14bikeco custom bike

I think you are missing the point dorr, we have already established that it is much better to just get a cheap OTP or 2nd bike to get going many post ago. What pajamas is implying is that it is possible to build up a nice bike for £300-£500. I have to disagree with him because I'm finding it difficult to build a decent bike with that budget. I keep seeing post on this forum saying that "with £500 you can build a sweet bike, very nice bike..etc." which I find difficult to archive and misleading. And we have also established with edmundro that you can build a cheap bike and be happy with it. Maybe you will be happier riding a £700 bike, but that is relative. To me a very sweet bike would be the cinelli build I saw at tour de ville going for almost £3-4k.

Pajamas I didn't plug the figure out of thin air. I've been searching online shops trying to find best prices and taking into account shipping charges (buying from same online retailer would save on shipping but trying to balance price and shipping charges from so many online retailers to get best possible price is a headache) and the best I could come up with is around £620 and its a used frame and without compromising on totally crap components which will cost more in the long run. And the price I said is for new components. I haven't even taken into account tools cost if you were to build it yourself or mechanic cost if you let your lbs help you.

I'll be glad if you can help me spec up a steel frame bike for £300-£500 and be forever grateful. Heck, I'll even buy you a pint.

I wasn't trying to imply you were exaggerating things to yourself dude, I just think you've been led to believe that new retail is the only way. and I know the frustrations of building a bike and parts not happening quick enough. My first bike took six months to put together and for three of those months I was on the forum with gears and feeling like people were being rather generous letting me crash the party. But when the bills settled I brought the build in at £345; for that I got 20-year-old 531 road bike, stripped everything off except its headset, stem and front brake, and the rest was brand new except the saddle, which was a style option anyway. Okay, that was eighteen months ago, but the point is for that £345 I had sjsc fixed fixed to open pros, dt competition spokes, sugino rds, then still japan-only white tyres and a bio turbo saddle, all the shit I had planned for, and it wasn't like I was buying stuff off anyone on here (except the tyres). it's somewhere on the names and faces, it was a real nice build which I have since ridden 4,000 miles on and continue to ride daily. In other words it was no beater as far as I was concerned, and if you look at the spec I achieved you wouldn't come near it in the shops for even a hundred pounds more. But I was probably consciously buying - including scouring ebay nightly - for about five months. Over that time I learned and absorbed.

The thing is this forum is your most useful tool. But you can't absorb all the knowledge in even one month that's on here in terms of sourcing stuff and what not to buy at what price. the ebay thread alone is an almost unique feature for a forum that has a strong collector's contingent - most other areas people would be guarding their finds with secrecy. Here it's shared, we are definitely responsible for hiking prices in one sense, but there are also very knowledgable people frequently on that thread telling you when something stinks.. so you don't spend £200 on a unipac, for example, and watch it fall apart in the first two weeks you have it (which is no exaggeration at all).

I'm right in the last stages of a build at the moment and I still haven't got everything I need after two months - I figure it will be nearer three before I ride it out my front door for the first time. I reckon you need 3 months to build a bike that is as good a value example of what you want as you can reasonably get. This time I had no qualms in getting stuff off people on the forum - and yeah, I've got some good buys, but still bought new stuff and ebay finds. There is also the jumble route, which after the weekend I now know definitely starts reducing your retail costs.

New things are expensive, especially new things from japan at the moment, and you have to look at why you're being sold this idea of all new stuff. I don't want to go into my thoughts about OTP as I'm just not an OTP person, and not wanting to get specific and offend somebody by dissing certain manufacturers - lo-mid end new steel and alu frames are being sold as if they were particularly great, with a price tag to boot. They will be forgotten in a couple of years and have little resaleable value. At the same time there are steel frames out there that are going for a fraction of the cost of new ones which were made better and most likely will ride better. I would strongly recommend you ignore brand new frames if you want to build a good bike and keep it within £500.

as to me speccing it out - I hope what I've written shows you that I wouldn't even want to spec you a new bike, cos I don't think it's the best way forward. However, in the last three months, while trying to buy for the build I'm on at the moment, I can promise you I've seen:

new sugino rd crank + chainring - £69.95 (ebay)
ITM nos stem - £7 (Herne Hill jumble)
Archie Wilkinson speedway frame, track ends, endorsed by at least one good polo player - £99 (website)
Pair decent enough tyres e.g. rubino - £30 (online bike shop)
On-one fixed/fixed hub - £15 (go to thread about it to see the praise they get)
On -one front hub - £15 (website)
pair nos mavic rims, 32h - £25 (ebay)
tange headset - £10 (Herne Hill jumble)
shimano un52, 54 etc bb - £10 (online bikeshop)
alloy risers - £10 (ebay)
charge grips - £6 (evans)
caliper brake - £4 (ebay)
Lever - £7 (ebay)
nos Seat post - £7 (Herne Hill jumble)
izumi chain - £7 (Herne Hill jumble)

what have I missed? spokes? At the moment that's standing at £323. spokes take you up to £355. You haven't even gone on the forum at this point. For £45, some of which is probably made up of beer to socialise with them, I assure you a nice forum person will help you put it all together, taking you up to £400.

You probably won't find the sugino rd crankset very easily again (then again there may be one right now on ebay) so to play fair I'll suggest a no-name crank I saw at Herne Hill on Saturday that at £35, and put with a Gebhardt chainring for £25, will be far far better than the unipac one.

Add another £100 to that for whatever you need to do differently to feel right (if it was me I would probably try and find a very nice late 80s columbus or Reynolds road frame for £150 and ditch the Archie Wilkinson) and I have still saved you two hundred, and if you want it to be it's all brand new, and it looks pretty good and it's going to see you right for a good few thousand miles.

the polo guys are a good example of the divide between the need for bling and the need for enjoyment. some of those dudes have had some of the nicest bikes on the forum at various points. ask them what they ride these days and most of them admit they enjoy their polo bikes most of all, and a lot of those were built out of shagged but good parts.

I hope I've been of some help and maybe this shows I really am fervent when it comes to this end of things. don't get me wrong, TdV, 14 and BLB all have gorgeous stuff and the last few weeks I've bought things from each, but I'm a long way off feeling comfortable about spending £1000 on a bike cos I can't afford it. For me, building to a budget is a part of the fun I don't want to lose just yet - the feeling you have got a bargain, the feeling you have been clever and sniffed out a good deal - they make your bike look even better the day it's finally built.

most of all, enjoy the build process.