Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
  • Frankenbikes – whats in your spares pile?
  • tjagain
    Full Member

    This morning I was idly pondering my spares pile and realised I could build an entire if somewhat odd bike

    Genesis ioid frame in yellow
    Old pikes in dark blue
    Hope big un front hub in light blue with silver rim
    shimano rear wheel with homemade SS kit – black hub, black rim
    Hope mono mini front brake in black with hope M4 rear in silver
    130 mm stem with mary bars or bright yellow flat bars
    FSA crankset in black with spds
    black no name seatpost with mattress saddle
    Mountainking tyres

    So – what could you build out of your spares pile – no buying allowed! Worse or better than mine? I am tempted to build it up and post the pics to scar your minds for ever

    nbt
    Full Member

    inbred frame with bent rear triangle
    2 sets of knackered fox forks – think one is straight steerer / qr, the other is tapered / 15mm
    pair 26″ wheels (15 mm front)
    pair 29″ wheels (qr)
    pair 700c wheels (qr but road bike sized)
    seatpost that doesn’t fit the inbred
    middleburn rs7 crankset with uno ring, matching square taper BB and a selection of differing sizes of singlespeed cogs to match both 26″ and 29″ wheels
    bb5 disk brakes (possibly road only – do they have a different pull?)
    8 speed Sora STIs (triple front) with matcing 8 speed cassette
    couple of front mechs
    three or four rear mechs
    various handlebars
    a couple of stems
    perhaps a seatpost clamp

    offers welcome 😉

    Sundayjumper
    Full Member

    It always feels like I have enough for another bike, but when I’ve tried it always turns out I’m short of one or two vital bits while having a plethora of (e.g.) pedals and tyres. I don’t want to go and catalogue the whole lot though. I think there will be a lot.

    And anyway, when the wife asks how many bikes I have, I only count the ones that are actually built up 😉 It makes the number sound slightly more acceptable.

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    Matt24k
    Free Member

    I built a Frankenbike out of a pile of very random bits. It has an MTB frame, forks and rear wheel with a 700c front wheel and brake lashed on. It is finished in “cack brown and grunge” and has a rear rack mostly held on with cable ties.
    The most expensive component was the Abus cable lock just in case there are any really desperate bike thieves out there.

    epicsteve
    Free Member

    I’ve probably got enough bits for a couple of full bikes although there would be a few oddities in there as the frames are all mountain bike ones but all my spare cranks are road ones other than an Alfine one I think. Got various drop bar shifter/brake levers as well. I suspect I could make an interesting gravel bike based on an Inbred frame running drop bars and a mix of road and MTB drivetrain.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    I vastly reduced my spares pile earlier in the year…it netted over £2000 😳

    I need It’s only a bargain if you’ve got a use for it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids.

    epicsteve
    Free Member

    I’m in the process of developing a 2nd spares pile at my London flat as I’ve replaced the drivetrains and wheels on my road bike and my wife’s one in the last couple of weeks. More of a problem ’cause I don’t have space down here though – up in Scotland a corner of my garage is dedicated to a hueg pile of cycling bits.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I built myself a carrera kraken with Stans olypmic wheels and a pair of coil lyriks at one point, rode it once 😆

    I think it’s worse when you discover you can build a perfectly sensible, high quality bike- I bought a super-cheap carbon xc bike frame a while back and apart from borrowing the wheels out of my commuter and buting a new headset, I’ve built a perfectly respectable XC race bike out of stuff that I had “just lying around”. Not healthy!

    And in my head, that bike cost me £110 because it was all just “spare” and I can ignore the fact that if I sold all the bits I’d get a grand or more.

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    I’d need a frame, a seatpost, and probably some gear cable outer (might have enough bits if the frame has cable stops, rather than full length outer).
    Have…
    enough groupset bits for a full XT 3×9
    more pairs of pedals than bikes
    spare bb bearings
    a complete unused headset
    spare gear inners
    complete set of formula brakes, discs, adapters, etc. (probably need new pads)
    unopened bleed kit for the above
    magura menja 100mm fork
    bonty bars, hope stem, ritchey grips
    fizik saddle
    there’s a complete set of wheels, tubes, tyres in the store room
    what have I missed?

    Was dumping a load of stuff in the recycling the other evening, and someone had dumped half a bike by the electricals recycling container. It did briefly go through my mind that an N+1 could cost me nothing more than consumables.

    thepodge
    Free Member

    Daffy – I vastly reduced my spares pile earlier in the year…it netted over £2000

    Similar here, sold most of my spares (still have some bits still to list), bought a new road bike and still had cash in my pocket to cover any new spares than I actually need.

    flashes
    Free Member

    I’m riding 2 “built from spares” bikes and still have a small pile of bits…..

    woodster
    Full Member

    If I got a frame I could build a hardcore hardtail with 650b Sektors and Reynolds wheels and a Campy Record 10 speed groupset and Avid codes mounted on drop bars.

    faustus
    Full Member

    Bent chainstay Rock lobster 853 frame, woodchipper handlebars, campag centaur chainset, very narrow carbon disc front wheel, Brooks leather mud flap…hmmm

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Thats the idea. top work flashes!

    philjunior
    Free Member

    I’ve got an old Scott frame, with original front hub, rims, red rear hope hub, Mary bars, associated child carrying paraphernalia and a rack. I took it in to work the other day with child carrying things removed, and apart from getting a bit muckier than with my usual commuter, it was OK (It took 2-3mins longer over 11 miles) and enabled me to take a more interesting route to the bike shop on my way home!

