Spec me a Bike...

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Soldato
Joined
7 Jul 2009
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Location
Newcastle/Aberdeen
...Build. Yeah, the third generation hand me down mountain bike i'm using at the minute is pretty rubbish. Was good in it's day, but i'm getting new problems every other day. So i wanted to know if i could build a bike just for getting to school and back.

  • Preferably small
  • Suspension somewhere along the line, having none plays havok with my... lets not go there.
  • Disk brakes if possible
  • Don't mind if it's a single speed

About it, apart from one thing: CHEAP. The cheaper the better. I'm looking at a few sellers on the bay, but what i want help with is this: Can you give me a complete list of parts that i would need? And what would you recommend part wise? Any brands to stay away from etc.?

Thanks in advance :)
 
Budget? How cheap is cheap?

Why do you want disk brakes if you're just using it on the roads? No point at all wasting money unless you're gonna hack around the forest and need those disks.

As for suspension, maybe get a hardtail but even then I'm not sure a mountain bike is the best thing for you, a hybrid might be better (just get a comfy seat). No need to drag mountain bike knobbly tyres around unless you really have to, you're just making more work for yourself.
 
Cheap is as cheap as possible. Disk brakes would be preferred because i can imagine uses for them in the city, like when a car comes from nowhere. Also it makes it easier to put the wheels back on, since i'm trying to make it very low maintenance. Although if something goes wrong with them it's harder to fix, so maybe you're right. As long as they're decent pads.

I've seen saddles with suspension underneath... one of those would probably do. But i've seen some stuff on the bay with suspension that's not too much more expensive than regular gear.

Tyres i would prefer 'mountain bike' tires to racing ones, mainly because of puncturing. I can pick up some kevlar reinforced ones, which i've used for a while now and are amazing. There's a good possibility of broken glass and the like, and i've just had two punctures in three days so i'd like to take measures to prevent that sort of thing.

On the size, it depends what's cheaper. I said smaller because it would just be more manageable, but since 26" is mainstream it might be cheaper. I think 20" might be too small, so 24" would be a sweet spot.
 
You don't want disks if you want low maintenance, they're much harder to maintain and don't really offer anything over V brakes when used in the city. They're just extra weight and expensie and you only really feel the benefit if you're off road and it's wet and slippy, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

I've got 2 bikes, one's a hybrid with skinny tyres, the other is a mountain bike with fat knobbly tyres. Only once had a puncture on the hybrid and that was when I hit a brick at speed yet I've had 3-4 on the mountain bike. Just cos you've got chunkier tyres doesn't mean you won't get punctures.

The cheap bikes you've seen on Ebay with suspension will be absolute trash and much, much worse than a regular non suspension bike. They're basically toys, save your money and get something without suspension, it's just one more thing to go wrong on a cheap bike.

I'm assuming you're referring to wheel sizes and not frame sizes when you mention 26/24/20"? Unless you're about 7ft tall then you won't be wanting 26" frame! I'm 6ft tall and my hybrid is a 19" frame and my MTB is a 17" frame.
 
Yeah, you're probably right.

What type of tires are you talking about? Racing Tyres? I wouldn't touch those with a barge poll.

As i said before i'm looking at parts, not the whole thing.

Yes, wheel sizes.

With that sorted, lets return to my original questions. What's the complete list of parts that i would need and what parts would you recommend.
 
Working in a bike shop I hate the whole cheap as possible attitude. It's that attitude that gets to the point I have a two page A4 complaint letter from a Halfords customers over.....an £80 bike he wanted to use to commute on AND use offroad at weekends.

Something half decent would be £180-200 I'd say. I'm heading out the now but look at a carrera subway type of thing.
 
SlyReaper said:
Thread hijack: I'm also in the market for a bike to commute to work and to help combat my expanding belly. What's the cheapest I can get, and are bike store owners generally open to haggling? :D
Click to expand...

Same, going to post just to keep an eye on this thread.

Though I've looked around, Halfords seem to get a lot of complaints but I do wonder whether it's build quality or purely lack of personal maintaince to the point where things have just gone too far. I haven't found anyone willing to suggest anything below £170, which is just too much for me.
 
Well to build from scratch you will need:

Frame
Fork
Headset(+press to fit it)
Wheels
Brakes
Tyres
Tubes
Rim tape
Bottom bracket(+tool to fit)
Crankset
Chain
Freewheel
Rear + Front mech
Gear and brake cables
Stem
Handlebars
Shifters
Grips

Not worth it really.

For road use I'd be looking at http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_712155_langId_-1_categoryId_165534 I ride a subway 1 and it's fine for casual road cycling. For an off road bike a cheap raleigh of sorts at ~£190 would do the job fine without too much hassle. Something like this http://www.mailorderbikes.com/products.php?plid=m1b591s2p404&rs=gb

Go buy a bike from dunlop,jjb or tesco/asda but they come out the box with ****** bottom brackets/freewheels, buckled wheels and utter pish brakes and generally aint even worth assembling!

Dunno how much this would go for but it's the sort of thing I'd buy second hand http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Specialized-S...s_GL?hash=item2c50c7f092&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
 
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If you really want to build a bike yourself from cheap ebay bits, it can be done but there are a few problems.
1 - It'l take ages.
2- You'll need some special tools

I'm doing this myself just now with a little jump bike to play around on - and have been looking for bits/building up the bike since may. Just about finished now, need a rear wheel and a seat. Looking for the right bits to come up at the right price means you'll be waiting for a while. If i didnt have other bikes to use - i would not have done things this way (but i did get some great bargains :D )

I havnt had to buy any tools for it because my mate works in a bike shop. For things like the bottom bracket, i put all the bits in as tight as a could by hand then popped in to see my mate and it took him 30 seconds to properly torque it. but im sure your local bike shop would do that for you if you ask nicely especially if you buy some of the bits in there as well (bits like tyres, grips, cables, break pads etc that you want to buy new)
 
Superewza said:
Which is why there are permanent shops... besides, there must be some pointers you can give as to what i need to keep an eye out for?
Click to expand...

Building a complete bike from bits for less than £200 is going to take a lot of time and luck (getting a few free bits here and there). I think all my bike tools alone add up to >£100.
 
do not bother with MTB to commute waste of effort and time.
Just get the carrera or similar.
Knobbly tyres on road rofl
get semi slick or slick tyres with some puncture protection even then by changing to new tyres will cost you £30 a pair at least.
Post your budget and then we can give you advice and tips.
 
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