

tyler_derden said:

Here is my summer project. I ride it to school every day now. I designed and built the frame myself, using carbon fiber cloth and epoxy, and a few pieces of aluminum. It works great!

TD

That's a fantastic machine!! I built my bike as well but it's not nearly as interesting as that.

Mine has a Holdsworth 531 frame and forks, Handbuilt wheels (campag hubs with mavic rims), Reasonable quality shimano chainset and utterly horrid weinmann brakes.
lovely bike to ride

JohnO said:

Total cost wasn't that bad - around USD$2k, and that's with a new/never built frameset, new Chorus group, and new Zonda wheels.

That's probably not too much over what the frame alone retailed for. I spent about $1500 building up my TiSport with Campy Veloce last fall. If you're patient you can pick up a lot of end of season closeout deals in the next couple of months.

[font=Times New Roman]I have built all of my bikes (83 Bianchi w/Campy NR, 02 Raleigh International with 105, 02 Specialized Sirrus with Deore) from parts I could scrounge or buy on line. It isn't that difficult to put a bike together if you are mechanically inclined, have done some reading on bike building, and have the right tools. The hard part is dialing everything in – adjusting derailleurs, adjusting breaks, and truing wheels. If you have trouble with the adjustments you can always build the bike and then take it to your LBS for a tune up.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman] [/font]

[font=Times New Roman]That said, it takes a lot of time to hunt down the best deals on frames and components. And, many times it ends up being cheaper to get the same or similar fully built bike brand new.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman] [/font]

[font=Times New Roman]I would say if you are looking to do it for fun or as a learning experience then go for it. If you are looking to do it to save money do your research first.[/font]

Like build a bear for kids? A bike store or shop would be cool if they did that. They could do it on-line. You could build it and get it shipped. It would save the company a ton.

This is a guide to building up a bike from parts. It should help you get the parts and tools you need to get you pedalling along in no time. It assumes that you have tinkered with your bike, but are not an expert. Hope it helps! .
Here is a list of parts you'll need:
Frame
Fork
Headset
Rear derailleur
Front derailleur (optional)
Brakes
Brake Levers
Shifters
Headset
Cable guide
2 x derailleur cables
2 x brake brakes
4' derailleur housing
4' brake housing
cranks
bottom bracket
pedals
wheels
cassette
chain
seat post
seat
seat clamp
brake hangers front / rear if you use cantilever brakes
stem
handlebars
tires/tubes

I have only built my bikes. This way I get exactly what I want exactly how I want. As I get my parts online and a few bits at a time, the cost is amortized over several months.

Muhammad adnan said:

This is a guide to building up a bike from parts.
wheels

Wheels? I thought this was build a bike thread. 😄

Build the wheels too! 😉

Velocity fusion rims. Nice! I used the Velocity mountain hubs with mine. The set I'm building for Shattentänzerin will have Mische RG2 hubs and CKO rims. I'll be lacing the rear 4x and the front 3x. 32° using DT Swiss double butted spokes. As I'm building this as a touring rig, strength is a primary factor.

JSWin said:

*I just dug up another very old thread*.

I don't wanna dampen your enthusiasm, but can you please stop doing this? 😄
It confuses me :p

superandrei said:

Hello ,has any of you ever tryed or think about building a bicycle ? how did it turn out ?

I'm on my 5th such; it's been the only way I'd GO, because I want what I want on a bike, as opposed to the compromises of a product manager.

My present bike:

'06 Kona Coiler frame
Cane Creek Tank headset
Manitou Nixon Comp fork
Deore Octalink crankset
Nukeproof wheelset
X.9 shifters/rear de, X-Gen front de
BB7 185mm disc brakes

I WAS running a Race Face stem and Answer bar with Northshore lock-ons, but I had to make an adjustment to my riding due to a permanent injury. Now, it's a shorter generic stem and Electra-style ape hangers.

Gnufrau said:

Velocity fusion rims. Nice! I used the Velocity mountain hubs with mine. The set I'm building for Shattentänzerin will have Mische RG2 hubs and CKO rims. I'll be lacing the rear 4x and the front 3x. 32° using DT Swiss double butted spokes. As I'm building this as a touring rig, strength is a primary factor.

FWIW ...

I know I am amongst the minority (but, I am not alone, BTW) in the following observation ...

[INDENT]Despite the Conventional Wisdom that a wheel laced with double butted spokes is a somehow a 'stronger' (?!?) wheel than a single gauge spoke whose ends are the same thickness, I find that to be incredible ...

[INDENT]No matter ...

[INDENT]BTW. I believe that there is a reason for the myth ... but, that's more off topic than I should mention, here.[/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT]

Regardless, wheels laced with double butted spokes will NOT be as laterally stiff as wheels laced with single gauge spokes whose ends are the same thickness ...

[INDENT]Does THAT matter?

[INDENT]I think it does ...[/INDENT]
And, while one person who previously could not differentiate between Hook's Law & Captain Hook also apparently thought that lateral & vertical are the same (!?!) ...

