Building your own bike - good or bad idea?

[buzzy-beans]

As I am a dab hand at DIY covering all aspects of building and tuning car engines, making my own campervan out of an old wreck of a panel van, building in general etc. etc. I was wondering if I might make my own fast road bike.......................... is this a good idea or not seeing as, as yet I don't understand the terminology of the components involved, but I am willing to learn.

I am only considering going down this route as I am short in the leg and long in the body, as such I need to fine tune whatever bike I end up with so as to maximise the efficiency of it.

I just entered in "build your own bike" into Google and it came up with PLANETX, are they good or bad? Or whatever other reputable reliable company is out there on the internet for me to dabble into?

Many thanks

BB

 

[Widge]

Hi Buzzy-Beans,
When Planet X advertise their 'Build your own bike' option they are inviting you merely to spec how you would like your bike to be from a fairly limited set of options provided. They then 'build' it for you. You don't actually build it yourself!
You CAN buy all the necessary bits to do it yourself...but strangely-it works out way more expensive than letting them do it. If you know what you are doing home-building from scratch is fairly straight-forward but can go a bit awry if you are hoping to save money. If, however you have a personal and bespoke build in mind it is the way to go if you are up for it? It would (probably) be simpler for you to just change a few components on a stock bike to accommodate any anomaly you feel you may have wiv yer body proportions. You can change seatpost/saddle/crank-length/frame size s/stem length easily to make a bike fit better and more efficiently-always provided the basic frame size was in the ball-park to begin with.

HTH
w

 

[TheDoctor]

Ribble has a Bikebuilder on their website - start with a frame, and then add groupset, wheels, saddle and all the rest of it.
The bike does eventually arrive fully assembled, which may not be what you're looking for.

 

[youngoldbloke]

As I am a dab hand at DIY covering all aspects of building and tuning car engines, making my own campervan out of an old wreck of a panel van, building in general etc. etc. I was wondering if I might make my own fast road bike.......................... is this a good idea or not seeing as, as yet I don't understand the terminology of the components involved, but I am willing to learn.

I am only considering going down this route as I am short in the leg and long in the body, as such I need to fine tune whatever bike I end up with so as to maximise the efficiency of it.

I just entered in "build your own bike" into Google and it came up with PLANETX, are they good or bad? Or whatever other reputable reliable company is out there on the internet for me to dabble into?

Many thanks

BB

In that context I suspect 'build your own bike' refers to being able to choose and specify the components you require on the bike that Planet X then put together for you and then supply. Ribble ('Bike Builder') and others offer the same service. As to whether you should actually build/assemble your own from individual components, I'd advise not, until you have a basic knowledge of bikes and the the pitfalls you might encounter. Having said that IIRC Planet X do sometimes offer 'Kits' of parts for you to assemble yourself, at a discount on the assembled price. You don't get much of a choice - they choose the components, it is simply a cheaper way of getting one of their stock bikes - you wouldn't be able to 'fine tune' it anymore than if you bought it assembled. Buying frame and all the bits and pieces separately and assembling them is a very different (and probably much more expensive) approach, and questions of compatability and other issues arise - such as specialist tools required. Might be an idea to acquire a cheap 2nd hand roadbike and take it apart, then reassemble it and get to know how it all fits together. It's not actually difficult - I built my first quite high end road bike when I was around 14, although things weren't quite as 'technical' in those days - no indexed gears for example, but by the time I'd finished I knew every ball bearing and bolt on that bike and why it was there and how it worked.

 

[stumpy66]

I've built my last two bikes. Once you've decided on your frame, size and budget you need decide on your group set and wheels. I've found it cheaper, rewarding and I get I a bike with the spec I want

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Tools. You will need some tools you almost certainly don't own.

 

[Cycleops]

Going the Planet X route is a good idea. It won't cater for a particular physique but it does give you choice. If you want a bike to fit your own measurements you need to employ a custom frame builder, not cheap. If you build it yourself with stock parts it's going to be more expensive than ready made simply because the manufacturers are buying in bulk are going to buy group sets etc at a much lower price than you can.

Apart from Planet X there are many others who can build a bike to your spec, try Condor in London but it won't come cheap.

 

[vickster]

PX used to (recently) sell bike in a box for certain models which the buyer assembles. Don't know if they still do this

Kinesis also offer frame + all the parts in a kit

From what you said in another thread, your proportions aren't that odd for a man (shorter legs, longer torso), you may just need a shorter stem. Some shops will swap out gratis, otherwise, it might cost £20

 

[buzzy-beans]

I possibly didn't explain myself well enough in my OP.

I would get enormous satisfaction from buying every single individual component and then screwing/bolting the entire box of parts together myself, mad as that might appear to be. BUT of course I have to consider my very restrictive budget, as such if it is going to be less expensive to buy a bike from the likes of Decathlon, Merlin or Planet X and change a few things such as the cranks and the stem, then so be it.

At the moment, I believe I will need a 54 frame, fitted with 165 cranks and an extended stem due to my upper body length.

But in the mean time over the next few days I will compose a detailed list of my needs and see how it all starts to pan out................

 

[Will Spin]

Do it! I've built up my last 3 bikes. It gives you the opportunity to assemble the components that suit you and it really isn't that difficult - there's plenty of information about on the web, forums, uTube etc. Just take a bit of time to make sure that you have the initial bike spec determined and that the components that you want to buy are compatible. I don't think it's cheaper than buying a complete bike off the shelf, but you will end up with a bike you will like to ride.

 

[Tommy2]

I think it will only work out cheaper if you buy second hand or low quality/budget components.
You can get good deals on a groupset for instance when someone has bought a bike with a good frame but lower spec groupset that they have then removed straight away.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It's fun, go for it! You can build a bike just how you want it to be. It's fun searching for componants and matching bits. There are bargains to be had out there if you don't care about fashion.
9 speed is cheap, plentiful and works fine for example.
You can chose yiur own gearing set-up mixing touring, mtb and road bits etc.

 

[vickster]

I did it with my Genesis, well other than the actual building bit

Done because I wanted a sram groupset, stock bike came with Shimano. Would've been cheaper though

 

[Dirk]

How about going on a frame building course?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b...amsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#xxri=0
A pal of mine did this and ended up with a very nice bike.

 

[Bodhbh]

It's not gonna end up cheap - either adding up the cost of the bits, buying any tools required, or in your time. Timewise, you can prolly build it up in an afternoon - assuming you have everything you need at hand and there's no hiccups. But you need to do your homework on what you want and compatability issues, go shopping for the bits etc - and this adds up. Also, with the best planning and will in the world, on the day of the build something will not fit or turn out to be incompatible or there's be some issue of clearance, and the bike you were hoping to to give a test ride by tea time will still be in bits in the back yard. Then once you've ridden it a bit, you'll find out you don't want what you thought you wanted and need to change it

But the satisfaction is in overcoming all the above and having a machine you've built yourself and to your own spec, go for it.