New bike build - motivation doesn't exist

I have been drooling over a Soma Buena Vista mixte for a couple of years now. I really wanted an excuse to build one up as a commuter/around-town bike. Now that we actually live in town and my commute is a whopping 5 miles, I felt justified in buying one. My husband ordered the frame for me as an early anniversary present. It arrived a couple of days ago and I love it. I can't wait to ride it!

Here is the kicker. I have zero desire to build it up myself.

I'm good with mechanical things (I'm an engineer by education) and I love beautiful bikes and researching and shopping for parts. I just have no interest in actually putting it together. I'd be happy with buying all the parts and then having someone I trust (and no, I don't have anyone picked out) build it for me. The problem is that I don't have the money for that. I can't sell my existing bike because I'll need it to ride until this one is complete and we are currently paying for two mortgages, so there isn't a lot of extra money laying around. As it is, I'm collecting the parts in stages to keep the costs down.

Any ideas on how to motivate myself to just build it? My husband has all the tools I'll need (and the knowledge to assist me), but he won't do it for me. He wants me to do it. He seems to think that once I start working on it, I'll get into it. I'm fairly certain that he's wrong (it's never worked before) so I'm hoping for other ideas that might get me going.

Well, I hate cleaning and I have issues with clutter. I wind up with piles of stuff on the desk, dining room table, coffee table, dresser, etc. Then when I need to clean it all up (e.g., because I'm having visitors) I'm overwhelmed by how much needs to be done.

So I've found one part of the solution is to do a little at a time -- spend five minutes cleaning one spot and do that every day. Often once I get started I'll wind up spending 10-15 minutes cleaning up two or three spots. And over the course of a week or so, everything winds up neat. (BTW the other part of the solution is to go to The Container Store and buy things that make it easier to put things away faster so the clutter doesn't build up so much in the first place. ;-))

So, maybe you could apply a similar principle to the bike -- plan to assemble/attach one component. When you're finished with that, decide what the next thing to attach/assemble will be and plan to do that tomorrow. It will take more days to finish but the time requirement each day will be relatively small. I think the best way to pull this off would be to have a dedicated work area where you can leave the frame and other stuff in the workstand all the time so you don't have to set up/break down your work area every time you want to do something.

Maybe your husband can build it for you as your birthday present or pay to have it built for you as your birthday present.

Hopefully, your birthday will come after you have all your parts.
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2012 Specialized Amira Elite, upgraded carbon handle bars, Jett saddle 143mm switched to 145mm 2012 Selle Italia Max SLR Gel Flow saddle
2010 Santa Cruz Juliana with R kit and Crampon pedals
2011 Specialized Ariel Sport,suspension post,Serfas Rx Women's Microfiber saddle (sold)

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

Lay everything out in the middle of your living room until you get tired of tripping over it? :D

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Or your husband gets tired of tripping over it and does it for you???

I had a similar problem, while I had the motivation, I wasn't sure that I'd know enough to put the bike together myself. So I took the frame to the LBS after thinking about it and have to say that I regret it. Some things didn't turn out as I would have liked and I think I might have seen the problems had I built it up myself. And it cost me a fortune. So if I had a second chance to put the Soma together, I'd do it myself.

If you really don't want to try it, maybe you could find someone - not a bike shop, I'm thinking of a friend or someone who repairs bikes privately or just knows enough about bikes - who would put the parts together for you without charging a fortune. If a friend would ask me to do this, it would be a fun project for me, I'd be in for a dinner or something like that.

Thanks all - lots of good ideas! Since my husband manages to ignore dog hair tumbleweeds, dirty dishes and a litter box in need of changing while I'm traveling, I doubt having bike parts in the living room would have the desired effect. ;) And my birthday was last month, so I don't want to wait until next Feb!

I think I'm going to have to do this step by step, piece by piece on my own. Oooh, that gives me an idea! If I start the project, leave it on the work stand and spread out in the garage with all my parts ready to go...I bet he'd do some of the work on his own just to get his workstand back! Ha!

Hey, I did the same thing with my BV. I finally just took it to a mechanic that I trusted and I knew would enjoy the job. He even took the fancy wood fenders over to the fender builder (http://www.woodysfenders.com/store/) and they did a custom fit together. Totally unlike us but I think we were burned out of building, organizing and just plain DOING anything remotely chore-ish after the move.

Quick answer is that motivation is a fickle friend: it comes and it goes. If you wait around for motivation or "to feel like it" you may be waiting a long time. Just make a decision, then follow through. If you decide not to build, have someone else do it. If you decide to do it then do it. Let your decision and determination get you through the process.

I have my newly restored mixte sitting here in the living room. I can't take my eyes off of it!
When I first got it, I thought, look at the old wreck, I'll never be able to build a nice bike out of this pile of junk. Then I got the first step done, I repainted it. Then I thought, I'm committed, and just took every extra dime and bought parts, piece by piece.
Today, two months later, I have a killer, single speed, vintage mixte road bike. I'm so proud of what I accomplished, and so thrilled at the outcome.

So, just visualize the bike when it's done. See it in your mind. If all you can afford one payday is bar tape, buy bar tape. Just keep that vision in your head.

If anyone wants to see the "Orange Creamsicle" here's the link. It's toward the bottom of the page.
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...=19205&page=73

For me, it's waiting for the occasion to come up that's perfect for the bike waiting to be built. I had components I needed to build up a climbing bike, so a week before the climbing ride, I had no choice. So make up an event that you NEED this new bike for, and work on that as your motivation.