    mattbee
    Full Member

    All I’ll say is that I found another 2 frames up in the loft a few weeks ago that I’d forgotten about. Reckon i could get 3 or 4 26″ wheeled hardtail/ rigid geared or ss, plus a couple of road bikes. That’s before I think about rebuilding the ’92 Klein or ’72 Le Jeune which are just in bits to save space. With 4 of my own & 3 of my wife’s bikes already filling available space I think I may have a problem…

    tthew
    Full Member

    I don’t get it. The only ‘spares’ I have are consumables. I generally get a couple more than I need when I have to purchase just ‘cos it’s easier to have them at hand. Things like gear cable inner/outer, (probably not even a full kit) and brake pads. So my frankenbike would consist of

    1″ headset, (bought in error for a mate once)

    I use stuff until it’s knackered, then it gets binned. Am I a particular freak in that respect?

    DezB
    Free Member

    With the addition of some drop bars and a 1″ quill stem I could rebuild my old Coppi frame. It’d have a Bonty front wheel and a Mavic rear. Might have to go with flat bars as the only shifters/brakes I’ve got are a Altus STi set I removed from my sis-in-laws Apollo. Got some big-ol ski bar ends I could put on the end too, that I refused to put back on her bike when I fixed it!
    Do road quill stems fit 27.2 (was that the size before 31.8?) mtb bars?

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    A silly part of me thinks buy a Fatty Trail frame, BB and crankset and I could then get a second fatbike in the garage from all the spares I have knocking about these days! 😆

    richmtb
    Full Member

    Well I’m short an actual frame and I don’t think I have any crank arms spare.

    But if we went 9 speed and 26″ I could easily make two complete bikes. I’d have to build five or six before I ran out of handlebars or stems!

    Stevet1
    Free Member

    Do road quill stems fit 27.2 (was that the size before 31.8?) mtb bars?

    :facepalm: just can’t leave that hanging there. Before 31.8mm MTB stems were 25.4mm, (most) road stems were 26.0mm.

    philjunior
    Free Member

    I use stuff until it’s knackered, then it gets binned. Am I a particular freak in that respect?

    Yes, although your approach is clearly the most sensible. I’ve ended up swapping stuff out, thinking “I’ll never use that but I’ll keep it anyway” or even wearing stuff out and thinking “I might need a spare part one day”. I don’t know how desperate I expect myself to be for spare parts! I can’t imagine myself taking the time to fit any of the part worn bits I have.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Mine is mainly from upgrades and / or trying stuff. For example the pikes were bought cheap secondhand after I bought a new frame and wanted to try it with different length forks. I found out the length the bike was sweetest at and then bought forks to suit

    superfli
    Free Member

    Built a Frankenbike out of £80 frame (new from on-one), £50 forks and spares I had lying around. Frame, fork and a few extra bits = £230.

    Hopefully that google photo is visible to all.
    Turns out its the fastest and lightest bike I own and is brilliant (for me!) for XC use! Its intended as a baby trailer+weeride carrier. Forks are rather carp though (and heavy). I’ve since added my old Hilo dropper and built a new rear wheel (pro2 evo on archex, DT comp £60!).

    atrthanks
    Free Member

    Does it count if you buy a frankenbike for £80, then swap so many parts you could practically rebuild the original bike?

    (My ninth hand bargain fixed gear bike is now a singlespeed, mostly made of bits taken off my commuter, which is now mostly made of bits taken off my good bike, which now only has the frame and saddle in common with the original bike.)

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    I have two tyres and a retro LX triple crankset with questionable tapers.

    beanum
    Full Member

    I built up a Frankenbike from my old RoadRat frame and some bits lying around. I wanted a new bike and one had to go (N+1 wasn’t working in this case) so I gave it to these guys…
    Velafrica

    Hopefully someone is making more use of it than I did.

    The problem is, I’m now looking at my Rock Lobster frame and Pace forks thinking all I need is some 26″ wheels and some cables and I can make a new bike from the stuff lying around.. 😀

    DezB
    Free Member

    just can’t leave that hanging there. Before 31.8mm MTB stems were 25.4mm, (most) road stems were 26.0mm.

    Thanks! Couldn’t remember and couldn’t be bothered to look it up. I knew it’d bug someone if wrong 🙂

    As for binning stuff! I mean, come on, you never know when a set of steel ski bar ends will come in useful!

    stevemtb
    Free Member

    Many years ago a mate looked at my spares pile and said with a cheap frame you’d have a full bike! £80 Saracen Zen steel frame and various cables later and my frankenbike was born. Turned into my go-to bike, got a much better set of 140mm forks in a sale, got a better wheelset, got better brakes and so on. It is still a random build of what wheels are working with the right tyres.

    Took it out the garage the other week as nothing else was in working condition and it is still brilliant. It is firmly back in regular rotation now, I have switched the tyres over so it now has two white wheels instead of a black and a white – that was only because the hub went on the black one though 🙂

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    I could build most of a road bike and either a Full mountain bike – fs or hardtail

    Mainly its stuff so old its not worth trying to sell and I have a loft

    Anyone want an cracked intense spider 100 mmm travel frame with knackered bearings or a Merlin Malt 1 – the very first one – that is about 15 years old?

    beej
    Full Member

    Frankenback, SS cross thing. I bought new dropouts and bar tape for it.

    bri-72
    Full Member

    This frankenbike was a spares box job, quite liking it. 29+ front and 26 normal rear doesnt ride too bad at all.

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