Hi,

I’m thinking of buying a new XC bike, spending in the region of £2,500. This is 2.5x more than I’ve ever spent on a bike, and about 4x more than I’ve ever spent on an MTB. I’m fairly technically competent (I’ve serviced and/or replaced most of the various parts of my current bikes, with the notable exception of the headset and forks) and I’m thinking of building the new bike up myself. Is this a good idea? Will it save me money or is it one of those situations where I’ll end up spending loads of extra money on bits and pieces and then end up with a substandard bike?

Also – I’m leaning towards the idea of a full-sus over a hardtail but am not married to the idea. If I bought a hardtail frame and built it up myself would it be possible / feasible to upgrade the frame to a full sus without having to buy a whole load of new stuff for it?

Cheers

There’s a lot of different standards you’d need to be aware of if you wanted to swap from one frame to another.

Threaded/press fit BB’s
Tapered/non-tapered headsets (just buy a frame that is tapered)
142/135mm rear ends etc (can be solved with hub adaptors)

Other things to consider would be that, if the right length for a hardtail, your brake hoses might be too short for a full sus.

Lots to think about but by buying wisely you shouldn’t have too many problems.

Someone is bound to come along and say this…might as well be me.

Whole new bikes are nearly always better value than building up from the individual components unless you’re in no rush and are willing to wait for sales/second hand etc or have a very specific build in mind that you can’t get as a pre-built package.

Other than that – be prepared for a little trial and error!

It’s not hard, some things are easier to do with proper tools – like fitting the headset, some things are easy to do, but the penalty for getting it wrong could be severe – cutting the steerer too short for example.

As for value, it really depends how you look at it – an off-the-shelf bike will always be better VFM – bike manufactures buy in huge quantities, plus the sorts of frames you can buy ‘frame only’ are usually very high end – for example YT can sell you a very decently specced bike for the price of an equivalent frame from say Santa Cruz – but lots of off-the-shelf bikes come with some iffy parts – generic hubs that fail early, low-end rims etc, so you can end up spending more on upgrades – it’s hardly ever more than building a bike up though.

I think it’s a good idea if you have a very strong idea what you want, but in my experience it’s not cheaper.

The other thing to factor into the cost is any tools you might need to do a “proper job”. It’s one thing bashing headsets into hack bikes but for a £2.5K build I’d do it right. So (if you don’t already have them) things like good cable cutters, hacksaw, brake bleed kits, cutting guide, headset / bb press, wheel jig, star fangled nut tool might need to be bought.

I agree with P-Jay re. value. On paper, an off the shelf bike is a better value option, but I know the last bike I bought (a road bike but the principle is the same) I ended up changing tyres, bars, seatpost, stem, saddle and grip tape pretty soon after buying it.

I’m still happy with the decision I made as no new bikes comes with a perfect spec and even factoring in that cost it was still cheaper than a custom build but I don’t think the value argument is quite as clear-cut as it seems

It’s very satisfying building it up yourself, and there are lots of bargains about, especially if you’re flexible on parts.

Do it! It’s fun and a great learning experience if you’ve not done it before. Just make sure you measure everything twice (especially the steerer!), and as stevied points out you have to be careful about all the different standards out there.

It’s not great VFM, though.

Agree on the value side. It is only better value buying off the shelf if you keep all the parts and don’t start swapping them out.

I had my last off the shelf bike a couple of years and when I came to sell it the only original parts were the frame and forks (honestly)

I know what I am like and I am only happy when my bike has all the parts on it that I like/want and no off the shelf bike exists in that configuration. However for an XC Hardtail at £2500 XC I could get pretty close buying off the shelf I would think so I would have to look around as not so clear cut.
As long as it had the wheels, cranks, gears etc,. (i.e the major items) that I wanted it would probably be tempting

If you’re not fussed with wheel size (and are a Medium) this is a bargain and right on budget:
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s1p5379/CANNONDALE-TRIGGER-CARBON-1-2013

OP here: Is that because 2.5k is a relatively large amount for a hardtail?

Also – does anyone have any book recommendations for building from the ground up?

With regards to value, it depends. I built this for £2600 in 2013 and only carried over a seatpost and rear mech from my old bike. By comparison the Stumpjumper available at the time for the same price was alloy, had entry Rockshox Revelations (I use the flashest Pikes), had Sram X7 gearing and cheap wheels. This has XT/Zee kit, Pikes, Easton Havens and XT brakes and is carbon- as a result it’s about 5lb lighter than the stock bike and cost £100 more. The gearing, forks and bar/stem I bought from Germany, the frame from Bikescene with a big discount, wheels half price from Chain Reaction etc. Shop around and you can do well.

I used to work in bike shops and am competent at building stuff- the main things to look out for when buying is to get the right standards of stuff (axles, bottom brackets, headsets etc). You may need to bleed the brakes if you shorten the hoses, and may need to buy new tools to fit the daft new bottom bracket standards. Research carefully and you’ll be fine.

Chances are though you’d be as well off buying a Canyon, unless you have something specific or have special tastes (which was my case- I know what I like and don’t want to buy a bike only to swap a load of bits to make it work how I want it to).

Just in the process of building my first full suss. So far it’s going well.

My frame is from a bike that costs £3200 new, I’m expecting the entire build to be £1300 ish with a few small parts from my old build, the forks I have are not quite as good as the full bike but I have a new stealth reverb, new slx brakes, new wheels that are only 80g heavier than the more narrow stock wheels and I have my own cockpit setup which suits better.

Oh and it’s built by me, so I love it more, until it explodes and kills me instantly.

