When off work for several weeks after an operation a couple of years ago, I decided to build-up a TT bike as 'a project'.
I fancied the idea of 'building my own bike' and it would be something to do with all the time I had on my hands.
I bought the frame and all the bits on
eBay over several weeks, as I could be patient and wait for decent prices.
When eventually I had everything, I screwed it together and hit a major anti-climax : it was far, far quicker and easier than I'd anticipated !
Even with lots of take-it-slowly, working-out how things go together, playing around and experimenting, it took less than an afternoon to assemble the basic bike, plus the following morning to cable it and fit the bartape, etc. - the stuff where there's a choice of just shoving it on quickly or taking time to do very neatly and precisely.
I think if I were to do it again, now understanding how to do it, it would take me only 2 or 3 hours...
I'd kind of imagined it as a project like building a kit car, but it was far simpler, easier and quicker than that so I was left a bit disappointed.
I've seen bike shops charging £20 or £30 to assemble a bike, presumably they can do it in an hour or two.
What was fun about it was that everything was clean, nothing was covered in roadgrime, nothing was seized or stuck and wouldn't come out of the frame, and there was no worries about staying up late at trying to fix it so that I could get to work in the morning
- a bit like those car Haynes manuals where all the photos are of a shiny new car, when what you're trying to fix is a rusty filthy 10 year old one...
(thankfully she has yet to learn the true cost of bike bits). Suffice to say - it's considerably more
then put a mark in the stearer, remove the stem again and use a hacksaw to cut the stearing tube down to size. Should I be cutting just a few mm from the top of where the stem would rest?
