Flat Bar Road Build

[Miranda]

Let me start this post by saying that I am at home feeling like a caged depressed animal. I recently had a mishap and broke a bone in my foot. Thus, I can't ride or do any of my cardio. It's killing me!

Sooo... if my TE pals could kindly entertain some more bike building "what if" questions in an effort to lift my low spirits I would appreciate it. If I can't ride it, I can dream it, eh?

Alright then... I'm pretty well set on what I'm doing with my through-bred choice in the stable of my carbon road I've been dreaming about (not ordered, on hold w/injury). Now, I'm pondering what will I do with my old girl that's too big for me...

1) sell her as is
2) take off good components towards a back up bike & sell frameset (wrong size frame for me)

I'm wondering if option #2 comes out to be worth it, or not...

I have always wanted a "work horse" in the stable. Like a steele cycle cross do it all bike. Terry came out with such a bike this year. Valkyrie. The frameset shows configurement in three ways. I like the flat road bar commute option. Here in this link...
http://www.terrybicycles.com/cycling_savvy/valcommute

The TT geo is a wee bit short for me from what my fitter recommended, but I think a slightly longer stem would make her fit pretty well.

My current bike is drop bar (too big bar & stem), FSA Gossamer triple crank 165mm 50/39/30 (fitter says I need 170mm), and Shimano 105 12-27 cassette 10 speed.

I *thought* I saw a google hit that Shimano makes flat bar road shifters for 10 speed triple? Terry shows her built with a 9 speed.

I just don't know if I even have enough parts on my current bike to make it worth taking her apart, and buying a few more.

Even though not published on their website, I could get the Valkyrie frameset only. I sent Terry an email thinking the answer to that question would be "no". But, not only was I surprised by the answer, but it was written back by Georgina Terry herself! Impressive!

Of course Terry having free shipping right now doesn't help. I have an aquaint guy pal that I think could wrench her for free. Plus, I could help--which would be kinda cool too. The bike is backordered on Terry. Which is fine cuz my foot needs to heal anyways.

*sigh* Just pondering...

Thx!

Signed,
Miranda Sad-Lame-Foot

[tzvia]

Get well quick!

As for the 'remove parts or not,' I say not. If you had RED/Force, Dura Ace, or Campy bits- I would say to save them if they were 10 speed compatible. 105 is ok but why not take the chance to upgrade? Also, my experience with FSA aluminum cranks is that they are boat-anchors. I saved almost 1/2 lb by switching to the '09 SRAM Rival crankset (with Black-Box ceramic bearings bought separately.) And it shifts WAYYY better than the FSA Gossamer crankset I had.

When I upgraded to a bike that fit right last year, I had Dura-Ace 9speed on the old bike, so I took those, and got Ultregra SL 10 speed shifters and cogset, which work great with the old Dura-Ace. I put the 105 stuff on the old bike, and gave it to my niece who is taller and has longer legs than I. Win win. I would sell the bike as is and upgrade providing the funds were there.

[Miranda]

Get well quick!

As for the 'remove parts or not,' I say not. If you had RED/Force, Dura Ace, or Campy bits- I would say to save them if they were 10 speed compatible. 105 is ok but why not take the chance to upgrade? Also, my experience with FSA aluminum cranks is that they are boat-anchors. I saved almost 1/2 lb by switching to the '09 SRAM Rival crankset (with Black-Box ceramic bearings bought separately.) And it shifts WAYYY better than the FSA Gossamer crankset I had.

When I upgraded to a bike that fit right last year, I had Dura-Ace 9speed on the old bike, so I took those, and got Ultregra SL 10 speed shifters and cogset, which work great with the old Dura-Ace. I put the 105 stuff on the old bike, and gave it to my niece who is taller and has longer legs than I. Win win. I would sell the bike as is and upgrade providing the funds were there.

Yea... I'm starting to see your point. Well, it was a nice fleeting thought. I started to really geek out and add up the individual costs of the parts I would need to switch. It's more than starting over. I know that when you get the entire bike & gruppo together it's usually the bigger price break discount. Thanks for the well wishes on the foot too. I need that for sure!

[aicabsolut]

Considering that you'd have to change some of the more expensive components (like cranks), I don't think it would be worth it. I broke a frame last year (but the components were fine), and so I just moved them to a new frame. I made a big upgrade on the frame quality, and I wound up spending well less than 1/2 the price of that frame on a complete bike build (I also kept my old wheels). Of course the complete bike would've come with Dura-Ace, and I was running Ultegra/105, but a Dura-Ace gruppo is not worth the thousands of dollars in the price difference.

For the most part, however, doing a custom build is more expensive than buying the complete bike unless you can get some major discounts on the frame and/or components. I did another build this year using a crash replacement frame (cheap) and a special sponsorship deal from my local shop. Had I even gotten just the frame at retail and the rest discounted, it still would've been more than buying the stock bike, especially adding in new wheel costs with this build. Sometimes you can get a decent discount on a complete group, but the wheels are where you take the biggest hit going with a custom build.