I’d go against the grain as well and say that off-the-shelf isn’t necessarily better VFM than a DIY job. When I first built my Mega a few years back it totalled around £1800 whereas a similar specced full build was more than £2500. Having the opportunity to shop around for bargains and use components from the likes of Superstar & Uberbike can deal you some great savings. Also, brand new second hand – you’ll be surprised how much decent quality kit is sold on when folk buy off-the-shelf and swap parts to suit their preferences.

The first time I ever replaced brake cables on my own (probably in about 1999) the brakes failed going down a hill. Whatever nearly kills you makes you stronger, or something, which is why I now do every bit of maintenance myself.

I built up a Cotic Soda from parts and it cost me a small fortune – circa £3.5k. Before that I had bought a Canyon Nerve 9.0SL with XTR etc etc. The Canyon was the better-specced bike and cost £2.6k. In real terms, that’s the financial difference (although not entirely true as it’s comparing HT and FS).

Also – does anyone have any book recommendations for building from the ground up?

These days I’d just head over to the Park Tools website or youtube and use that. I’ve got a bike book, bought it 10 years ago, about 90% of it even then covered obsolete bits and pieces that I will probably never use. If I bought it new today that percentage would probably go up… Assuming you’ve got a tablet with wifi coverage I’d use that.

Is that because 2.5k is a relatively large amount for a hardtail?

Yes. A £2500 hardtail should come with some high end stuff as standard shouldn’t it?
Only guessing as I play around in the £800 area by buying second hand and building myself which is why for £800 I have a Ti framed bike that weighs 8KG…

The Reasons I like to assemble my own bikes:

1- you can pick your own compromises:
With an off the peg build you are at the mercy of whoever specced the bike, which of course will have been done based on target cost and available suppliers, odds are you’ll get most of the drive/brakes and finishing kit from only one or two sources, and there will be some compromises you don’t particularly like, build the bike yourself and you can decide what to spend and what to save on…
For example:
A stock build might come with Avid Codes, X9 3X10 and a Truvativ crank, where you might choose to build your bike with Deore Brakes, X01 1×11, and Race-Face cranks as your preferred set of compromises…

2- You know exactly how it all went together so fixing/maintaining it should mean fewer surprises.

3- you can tweak the contact points to suit your preferences, rather than have to swap bars/stems/saddle/cranks down the line, stock builds often use the same bar/stem/saddle/cranks combo across the size range, you can have a bike that fit’s better from day one instead of several changes to kit

4- I actually quite like assembling and maintaining bikes, I find it quite satisfying and I can happily spend hours of an evening in the garage putting a bike together…

Not everyone enjoys it, you have to do much more leg work yourself sourcing and fitting stuff. and some jobs can be frustrating or tricky. Plus there’s that period of time where you’ve got a pile of parts or worse a part built bike you can see, but not yet get out and ride on… but I reckon that makes it a wee bit sweeter once it’s done…

for £800 I have a Ti framed bike that weighs 8KG…

Would.

or worse a part built bike you can see, but not yet get out and ride on… but I reckon that makes it a wee bit sweeter once it’s done…

Currently where I’m at, it’s a killer

Currently where I’m at, it’s a killer

Ditto,

In the middle of building a “Gravel bike” now (London Road)…

I lost track and spent three and a half hours in the Garage last night (half of that was searching for tools and parts under piles of accumulated shite), finished at midnight and had to persuade myself to go to bed…

Frustrating as everything is pretty much in place except the Steerer needs trimming, the bars need taping and final tweaks to brakes and gears will be required, another hour and a half and I reckon I’ll be done…

I quite fancy having it done in time to ride to work via the tow path route tomorrow morning, but I’m sure events will conspire to prevent me…

in my experience best value is to buy a off the shelf bike (last years discounted ) and sell the stuff you dont like or want while its new and unused .then purchase your prefered components and build it .
just my opinion though good luck

I’d do it. I built a carbon Trance using a s/h Trance SX frame that already had a Hope headset and a new BB. I bought from Germany and watched for sales, getting an XO1 groupset from Evans. The brakes and pedals I had already. All in all, I spent £2800. Giant sold the SX in 2014 for £4750 and mine is better specced. I’m pretty pleased!

Do it!! I did it with my last two bikes.

I knew what I wanted, had a shopping list and just used google to find the best priced stuff. I’ve only seen a couple of places offer full build options on my Spitty and one with similar spec to mine was £3.4k which is with Pikes, SLX drivetrain and brakes and Hope Hoops on Hope Enduro rims, my build with Hope BB and Headset, Fox 36’s, Zee drivetrain, XT brakes, Reverb and Hope Hoops on Flows same cockpit setup too came in less than £3k, so if your happy to shop around you can get a better deal in my experience.

Oh and I’m like cookeaa I find building/fixing my bikes strangely relaxing.

Do it! I’ve just built up a Ti Stooge using basically the best of all my bike bits and a few other items I needed. It feels like I built it because all components are of my choosing, I’ve not had to compromise on any bit of it at all.

By contrast, I bought an off the peg hardtail last year and just didn’t gel with it. It didn’t feel as nice to ride as it was just a set of bits that I’d had no choice over.

I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted off the peg so went for a self build. Value for money wise I reckon my bike rivals an off the peg one with the benefit of not having to replace anything. It can be a frustrating faff l at times but you’ll know your bike inside out by the time you’re finished and you won’t be disappointed.

If there’s a very specific bike you want and no one makes it as a complete bike already, do it. Put every component in a spreadsheet and research them to make sure of compatibility. If you spend a few months looking through sales, you should be able to make some decent savings too.

My wheels will be here today, I can finish my build!!!!