Why did you build your bike ?

[steve jobs' pancreas]

Faced with the prospect of needing to replace the Hecklersaurus I am trying to decide between some options, one of which is going for a new bike.

Which leads me to the question of choosing between buying off the rack or building one from scratch.

As a bike noob I'd be interested in hearing people's reasoning and experiences when building their ride.

 

[moorey]

No bike off the rack has ever ticked more than about 80% oh my boxes, no matter the build, brand or price.
I knows what’s I likes.

 

[stirk]

I replaced almost every component on my factory built bike. It was done over time but is indicative of a desire to get the bike just how I wanted it.

Given how long you keep bikes you really should build and get the bike just right the way you want it first time.

 

[c3024446]

I replaced almost every component on my factory built bike. It was done over time but is indicative of a desire to get the bike just how I wanted it.

Given how long you keep bikes you really should build and get the bike just right the way you want it first time.

I did this, but was within a few months scratching around for things to modify again. So my plan now is patience - waiting for a used one to come up that suits me 80%, then modding that.

 

[creaky]

Roadie I'd buy off the rack every time. Just not that many meaningful things to personalise, aside from wheels and saddle, which often people have already from a previous bike.

For a mtb, there are so many suspension options, gearing options, seatpost options etc. which make it unlikely that the more experienced rider would find something that ticks all their boxes off the shelf.

 

[Zaf]

As a general rule, I love working on my bikes and like knowing how its set up and the character of the frame (there's also about two other people I know that I'd trust to work on my bikes and not ruin everything). Then of course there's the appeal of choosing the parts you actually want.

That being said, some of my bikes have come with near perfect specs on them, Canyon Strive and Trek Slash both had minor changes from stock, and were totally worth buying in pre-built form off a rack (stock cable routing being the exception...they screw us on the Aussie market).

 

[born-again-biker]

....... (stock cable routing being the exception...they screw us on the Aussie market).

In what way / how so....?

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[safreek]

I just buy other people's cast offs, then personalize the cast offs with miscellaneous parts that people have gotten their value out of.
Put them together and you have a bike with mismatched parts that don't always function well together. A true custom bike

 

[Calvin27]

I built a drop bar mtb that was unable to be bought from a shop at the time. For normal bikes, it's much cheaper to buy of the shelf even if you have to modifiy it to your liking a bit.

My main reason though is I love sram shifters over shimano, but cannot deal with their brakes.

 

[flamin'trek]

I've built to save money. But that has involved bringing gear across from an older bike and the older bike had been updated over the years. I incrementally upgraded my bikes until the frame was toast, so a new frame and a couple of bits was pretty cost effective.

Most recent purchase (Dec) was new, off the rack. There wasn't much I had that was compatible with the new gear and buying wheels (26" QR doesn't suit many frames now), forks (to suit new wheel size), dropper post etc separately would not have been as cost effective.

 

[Zaf]

In what way / how so....?

Invariably, they route the brake lines to go around the headtube for a "Right Brake Rear" setup, and then for the Aus market they'll just switch the lines on the lever afterwards. I'm not adverse to having it routed in same side, as long as it's consistent (I did so with my Yeti Sb5c, and made it incredibly neat), but when your dropper post is routed around your head tube and your brake line is routed in close, my OCD starts to twitch a little.

 

[slider_phil]

I'm with a lot of the others. When I buy a new frame I intend to switch most of my components over. This is the main issue with a lot of these new standards coming out as it makes components obsolete. The most notable for me last build was boost rear spacing.

The last bike I bought off the shelf was in 2008 (a specialized epic, which I still have in the shed ).

 

[Zaf]

I'm with a lot of the others. When I buy a new frame I intend to switch most of my components over.

I honestly have tried this...and then end up buying NEW STUFF anyway!

 

[pink poodle]

As a bike noob I'd be interested in hearing people's reasoning and experiences when building their ride.

As a noob you will need to consider your skill level with the tools and at assessing the compatibility of parts etc for your ride. The savings that can be had from building your own bike will quickly disappear if you need to pay a bike shop to build for you.

In answer to your actual question, my reasons echo many of those already mentioned.
- Off the shelf bikes don't meet my needs. I have a really specific idea of what I like to ride and how I want to do ride it each time I build a bike. I find trend often supersees practicality as well, which drives the shelf price up. A good example was the 2016 Kona Process 167. Promoted as a freeride park bike and possibly the last big brand 26 inch bike, it came with SRAM 10-42t 11 speed and a ticket price of about $7k.
- Upgrading and modifying them to suit my style of riding is an expensive process. The same goes for replacing the inferior parts that have been stuck into the build by the brand. With online bargain retailing the way it at the moment, building a custom bike is much better value for money.
- I enjoy building the bike. The thrill of searching the internet for the parts that will best meet my needs, working out which will work with what, the extreme joy when the boxes arrive...sitting in the workshop putting it together. It is all a lot of fun.
- having a custom bike/s is way more boss than riding the same off the shelf bikes as everyone else. Get the bike you want first time round.