[Miranda]

Considering that you'd have to change some of the more expensive components (like cranks), I don't think it would be worth it. I broke a frame last year (but the components were fine), and so I just moved them to a new frame. I made a big upgrade on the frame quality, and I wound up spending well less than 1/2 the price of that frame on a complete bike build (I also kept my old wheels). Of course the complete bike would've come with Dura-Ace, and I was running Ultegra/105, but a Dura-Ace gruppo is not worth the thousands of dollars in the price difference.

For the most part, however, doing a custom build is more expensive than buying the complete bike unless you can get some major discounts on the frame and/or components. I did another build this year using a crash replacement frame (cheap) and a special sponsorship deal from my local shop. Had I even gotten just the frame at retail and the rest discounted, it still would've been more than buying the stock bike, especially adding in new wheel costs with this build. Sometimes you can get a decent discount on a complete group, but the wheels are where you take the biggest hit going with a custom build.

Thx for the input! I'm struggling with the "buying the whole bike" discount right now in making the decision on my carbon pick. I think I'm back-pedaling on my original plan. Sometimes when the price diff gets to be so much that you start thinking what else (almost like a whole other bike) you could buy with the diff... it's pretty hard to swallow. You are totally right about the wheels--wow, I have learned there are HUGE differences in that category. Plus, from what I understand it is the biggest upgrade in performance you can make with one component option. Btw, I remember seeing your damaged frame thread--ouch! Glad the new rig is going well.

[Cataboo]

Miranda,

How much is the difference in price of the valkyrie with components vs. frame alone?

How much can you sell your bike for? I'd say with full 105 components, you'll probably be able to get at least $600 easy, probably more like $800. If you were selling the frame & fork alone (I don't know what you have), I'd doubt you'd get more than $200 for it if that.

The full shimano 105 groupo is like $600 minimum it looks like from the google that I just did.

I've switched the components on my bikes a couple of times... My boyfriend got annoyed with the game pretty quickly, so I just bought the tools and learned how to do it myself. If you're reasonably handy, it's not all that hard. So I swap all the components and get the tuning mostly there, then I get my boyfriend to fine tune things.

Building things yourself is a lot more fun - and I think you end up getting a better bike for the price.

FSA gossamer cranks are not that great & not that expensive - if you watch bonktown, you'll pretty commonly see them come up for about $70-80, and the ultegra or 105 cranks come up for about $100. So you can swap your cranks without a huge amount of added expense. I'm not sure I believe you don't need 165mm cranks because I am all about them - but I think you should try a bike with 170's, and keep your 165's around just in case you want to go back. (they're sometimes hard to find in that size) If you switch to just fsa gossamers, you probably can use the same bottom bracket that you have.

I bought a surly frame off here and built it up as a commuter using some spare pieces I had - there's almost always an issue where you gotta get a front derailleur that has the right clamp diameter or braze on, 'cause what you have is the wrong size... and it does end up costing a bit more. But at the end of it all I got a surly with good componentry that I can use as a commuter or off road for less than what I'd have paid new for a bike with say sora components. I did spend more than I planned.

I bought a marin road bike at rei a few years back with 9 speed 105 components... A while later I decided I wanted to try 650 wheels because I'm short and everyone was recommending them, so I got a great deal on ebay on a 650 wheel trek with dura ace & ultegra 10 speed components. I hated the bike, but loved the components - so I shifted all the components over to my marin and gave it a nice 10 speed upgrade & sold the trek with the 9 speed 105. While shifting everything was a mild pain in the butt, in the end it cost less than it would for me to have bought a new set of components for my marin or to have bought a new bike with ultegra & dura ace components.

I also bought a scattante bike with new 10 speed 105 & ultegra components off craigslist for a great price once (basically the guy was near me, it fit great, and I wanted a 2nd road bike...) After 6 months or so, I saw someone with a full carbon frame & fork unused on craigslist for a cheap price because it wasn't a known brand for road biking at least - I found good reviews of it online, and went ahead and bought it. I shifted all the pieces from my scattante over onto it... In the end I got a 10 speed 105 full carbon bike for a lot less than I'd have spent if I went into a bike shop... or for what used carbon bikes sell for. So the scattante frame is sitting in my shed now just in case I ever crash/break my full carbon... I have done some test riding of the specialized ruby and trek carbon bikes... and I prefer mine and how it handles. That may just be because I have it fitted to me, but I don't think there'd be any advantage to me paying more for the brand name.

If I ever see a good titanium frame at a reasonable price in my size, I'm totally going to buy it & swap my marin's components on it...

I'm not sure I'm being too helpful and am not just blathering at you - but in my case I've found it worth it to go ahead and just swap parts around and keep the ones I've had... But I don't have the budget that some other people have, and while I think I have nice bikes - lots of people on here have waaaay nicer bikes than either of mine.

I've been slowly upgrading or swapping things like saddles, wheels & handlebars on the bikes as I've found good deals on craigslist or bonktown/steepandcheap/chainlove.

[Cataboo]

Other thing - converting to a flat bar can be expensive - you'd have to buy brake levers, and you'd have to get 10 speed shifters. You could get 10 speed bar end shifters and put it on a mustache type handlebar.

HOwever 10 speed 105 shifters still sell for quite a bit on ebay if you wanted to fund it that way.