[INDENT]They are obviously different.
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
IMO, if you want to build a stronger rear wheel, you may also want to consider using a 36º rim & rear hub ... laced x4* ... rather than a 32º rim & rear hub.

[INDENT]* Several years ago I had read that someone suggested lacing a 32º rear wheel with x3 on the driveside & x2 on the non-driveside ...

[INDENT]THAT makes sense to me for several reasons ...[/INDENT]
The idea-AND-result is that the tension on the non-driveside spokes will be a little closer to the tension on the driveside spokes ...

[INDENT]And so, the wheel should (theoretically) be a little stronger than a wheel which has the same lacing pattern on both sides ...[/INDENT]
Generally, I have subsequently (but, not always) laced my 32º rear wheels with x3 on the driveside and x2 on the non-driveside ...

And, my 36º rear wheels which are laced x4 on the driveside are then laced with x3 on the non-driveside ...

I have an older 40º Tandem wheel (which I re-spaced to 130mm so I could use the wheel in a Road frame) which was laced with the same x4 pattern on both sides, but perhaps I should now go back & re-lace that wheel's non-driveside to x3.
[/INDENT]
The caveat of the 'asymmetric' lacing is that it takes LONGER to a lace the spokes (at least for me) because you have to offset the spokes on the non-driveside in an atypical way (i.e., you have to think about where on the non-driveside of the hub to start the first spoke ... and, I often have to re-do the first spoke) ...

[INDENT]Only a few minutes of time are lost, so it's a very small nuisance which I have been willing to deal with ...

[INDENT]Of course, if I took the time to look at a previously laced rear wheel OR if I simply made some notes then no time should be lost.[/INDENT][/INDENT]

[INDENT][/INDENT]

alfeng said:

FWIW ...

I know I am amongst the minority (but, I am not alone, BTW) in the following observation ...

[INDENT]Despite the Conventional Wisdom that a wheel laced with double butted spokes is a somehow a 'stronger' (?!?) wheel than a single gauge spoke whose ends are the same thickness, I find that to be incredible ...

[INDENT]No matter ...

[INDENT]BTW. I believe that there is a reason for the myth ... but, that's more off topic than I should mention, here.[/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT]

Regardless, wheels laced with double butted spokes will NOT be as laterally stiff as wheels laced with single gauge spokes whose ends are the same thickness ...

[INDENT]Does THAT matter?

[INDENT]I think it does ...[/INDENT]
And, while one person who previously could not differentiate between Hook's Law & Captain Hook also apparently thought that lateral & vertical are the same (!?!) ...

[INDENT]They are obviously different.
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
IMO, if you want to build a stronger rear wheel, you may also want to consider using a 36º rim & rear hub ... laced x4* ... rather than a 32º rim & rear hub.

[INDENT]* Several years ago I had read that someone suggested lacing a 32º rear wheel with x3 on the driveside & x2 on the non-driveside ...

[INDENT]THAT makes sense to me for several reasons ...[/INDENT]
The idea-AND-result is that the tension on the non-driveside spokes will be a little closer to the tension on the driveside spokes ...

[INDENT]And so, the wheel should (theoretically) be a little stronger than a wheel which has the same lacing pattern on both sides ...[/INDENT]
Generally, I have subsequently (but, not always) laced my 32º rear wheels with x3 on the driveside and x2 on the non-driveside ...

And, my 36º rear wheels which are laced x4 on the driveside are then laced with x3 on the non-driveside ...

I have an older 40º Tandem wheel (which I re-spaced to 130mm so I could use the wheel in a Road frame) which was laced with the same x4 pattern on both sides, but perhaps I should now go back & re-lace that wheel's non-driveside to x3.[/INDENT]
The caveat of the 'asymmetric' lacing is that it takes LONGER to a lace the spokes (at least for me) because you have to offset the spokes on the non-driveside in an atypical way (i.e., you have to think about where on the non-driveside of the hub to start the first spoke ... and, I often have to re-do the first spoke) ...

[INDENT]Only a few minutes of time are lost, so it's a very small nuisance which I have been willing to deal with ...

[INDENT]Of course, if I took the time to look at a previously laced rear wheel OR if I simply made some notes then no time should be lost.[/INDENT][/INDENT]

[INDENT][/INDENT]

I was mentioning that I was lacing my own wheels in the interests of strength. The Double butted spokes are for weight savings. Vertical strength is achieved by the medium profile rims and overall strength is achieved by the lacing pattern. Lateral strength is maintained by spoke tension on my wheels. Lateral strength is secondary on my wheels as I will not be wailing in them as a racer would. These are for a touring bike, not a racer. As such, it will not be experiencing quite the lateral torsion that a racing bike does. Vertical strength is important because of the loads that a touring bike carries.

Hey, builders!

I'm Mannu. I've built several bikes by now, and I'm shopping around for my next build. I think I want to do a big bore oldschool metal-tank enduro next.

I'm excited to be here and will probably be posting up quite a bit!