Building your own MTB, how much?

[jamiebae]

I'm a roadie but N+1 is calling, and having never built a bike from scratch I'd like to have a go at building one. It doesn't need to be high end, and I like the idea of 1x10 transmission, I'm thinking a steel frame, front suspension and that's about it really.

What am I looking at on transmission, wheels, forks and brakes? I'll probably go for a Genesis Latitude frame, not sure about 27.5 or 29 though.

Can I do it for £300 exc the frame? Needs to be all new unfortunately, and probably come from Wiggle or one of the big German online retailers due to international shipping.

Any ideas?

[Eleven]

jamiebae said:

I'm a roadie but N+1 is calling, and having never built a bike from scratch I'd like to have a go at building one. It doesn't need to be high end, and I like the idea of 1x10 transmission, I'm thinking a steel frame, front suspension and that's about it really.

What am I looking at on transmission, wheels, forks and brakes? I'll probably go for a Genesis Latitude frame, not sure about 27.5 or 29 though.

Can I do it for £300 exc the frame? Needs to be all new unfortunately, and probably come from Wiggle or one of the big German online retailers due to international shipping.

Any ideas?

It was a while ago, but I built a couple of MTBs. I used donor bikes, plus my choice of new frame. I ended up with the bike I wanted, but it wasn't a particularly economical thing to do. The value was, and I am guessing still is, in buying new complete bikes.

[skibum]

Depends what level of kit you want. If you're adamant that you want new, then a mediocre set of wheels and forks is going to take up half your budget. You will then not have much left for the groupset, let alone tyres, handlebars, stem, grips, brakes, seat post, saddle, peddles, inner-tubes, headset. I think you'll struggle.

I've built up a lot of mtb's and mainly used second hand parts off eBay. You always start out with a budget, but it always creeps over - normally way over!

[Tiddy1]

The simple answer is no, here are some mininimum expected costs

Wheels, tyres, tubes £200
Forks, £200 for sus, £100 for rigid
Bars, stem, grips, headset £100
seat, seatpost, clamp £100
drivetrain, cassette, chain, cranks, rear mech, shifter £200
pedals £20

so without the frame you are looking at £720

[jamiebae]

Tiddy1 said:

The simple answer is no, here are some mininimum expected costs

Wheels, tyres, tubes £200
Forks, £200 for sus, £100 for rigid
Bars, stem, grips, headset £100
seat, seatpost, clamp £100
drivetrain, cassette, chain, cranks, rear mech, shifter £200
pedals £20

so without the frame you are looking at £720

Really?

I can see forks for £100 for suspension, I have a spare seat already but don't see how I'd manage to spend £100 on the post and clamp, likewise I'm sure you can get bars, stem and headset for a lot less than £100.

I want something entry level, so I'm not looking at SRAM X1 or Shimano SLX stuff really.

[neenaw]

If you're looking at £100 suspension forks, you'd probably be better off building it up with a rigid fork. A rigid fork will most probably ride better than a £100 suspension one.

For other bits you could shop around with some of the European retailers like Rose, Bike-discount.de, Hibike etc and I'm sure you'll get some bargains on the finishing kit. I think you'd need to be pretty lucky or clever with what you're buying to get it for £300 excluding the frame.

[jamiebae]

So something like this is not a good idea then?

http://www.wiggle.com/rockshox-xc30-tk-coil-100mm-...

I was hoping with a smattering of Deore bits, and some bargain finishing kit it should be achievable, maybe £300 is pushing it slightly given the price of wheels which aren't boat anchors made of cheese I guess.

[SkinnyBoy]

Start with a rough estimate of cost, then double it. Ive built a dozen or so bikes in the last 10 years and every single one started out as a "oh i'll just use these bits" then I spot a deal on a groupset or a spangly fork.

[craigthecoupe]

if you want to do it, then just do it, but as above, it will cost much more in the long run. i enjoy messing about with bikes and am building my 3rd at the moment, but it really isnt the cheap option.

[Zippee]

neenaw said:

If you're looking at £100 suspension forks, you'd probably be better off building it up with a rigid fork. A rigid fork will most probably ride better than a £100 suspension one.

For other bits you could shop around with some of the European retailers like Rose, Bike-discount.de, Hibike etc and I'm sure you'll get some bargains on the finishing kit. I think you'd need to be pretty lucky or clever with what you're buying to get it for £300 excluding the frame.

Totally agree with the forks, if you must have shocks then for £100 look on Ebay as you'll be better off with rigid at that price point.

[P-Jay]

For that sort of money I'd stick with an off-the-shelf bike, especially if your main driver on parts is cost. Custom builds are for people who obsess over every detail.

[W00DY]

£300 isn't going to happen for new stuff unless it's total garbage. £400 is doable with some effort, here's a couple of bargains I've found

These forks will be a fair bit nicer than the ones you've posted and a bargain at £90

http://www.merlincycles.com/rockshox-xc32-tk-29er-...

With some reasonable wheels puts you at £170

http://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-mt15-29er-mtb-...

Most of the drivetrain will be cheaper from somewhere like Rose, at your budget it's going to need to be 9 speed.

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-alivio-...

Shimano Hydro brakes are the way to go too

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-altus-m...

All the little extras will soon add up though.

[neenaw]

jamiebae said:

So something like this is not a good idea then?

http://www.wiggle.com/rockshox-xc30-tk-coil-100mm-...

I was hoping with a smattering of Deore bits, and some bargain finishing kit it should be achievable, maybe £300 is pushing it slightly given the price of wheels which aren't boat anchors made of cheese I guess.

You'd be better off with a rigid carbon fork from somewhere like On-One.

Does it have to be geared? You could probably get around the £300+ frame mark if you were to build up a rigid singlespeed.

[wilbo83]

You could always buy a second hand bike and upgrade the bits that need it. I purchased an old scott hardtail for £80 on ebay and have so far upgraded bars, stem, grips, pedals, seatpost, saddle and forks. Next up is the frame, new brakes and groupset. At least you can do it in stages and still ride it.

[TheLemming]

There's also the "assemble a parts list and search ebay and small ads" approach

That netted me a SRAM red groupset minus shifters for £200, some barely used, some still retail boxed.
It did take a lot of shopping over a period of months (I like shopping for bike bits lol).

Still need some yaw shifters though... those are tricky to find at a sensible price.

[MadDad]

I built a steel framed Blue Pig a few years ago, everything I bought was in a sale or clearance (with the exception of the fork which I bought second hand off a friend). My plan was to keep it to £750, I suffered from budget creep;

[jamiebae]

Where I live gears are essential, on or off road

So maybe a rigid front end is the way to go, but having looked a bit more I think off-the-shelf is probably a better option.

Secondhand bikes cost a fortune out here, and shipping them is a pain because of customs duty etc so I tend to stick to the big online retailers who get the paperwork right.

Thanks for all the ideas and help

[jamiebae]

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain/27/co...

Not steel, but probably the way to go if I want a cheap MTB to add to me Genesis collection. Or maybe one of these if I really want to build a toy...

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adventure/fram...

Rigid 29er frame, so should be able to build up something to mess about on relatively cheaply.

[anonymous-user]

Unless you're going to choose selected second hand parts, you are much much better off buying a compete bike, ideally, "last years" model, and then upgrading as an when things wear out!

[Eleven]

Max_Torque said:

Unless you're going to choose selected second hand parts, you are much much better off buying a compete bike, ideally, "last years" model, and then upgrading as an when things wear out!

I did this with my last road bike. Except I won't replace anything that isn't minor, I will just sell it and buy another new old stock model.