Buying a bike?
Hey! I'm not sure where to post a question about buying a bike....?
I'll start here. I know someone who just "purchased all the parts on pedalforce.com. High end parts, all come black-no name attached. I have someone building the bike. I bought the whole thing for about $3700, including $1000 wheels. It will be the equivalent of a 8-9k bike. I went and got professionally fitted and ordered to my specs, etc.)
Has anyone else done this? Heard of this? Have any stories, comments?
Thanks--
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Comments
I've never done this but have heard stories of the buying parts and building up a bike. I believe Mancona build up a bikea although not all no-name parts IIRC. I have it on my list of things to do so I get a better ability to wrench. My skill are limited to changing tires and minor maintenance at this point.
Its a great way to get the specs you want on a bike and build a great bike.
Gordon
There's a difference b/t buying parts & building a bike VS buying no-name carbon components.
When you buy no-name frames, forks, etc....you are buying open mold Chinese parts. Same that are sold on eBay, same that are sold under labels like Blackwell Research & Planet X. Some people don't mind buying these generic frames, some people find a higher lever of comfort buying from a 'brand' like Planet X, even though they are pretty much the same open molds as everything else.
There are many mixed thoughts on this, but mine is this: If my frame spontaneously combusts at 40 MpH, is it worth the money I saved? You have no idea what kind of manufacturing practices were involved, if any quality control is involved, etc..
I personally feel the same way about wheels...EDGE, ENVE, etc etc.
Just my thoughts.
With my P3C, I purchased the frameset (frame and fork) and then sourced exactly the parts I wanted for everything else. To be honest, I moved a lot of components over from my old bike and I'm now in the process of upgrading those parts for the news season, getting the bike completely overhauled, etc. New 165mm cranks, SRAM shifters, new saddle, etc.
My point is that we spend sooooo much time on these bikes, it's such a large part of what we enjoy, and once you've got the bike built up your carrying costs are essentially zero (tubes, tires, etc) that it make sense to get exactly what you want the first time then forget it. The reason why I don't care to purchase a bike all built up is that I'm stuck using the brakes, bars, seat, wheels, etc that the manufacturer decided I should have. I know what I want and I don't mind paying a bit more to get _that_...then forget it. I bought my Calfee road bike in '02 and have upgraded everything on the bike over time. But I honestly have no idea how much I've spent on the bike because, at the end of the day, the bike has taken me to all kinds of cool places and is perfect for me.
My recommendation would be to buy the frameset you want, then do your homework to peice together the rest of the bike until it's exactly how you want it.
Gordon and Ed are spot on.
I have built multiple bikes by buying individual components from various online stores having sales and ebay. Typcially I do this because I already have at least half the parts I need laying around so I only need a few items.
A few things to keep in mind:
- I only bought name brand components. Like Ed, when I'm going down hill I don't want to find out how a no name company saved a few dollars when making carbon parts.
- It is VERY hard to save money over buying a complete bike if you try to buy all the parts individually. This is because Shimano/SRAM/Campy give the OEMS a significant discount for a full build kit and that discount is passed on to you when you buy a complete bike.
- If you cannot build the bike yourself, you will lose more than you saved when you pay a shop to build up your box of parts.
Like Rich said though, picking individual parts lets you build the bike exactly how you want, so do it for that reason, not to save money.
Yep, great point Matt about being able to build it up yourself. I know for a fact that many of the tri stores here in Chicago want $200+ for a complete "PRO" build. I can do it all myself, so that cost doesn't matter to me, but you certainly have to factor it in.
Also a very good point about hard to beat OEM spec. It's very hard to beat. But in my case, I have multiple bikes and piles and piles of parts that have been collected over time off of various bikes, ST prices that were too good to pass up, PBK sales, eBay steals, etc.
Example, caught a PBK steal on a Force drivetrain on last bike, so I upgraded the Ultegra that it came stock with. Because I already had all those parts, when it was time for a new bike a bit ago, I only bought the frameset. In the meantime, I found an online steal on Sram Red FD/RD, so those will go on the new TT setup, the Force will move to the roadbike, and the 105 on the roadbike gets sold. So unless you have a good stock sitting around or have plenty of time & patience, it's hard to beat a stock setup.
But please, let's keep in mind that this is all in reference to the act of building up a bike w/ various parts. That's what alot of people are responding to. I have a hard time condoning or recommending generic open mold frames. If you need convincing, look around for various posts on the luck people have had w/ Chinese frames. Check out bustedcarbon.com. Also look at Zipps site & see what kind of hellacious R&D they put their wheels through before selling. Guarantee 'carbonzone' on eBay doesn't do that.
Caveat emptor.
@ Dottie, all these guys are making really good points regarding your question.
My fault Kurt. Bad reference, also wasn't aware. I should have referenced something like Token or Gigantex.