Bike building

[jahlive905]

I want to build a road bike for my girlfriend. I'm not too clever on the DIY side of it so would need a bit of guidance. Does anyone know any recommended workshops that will guide me in building one over a couple of weeks? I'm also open to building it myself and using online tutorials if anyone knows of any? Looking to spend about £200 max. Is it possible? Your experiences?

 

[lpretro1]

If you only have £200 to spend you might be best buying a second hand bike and then practising skills needed on that before venturing onto any thing new. You are not going to be able to buy frame and parts new for that amount of money. There are oodles of online videos etc to assist as long as you are practically minded but you will also need quite a few specialist tools for certain jobs such as fitting headset, bottom bracket

 

[gbb]

Hi Jahlive...
Is the £200 max to build the bike ?
Realistically, as Ipetro says, its not enough.
A brief idea of cost for you...i upgraded and rebuilt a 1970/80s Raleigh 'racer'...good quality frame.
Bike...£50
New wheels...£80
Second hand crankset, front and rear derailleurs, handlebars, stem and saddle
New bartape, bottom bracket, long reach brake calipers
Various stuff out of a spares box.
Free Sora shifters (even second hand they arent cheap cheap)
Free powdercoating on the frame (owed a favour)
Free cassette.

It still cost £230, if i'd factored in shifters £300 and that still included a fair few second hand parts...and that was 5 years ago.
Then you'll probably need tools...

Its a great idea and a nice thing to do, but...

 

[vickster]

Look for a used btwin Triban or similar

Oh and let her choose it

 

[jahlive905]

Fair enough. I would love to build a bike though - just so I can learn exactly how the machine works a bit better. At the minute, I don't know a lot - I can change an inner and adjust my brakes. I think building a bike would force me to learn how the things works better. Say hypothetically, I'm willing to spend more than £200, how would I go about it? e.g. What are the main things I'm looking for in a frame? Just weight and size? Is it safe buying wheels second-hand? If so, which brands should I be looking at there?

I have the use of tools at a local bike co-op so wouldn't need to buy those.

 

[vickster]

You can buy wheels second hand but when you can get these new for under £70 there's no real need. Get a couple of vittoria rubino tyres for a tenner or so each and a couple of halfords tubes

http://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-wh-r501-clincher-road-wheelset-49086.html

The full group set is going to be the costly part unless you get lucky second hand, then all the extras add up, cables, seat post, stem, bars, tape, headset, saddle, all of those will be £10-30 each

Biggs is selling a Carrera for £150 delivered, if your gf is over 5'8 that would be a bit of a bargain. If she's shorter, it's going to be hard to get a frame

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/c...d-bike-ideal-starter-or-commuter-bike.187981/

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Does anyone know any recommended workshops that will guide me in building one over a couple of weeks?

Hi and welcome @jahlive905!
Are you trying to tell your girlfriend something?
I mean, build a bike for yourself first, if it does not collapse after, say, 500 miles, then build one for her
Joking aside, it would cost more than 200 pounds, I guess it would take more than a couple of weeks too if you haven't got the know how.
Search in your area for bike building classes or workshops. You tube is great, but you need to watch a few tutorials for each subject, some miss out basic important details, guess they think they are obvious.

 

[2clepto]

Fair enough. I would love to build a bike though - just so I can learn exactly how the machine works a bit better. At the minute, I don't know a lot - I can change an inner and adjust my brakes. I think building a bike would force me to learn how the things works better. Say hypothetically, I'm willing to spend more than £200, how would I go about it? e.g. What are the main things I'm looking for in a frame? Just weight and size? Is it safe buying wheels second-hand? If so, which brands should I be looking at there?

I have the use of tools at a local bike co-op so wouldn't need to buy those.

Imo id suggest buying two secondhand bikes for £50 each and strip them down, then rebuild, then consider a new build from this new perspective.

blast the other £100 on something similar to this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-pe...|pcrid|67090793342|pkw||pmt||prd|5360597817uk

then build in the house where its warm and allows you to think.

and get a stand for of ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-HOME-...d=100338&rk=1&rkt=30&mehot=pp&sd=390548015357