In the dark times, before the glorious rise of affordable online bike parts (thanks benevolent Australian pioneers like Kerry, Bill, and Aaron along with powerful players like CRC, Jenson and the rest) customise built bikes were a dream of those who only needed 1 kidney. You might fine tune or customise a few options (I remember paying about $700 to put Hayes hfx9 brakes on my first dh rig!) but a total custom build was lots and lots of $$$. Now...the power is with the consumer. Take hold of your right to choose which brakes, forks, wheels, crank, grips, pedals, coloured stem spacers, and even the colour of the nipple thing on the end of your gear cable is!!!

Also if you're really going g to retire the hecklersaurus, I make first dibs on the circus forms and that red front wheel...

 

[Binaural]

Roadie I'd buy off the rack every time. Just not that many meaningful things to personalise, aside from wheels and saddle.

If you've got odd dimensions then a custom frame can be absolutely amazing. In my case I have proportionally short legs and long arms (over 7ft wingspan), and my previous road bikes were just a little short and the handling wasn't all I felt it could be. Whilst recovering from a shoulder injury I specified up and got built one from Rivet in Lilyfield (Sydney) and 5 years later it's fantastic, doing lots of miles as my daily driver to work.

I've built all my bikes bar 2 from scratch. The main reasons
1. I'm an engineer, so I actively enjoy playing with setups and tuning things up myself.
2. Planning what you're going to buy normally takes a few weeks or months. Daydreaming about what you're going to buy is a very enjoyable part of the process in its own right!
3. Nothing beats buying a sixpack of good beer and settling in for a Saturday afternoon of meticulously putting everything together, ready for a ride the next day.

 

[steve jobs' pancreas]

I think I can build a bike up, I've had my bikes and the kids bikes apart to varying degrees (swapping around bars, brakes, drive trains etc) but I don't have the specialist tools like a bearing press for headset bearings so I would have to outsource that and maybe the bottom bracket install. I have a torque wrench, chain whip - just the small bike hand tools.

I don't have a lot of preference for bike bits due to lack of experience and only riding obsolete old bikes (26", 3 X 9), if I wasn't going to save money building one up I guess there's no point for me unless I want to build up a new 2015 Heckler frame (now discontinued).

Poods, if I part out the Hecklersaurus I'll let you know.

 

[Oddjob]

I build bikes because:
1. I'm a hoarder and will buy stuff confident that it will get used at some point in the future.
2. I have plenty of storage.
3. I like very specific things.
4. I'm big and heavy.
5. I'm patient.
6. I like consistency.
7. I'm meticulous with setup.
8. I've collected the tools and knowledge over the years to do most things up to wheel building. Suspension is a black art best left to experts.
9. I like to use things until they die.
10. I have the money.
11. Most LBS are shit. And I wouldn't trust any factory built bike.
12. I love the stuff that comes up on the secondary market just because of upgrades.

I don't have a single bike in my collection that is standard. Even my brakes and hubs get tweaked with aftermarket parts to optimise them.



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[Ultra Lord]

I’ve bought most bikes off the shelf then gradually change parts out when they break. That’s how my 2015 reign morphed into a transition scout with no original parts left over. I can stomach a gradual upgrade as parts wear out and get replaced, but wouldn’t splash out in one hit what my scout would cost me new, especialy with how good bikes are now in the $3.5/4.5 grand range.

Once you have a decent baseline (frame and suspenders) most other “upgrades” are quite trivial in comparison.

Except my bmx. That’s a full custom jobby, but I had to as I couldn’t get a long enough frame off the shelf.

 

[Oddjob]

I think I can build a bike up, I've had my bikes and the kids bikes apart to varying degrees (swapping around bars, brakes, drive trains etc) but I don't have the specialist tools like a bearing press for headset bearings so I would have to outsource that and maybe the bottom bracket install. I have a torque wrench, chain whip - just the small bike hand tools.

I don't have a lot of preference for bike bits due to lack of experience and only riding obsolete old bikes (26", 3 X 9), if I wasn't going to save money building one up I guess there's no point for me unless I want to build up a new 2015 Heckler frame (now discontinued).

Poods, if I part out the Hecklersaurus I'll let you know.

You're in Sydney aren't you? I've got most tools except SRAM specific stuff. I've even got the infamous Hope tools for bottom brackets.

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[pink poodle]

I don't have the specialist tools like a bearing press for headsetbearings

You own a hammer right?