Can I come and play?

[Dizzie]

Hi.
New forum user saying hi. Have had a mad idea to build a TT bike, didn't think I was mad when I found the frame but faced with fellow cyclists disbelief have started to question my sanity ? So far have the frame, Kona Lisa TR and the forks, (carbon), Seat post ordered from Kona as a tear drop 34.9. Know what drive/gearing I want, seriously considering Cinelli Little wing bars, that's it so far. All suggestions gratefully received. It's my winter project so trying to hold back from buying everything this week.

[Eden]

Building a bike isn't crazy... There are a few things that you might want to have a shop do, mainly because they require a special (and often expensive) tool, but as long as you've access to a good tool kit, patience, and either already have the skills or posses a good instruction book, why not.

We're I doing it, I'd be comfortable doing everything except for pressing in the headset and cutting the steering tube and I don't have the tool for my current bottom bracket. Otherwise I think I've cleaned, serviced or replaced just about every other part on a bike at some time.

[Dizzie]

Thanks, I think it's a great idea. Thankfully I married into a biking family, my brother-in-law builds frames, my uncle in law builds wheels and my OH used to race trikes so the experts are there. Just I am an only daughter with 5 brothers so quite independent. Going to strip a couple of my son's old bikes this weekend as a practice.

[Becky]

I don't see anything crazy about building your own. I rarely buy a stock bike anymore. Building my own from a frame lets me get exactly what I want and is just plain fun! DH and I do have access to headset and frame prep tools, so we'll work on that stuff together. Otherwise, just take your bare frame and fork to your favorite shop to have them do it. The rest is pretty straightforward.

[Cycling Sister]

It's a great idea. I plan on going to look at a TT frame today. My husband bought me classes at a lbs. Already learned how to tune my bike, true the wheels, and a few other things. The mechanic and I will build the bike together over the winter if I decide to buy the frame and parts. The frame and all the parts will most likely be purchased elsewhere, not at the lbs. The mechanic already knows this and even recommended the other lbs for the TT frame. Even if I don't build a bike this winter, I've already decided to learn how to build wheels for my current bike this winter.

[Cycling Sister]

Hi Dizzie,

I had posted another reply that is no longer here. How did stripping your son's bike go this weekend?

I also meant a Titanium (Ti) frame, not a TT bike. sigh.

[Dizzie]

Hi.
Got the shed tidied and the old bikes out but the weather was awful so went to the lbs to look at wheels and talk about them fitting the BB and Headset. Owner is great but hard to tell the difference between enthusiasm and taking over, a lot of phrases like "what you want is" and "it's not that easy you know there's compatibility issues". His suggestions where ok but I don't want the Kona to cost more than my titanium Sabbath.
I was just putting my groupset together but lost confidence. Going for Campag Veloce (to match the Sabbath) and have found a great deal from shiny Bikes at £342.00 ($452) I thought 170mm - 53/39 Chainset, 12/25 Cassette with a short Rear Mech, DH thinks Medium but as this is going to be my fast bike! Any opinions very gratefully received.
Did you get your frame? I love my Ti bike, it really does get better each time I ride it. It's just not fast enough I am always running out of gears, although I am a bit of a masher.

[Cycling Sister]

I did end up buying the Ti frame. It's a new older stock 2003 Wylder Queen of the Road frame in my size. Got it for $495. That was the only reason I went ahead with this crazy idea of building a bike. I had an opportunity to purchase a used custom Spectrum for $2200, but wanted to create something that was more for me.

I hear you about wanting to keep costs down. I have no idea how much this whole process is going to run me. I'm willing to put $500 max a week towards parts. Hopefully, it won't take too many weeks! I have a sick feeling that the fork will be almost as much as the frame.

Originally, I was going to figure out what parts to buy, hunt them down and put everything together with another local mechanic. However, I decided to let the lbs owner where I purchased the bike coordinate and assemble everything. When I offered to help locate a suitable fork, he told me he had already emailed Waterford and would take care of it.

The lbs owner/mechanic/salesman is a 1 person show. Walking into his store is nothing like walking into a Trek dealership! Beautiful Waterfords and Sevens grace his shop among other quality bikes and frames. It's very overwhelming. He's old school and his knowledge vast. I just have to learn to trust his judgement and to gently elicit information from him without him feeling he has to justify his recommendations. He's not one to debate his side. He simply states what he thinks is best for the situation at hand.

My main concern is that because he has been in the industry for so long, he has a lot of older stock items. I keep questioning him if I will be able to replace something if it breaks or needs replaced. He doesn't seem to think it's a problem like I do. On the plus side, he's building me a set of custom wheels using rare Ultegra 650 rims for no more than $450.

Sorry I can't offer any suggestions. This is all so new to me. I would love to hear more about progress updates though. It must be an exciting adventure finding and putting all the pieces together.

You are fortunate that you know more about bikes and what you want. Finding a mechanic who is knowledgeable, communicates well and understands your budget and vision is a rarity to be sure!