Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Can you self build a better bike than Canyon?
  • zippykona
    Full Member

    Next year my friend will be in the market for a hard tail 29er.
    With a Scandal frame and Rebas as a base with a bit of shopping around can you beat Canyon?

    djglover
    Free Member

    Its hard to get close for road bike value, that I knoe

    Tom-B
    Free Member

    It’s very tough to come close from the browsing that I have done….I was struggling to come close pricing up a SS Scandal!

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    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    Think you’d have to rely on eBay to pick up new/nearly new stuff to get like for like. Often it’s the bitty things like a set of bars, stem etc. that might be a tenner each in the shops that you can get bargains for.

    z1ppy
    Full Member

    depends shirely, if by “better bike” your only referring to the kit

    schmiken
    Full Member

    Nope, unless you’re very lucky on the classifieds.

    Scapegoat
    Full Member

    I built one from a used Nerve AM frame I got off Fivespot on here. It took a whole heap of internet bargains to do it, but I ended up with XT 785 2×10, and a comparable spec to the Nerve AM 7 for a saving of about 300 quid. Oh, and I included a Reverb which the 7 didn’t have at the time. 150 Revs instead of a Fox. I also prefer my wheels, Superleggera hubs on Flows, and XT brakes instead of the specc’d Avids.

    Bars, saddle, grips, all better than the OEM Canyon kit.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    You might break even, but probably not better.

    Where you’d win is custom specking it. Of the 29er hardtails I’d rather XT brakes, RS forks and some handbuilt wheels, and thats before you start playign arround with bars, stems, grips, seatposts, tyres, so unless I was happy with the Canyon spec you could probably buy a kinesis frame, some forks off merlin and be within 10-20% of the canyon price but not have to change anything.

    mrmo
    Free Member

    what does better mean?

    secondhand means no warranty so definitely worse IMO, but then a new bike might come with bars, tyres, saddle etc that you don’t like so that makes new built up worse.

    jonba
    Free Member

    Maybe if you were in no rush and not fussy so could pick up anything that came up in offers. If you want it next week then probably not.

    tpbiker
    Free Member

    I’ve often wondered the same.

    The other question I’ve always wondered is what the total value of a canyon is if you split it, and sold as new on here. Would you make a profit?

    Not that I plan to, but I’ve often thought about buying one for the forks/chainset etc then selling the rest of it.

    Scapegoat
    Full Member

    You’d have to weigh up whether they make good donor bikes for projects, or whether you could source groupset bargains from ze Germans and strike lucky on fork deals on Merlin et al to get within shouting distance. Thing is, as donor bikes, their frames are excellent…. my Nerve frame with RP2 HV is a thing of great beauty in its own right, so that would leave you in a quandary…. why would you want to get rid of such a great frame?

    I suppose if you factor in the fact you could get c£500 for a brand new FS frame when you sell it, then it could work out quite well. Dunno how the hardtails measure up, but I suspect it could be somewhere to look for donor bikes.

    Scapegoat
    Full Member

    Just playing about with internet prices a bit, the Canyon AL 6 is £859 plus delivery. I’ve had a quick shop for the bits on it at new deal prices, and can get it to £1050 without pricing up the frame. I’ve gone like for like on bits, and gone for CRC bargain style finishing kit such as a £35 handlebar, £30 post, £20 saddle etc

    So, yes, they would make decent donor bikes.

    remoterob
    Free Member

    I don’t think you could build your own bike for less because you wouldn’t cut corners on cheaper cassettes/chains/front mechs etc. I also think you have to look at if you are comparing an OEM product with a higher specification retail item.

    I’m probably wrong, but the feeling I get is that Canyon’s frames must be very cheap.

    Doug
    Free Member

    I’m probably wrong, but the feeling I get is that Canyon’s frames must be very cheap.

    They get everything at OEM prices with no distributor/retailer taking their cuts. Comparable in prices to last years models discounted on CRC which are cheap because the distributors have sold them to the retailers near cost with the retailers making less per unit but shifting multiples.

    jonba
    Free Member

    This isn’t that uncommon. With wheels the bigger suppliers like merlin provide the built wheels at less than the rep of the individual parts.

    As they will be buying lots of OEM kit and frames etc. They will be getting good prices. Manage your costs well and keep margins tight and you can out price the competition.

    Ime all manufacturers cut corners on cheap cassettes, chains,Bb, hubs but stick on a high rear ,each because that is what most people look at.

    The value in a custom build is choosing where to put your money.

    stAn-BadBrainsMBC
    Free Member

    You probably won’t beat the price ,but you can’t beat havinga bike thats specced out exactly how you want it as opposed to the manufacturer

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    You probably won’t beat the price ,but you can’t beat havinga bike thats specced out exactly how you want it as opposed to the manufacturer

    But to be fair, if you’re building to such a low price you might not have the luxury of speccing what you want, it’s just the cheapest bars/post/stem etc. you can find (though you can pick risers over flat bars for example possibly). Or if you do (in my experience) you suddenly start ‘treating’ yourself to things over your budget and your cheap bike gradually creeps up in price.

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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