Discussion
I decided to have a go at building my own bike this year.. and because I'm an impatient sort of chap, we've only just reached the end of February and I've finished.
Here it is:
Sorry for the small picture!
Frame was the first purchase - a Planet X Carbon Nanolight which had been substantially reduced in their sale in January - down from £1200 to £500. I'd set aside £500 max for a frame and was delighted when this dropped into budget so I got it bought before they went out of stock. Having never built a bike before, I had no expectations on quality - and I know a lot of people say they're pretty much just standard chinese carbon frames - but the paint job seems pretty decent and I had no quality issues during assembly.
Rest of the spec.. full Shimano 105 5700 groupset. Went with 170mm crank arms, 11-25 cassette, 34/50 compact crankset.. also bought the matching 105 pedals. Wheelset is Mavic Aksium, tyres are Schwalbe Stelvio's. Seat post is an FSA SL-K carbon jobbie (bit of an extravagance but..) and the seat is a Charge Spoon Titanium. The bars are FSA Omega Compacts.
I wasn't going for weight saving or anything like that - I just wanted a road bike to enjoy for years to come and based on my first quick ride this evening (prior to getting the steerer tube cut) it feels superb. I'm REALLY happy
Will get some proper pictures when it's complete!
Here it is:
Sorry for the small picture!
Frame was the first purchase - a Planet X Carbon Nanolight which had been substantially reduced in their sale in January - down from £1200 to £500. I'd set aside £500 max for a frame and was delighted when this dropped into budget so I got it bought before they went out of stock. Having never built a bike before, I had no expectations on quality - and I know a lot of people say they're pretty much just standard chinese carbon frames - but the paint job seems pretty decent and I had no quality issues during assembly.
Rest of the spec.. full Shimano 105 5700 groupset. Went with 170mm crank arms, 11-25 cassette, 34/50 compact crankset.. also bought the matching 105 pedals. Wheelset is Mavic Aksium, tyres are Schwalbe Stelvio's. Seat post is an FSA SL-K carbon jobbie (bit of an extravagance but..) and the seat is a Charge Spoon Titanium. The bars are FSA Omega Compacts.
I wasn't going for weight saving or anything like that - I just wanted a road bike to enjoy for years to come and based on my first quick ride this evening (prior to getting the steerer tube cut) it feels superb. I'm REALLY happy
Will get some proper pictures when it's complete!
Edited by Chicane-UK on Monday 28th February 18:27
Thanks
It was slightly skewed by the fact that I got some stuff bought for me and had some vouchers as my birthday was in January..
But a quick fag packet calculation (including gifts) comes out as around £1,400... but that doesn't include grease, carbon assembly paste and various tools I bought to actually do the build.. so it probably owes about £1,500 all in.
I figure it doesn't necessarily deliver compared to just buying something like a Focus road bike from Wiggle, in that the Focus would have been cheaper. But I wanted to learn how it all works so I didn't have to depend on the LBS
And yes - steerer tube gets cut on Thursday
I just hadn't had a chance to try it on a small / local ride to see how it felt and whether I need to space it any more before deciding on where to cut it.
It was slightly skewed by the fact that I got some stuff bought for me and had some vouchers as my birthday was in January..
But a quick fag packet calculation (including gifts) comes out as around £1,400... but that doesn't include grease, carbon assembly paste and various tools I bought to actually do the build.. so it probably owes about £1,500 all in.
I figure it doesn't necessarily deliver compared to just buying something like a Focus road bike from Wiggle, in that the Focus would have been cheaper. But I wanted to learn how it all works so I didn't have to depend on the LBS
And yes - steerer tube gets cut on Thursday
I just hadn't had a chance to try it on a small / local ride to see how it felt and whether I need to space it any more before deciding on where to cut it. Nice one - good reliable build you have there and I'm sure you will enjoy it for many years to come.
Building your own bike up is rather satisfying isn't it? Did mine recently - it took me two days over the xmas hols. Have almost finished, forks and seatpost have both been ordered and then it will be complete (for now)
The only thing that needs to be re-done on mine are the bars, I made a bit of a mess wrapping them so that will need to be done at some point. Guess it just comes with practice.
Building your own bike up is rather satisfying isn't it? Did mine recently - it took me two days over the xmas hols. Have almost finished, forks and seatpost have both been ordered and then it will be complete (for now)
The only thing that needs to be re-done on mine are the bars, I made a bit of a mess wrapping them so that will need to be done at some point. Guess it just comes with practice.
Yeah - I didn't exactly do a bonza job on the bar tape either. Who'd of thought the mechanical stuff would be more straightforward than just wrapping some bar tape around the bars!
I watched some videos on YouTube before I did it and the experienced mechanics make it look so easy.. I think I've done a good enough job for now though that I can ride it and then worry about swapping the tape when it goes a bit grotty or comes undone or something!
I watched some videos on YouTube before I did it and the experienced mechanics make it look so easy.. I think I've done a good enough job for now though that I can ride it and then worry about swapping the tape when it goes a bit grotty or comes undone or something!
Got the forks cut at the LBS yesterday (did a very nice tidy job) but was out last night until late so didn't get a chance to put it together... so got up an hour early so I could sort it and ride it into work this morning
All went together nicely. Apart from a very minor miscalculation with the fork "bung" and top cap. I think I got the tube cut about 2mm too tall for how I'd measured. The top cap for the bung is slighly bevelled and basically was tightening up against the nut in the centre bung rather than compressing the stem down. Balls. Had some spare spacers though so stuck one on up top and then it all went together proper - but that's no big deal. I can get it cut again at a later point.
Rode in this morning and everything seemed fine - no teething problems as yet. I found it hard work going back to a geared bike again (been riding fixed now for a while) but can't believe the difference a carbon frame makes on slightly bumpy road surfaces compared to aluminium... it REALLY helps smooth things out a lot. Very enjoyable.
Needless to say it's not getting locked up outside with the other stuff... have dragged it up into the office instead
All went together nicely. Apart from a very minor miscalculation with the fork "bung" and top cap. I think I got the tube cut about 2mm too tall for how I'd measured. The top cap for the bung is slighly bevelled and basically was tightening up against the nut in the centre bung rather than compressing the stem down. Balls. Had some spare spacers though so stuck one on up top and then it all went together proper - but that's no big deal. I can get it cut again at a later point.
Rode in this morning and everything seemed fine - no teething problems as yet. I found it hard work going back to a geared bike again (been riding fixed now for a while) but can't believe the difference a carbon frame makes on slightly bumpy road surfaces compared to aluminium... it REALLY helps smooth things out a lot. Very enjoyable.
Needless to say it's not getting locked up outside with the other stuff... have dragged it up into the office instead
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