Bicycle Build

[Thorn]

The price difference is around $100 and right now the quote is smaller than budget (woohoo!), but there are also a bunch of S&S gadgets not in the quote (e.g., spacers, TSA-friendly net, etc). So I have some room for trade offs, but not a lot.

I never was really told their reasoning on the Campy triple--it seemed to be a "bang for the buck" issue in the original quote. And, when we started talking Shimano the geeky feeling of my bike not be religious swayed me so that I never really asked. Sorry--not much help. Given how I beat the poor guy up over every other component, now that I think about it, I gave in pretty quick on the crank.

I thought this build was going to be easier, but I think I'll still be playing 20 questions with the shop. Poor guys...they really earn their money.

[OakLeaf]

Won't you save a LOT of money if you just buy a gruppo, even if some of the components might not be your first choice?

[Thorn]

Won't you save a LOT of money if you just buy a gruppo, even if some of the components might not be your first choice?

You know, that's what I had always read, but no quote from this guy is ever a gruppo. Yet his quote prices are competitive. I think that if I were to go with a double, then the Campy gruppo would be cheaper, but the minute you go triple on Campy, you break the group.

The other thing is that the LBS dude is a good scavenger. When I built up a Surly Pacer as a winter bike, I had a tight price range. He managed to build up a $1500 bike for $1000 by watching computer sales on the parts. My Pacer is a much, much nicer bike than I thought I'd get.

I found this bike shop on a recommendation from Waterford. While run by a bunch of youngin's, it has a old-school flare. Sure, you can by the bike off the floor, but don't let that stop your dreams.

[xeney]

I think that if I were to go with a double, then the Campy gruppo would be cheaper, but the minute you go triple on Campy, you break the group.

Yep. If you want a triple Campy setup, you have to pay for the components individually, which in our case meant that the bike shops didn't even want to do it. (I think it's hard for them to even make a profit on Campy these days without making it unreachably expensive.) We wound up going NOS for my new bike for this reason (plus we had some unused parts lying around anyway). I was able to buy my wheels locally but everything else I bought on eBay.

[Triskeliongirl]

My understanding is that chorus and ultegra level components give you the biggest bang for the buck, in terms of quality, performance and weight vs price. You pay a lot to get a little more w record and durace, but then I think you lose a lot ore for the price savings when you go down to ultegra, at least that's what the fellow that built by custom crank set told me (and he is a biomechanicist for the cycling stars).

Given that you are springing for another custom bike, I would guess the diff in price between 105 and ultegra is a small percentage of the total bill on this bike. If it were me I'd go ultegra all the way, or for you if you really like campy shifters ultegra/chorus. I think you'll enjoy it more, especially in the mountains. If you wanted to save $ you could have had your present bike retrofitted with s/s couplers. I did that and was very pleased with the result (bilenky did it for me).

[indysteel]

If you're concerned about price, you might also consider not getting a set of wheels for the new bike, but instead just using the ones you have on your other Waterford. Since you won't be riding the new bike most of the time, there's no reason that you need a dedicated set of wheels for it.

Just a thought on something you didn't ask any advice on!

[tulip]

I have Ultegra for my Luna and 105 for my Bike Friday (my travel bike). I can't tell a difference. However, I am not willing to go below the 105 level.