I’ve built many, many bikes in my time, but despite this, I’ve never owned or built a proper road bike (or anything with drops) – until now. A few nice cold Saturday morning road rides on my hack bike have swayed me, and I was tempted by a Defy, Allez etc off ebay, but none seem THAT cheap, and all the cheap ones are 8speed and have pretty nasty wheels and components.

Just after some advice on where to spend the money, and where its a waste.

I have currently available –
– An old Alu frame, which fits, and is upon checking, the same as ‘shop-brand’ frames being sold on ebay for £170ish. Made by merida. Cost me nowt.
– Steel Fork to match.
– Most of 10Sp Tiagra group on way from classifieds
– Cheap (really, really awful) wheelset, plastic tyres
– Lump of iron drop bars
– Selection of stems
– Saddles and Thomson seatpost.
– Budget Tektro calipers.
– Some decent bar-tape.

I definitely need –

– A chainset. Compact, double.
– A headset (this is easy to work out).

I can do the building bit no problem, experience bike builder.

Bearing in mind I’m on a very limited budget for the time being – where best to spend the money?

I am kind of thinking that getting the absolute best wheels and tyres I can afford, then worrying about the rest later is the best way to go. Could maybe spend £200-£250 here max.

I will also probably get some bars, but no idea what kind of shape I need… This bike needs to be comfy and ‘sportive-y’ I guess to begin with.

If I like it, better frame etc etc will come in the spring…

Stick with the cheap stuff and don’t worry about it right off the bat. Slightly porky gear isn’t going to slow you down to much and when it breaks you’ll have a better idea what you want to to replace it with.

My road bike cost me about £300 new and has done several thousand km thus far with no investment beyond lube, pads and a replacement spoke. I’m now thinking about splurging on a nice light Canyon next year but I’ll still keep this as a commuter/hack.