Ok, so I’m going to get my bike shop to build me a Swift but struggling to keep it below my budget of £1500. Here is a cut n paste price list made up of parts they suggested. Is there anyway I can get a really decent build but within my budget.

Prices are what they have quoted me and inc VAT

Headset. FSA Orbit Mx £50

Stem. Easton EA70 £65

Bar. Easton EA70 £60

Grips. Bontrager RL Lock On £15

Chainset + B/Bracket. Truvativ Stylo 1.1 32t £140

Cassette. Alfine sprocket £10

Chain. SRAM PC971 £30

Shifter. Alfine £35

Pedals. own supplied £0

Brakes. Magura MT4 + centre lock adaptor (rear only) £302

Front Hub. Hope Pro2 EVO £60

Rear Hub. Alfine + fitting kit £233

Spokes. DT Competition (silver) £52

Rims. Mavic TN719 Disc £104

Tyres. Maxxis Ardent £72

Skewers. Hope £30

Saddle. own supplied £0

Seat Post. Bontager Race £30

Seat Clamp. w/ frame £0

10% off parts -£129

Parts Total £1,599

I’d look to save money on headset, stem, bar, skewers and possibly chainset – it’s all stuff you can easily change later (or source from classifieds on here?).

If you’re tied to the lbs, then it’s difficult. I’d get the frame and forks from them, and the wheel build, but supply the rest, even if it meant losing the 10% discount.
FSA Orbit MX is £14.99 at on-one, if you’re interested.
I’d also be casting around for a more economically priced brake set, unless you’ve a reason to go for those Maguras.

How handy are you with a spanner?

Most of those parts you could buy the part cheeper online and the tools to fit it, for less than the price on there.

Headset £15 at on-one, press ~£35 for a basic one

XT brakes are £135 on rose bikes + ashima rotors from ebay for ~£30

Chainset, Rose are doing an entire SLX groupset for les than that alfine hub?

etc etc etc

Cotic are doing a load of Alfine wheelsets at a good price.

and I think on-one too.

I’d keep the brakes and the Alfine, personally – you’ve obviously decided hub gears are what you want and I really rate Magura kit.

The 971 chain can be got from Merlin for about £14

I’ve never attempted to build a bike but would have a go. I lack tools and knowledge but would be prepared to try if it means saving a lot of money.

Would the amount of money saved be worth doing it myself?

Sounds about right, I was in the same ballpark when I built my Swift.
Noticed you didnt have frame costs, presume you already have this

I went single speed initially, but have sourced alfine 8 bits for the next phase.
I would look to source good second hand parts, often these are at much reduced costs so it allows you to play/up the spec depending on what bargains you can find. Loads of bargains out there.

Mart

use a cheap kmc chainfor about £5 as you dont need one designed for shifting. alternative brakes will save you a load. where are you? if you shop around for the bits youll get it well within your budget and i’ll build it for you (for a small fee). 😉

or indeed build it with you for free and show you how to do it.

Ha Ha Whoops I forgot to say the frame and rigid forks are £440. I’ve toyed with the idea of singlespeed but I don’t think I’m fit enough.

itll make you fit! i really enjoy singlespeed. makes you try harder.

Wow toppers, thanks for the offer 🙂 Realistically, if I just bought the frame and forks, plus wheels with hubs, could a novice like myself realistically put the rest together without too much trouble? Is there a specific tool kit/box that I could buy to make the job a little less ham fisted?

Thanks fornthe advice and help so far. I like this idea of bargain hunting and self building 🙂

Agree with Toppers.
First time I had tried SS and the fitness is getting there. I love it
The build is not too difficult, I had a mate help/show me.
I would do myself now not that tricky one you see how

how about this, you would need to ditch the alfine and go for 2 x 10:

Shimano SLX 10 Speed Disc Brake Groupset & MT15 Wheels from Merlin cycles – £494.95

Includes:

•Hollowtech 2 chainset – 175 – 24-32-42 rings
•Bottom bracket (68/73mm)
•Cassette (11-34)
•Chain
•Front mech
•Shadow rear mech (SGS)
•Gear levers
•Front & rear SLX disc brakes with 160mm centrelock rotors front & rear
•Shimano MT15 factory wheelset

plus:

Headset. FSA Orbit Mx £50

Stem. Easton EA70 £65

Bar. Easton EA70 £60

Grips. Bontrager RL Lock On £15

Pedals. own supplied £0

Spokes. DT Competition (silver) £52

Rims. Mavic TN719 Disc £104

Tyres. Maxxis Ardent £72

Skewers. Hope £30

Saddle. own supplied £0

Seat Post. Bontager Race £30

Seat Clamp. w/ frame £0

Add £30 for your shop to rebuild the wheels

plus £440 for the frame and forks

total of £1,382.95

im gonna be selling a frame and forks in very good condition. whole bike mebbes, havent decided. id listen to offers for some of the parts if it made it worthwhile for me, but off the top of my head ive got white ind eno wheels, white ind cranks, new xt brakes, titec h or j bars (not sure, the ones with rise anyway)
built as singlespeed but its the frame that will do both ss and geared.

mail me if interested.

if your wheels are built and your headset fitted then the rest is easy if you have a bit of mechanical aptitude. you will need a bottom bracket tool, some spanners, some allen keys, screw drivers and a brake bleed kit for your intended brakes. all of which you will reuse andway so are an investment rather than i consumable expense.
i do reccomend building it with someone who knows what they are doing if you want to learn without incurring costs by messing it up.

Build it yourself, crikey are folk really so afraid to tighten some bolts… 😕

And spec EA30 bars, your talking a few grams difference. Stem price seems a lot, I’d be looking for Thomson at that price. The headset price is extorionate given they are £18 on CRC. Could save £50 on the rims by going for TN317’s which are 20grams heavier. Spokes for my 29er wheels were £18 per wheel from LBS IIRC.

And Singular framesets come with head & b/b faces done already. Get the LBS to lop the fork steerer down, & install the headset if your worried. A bb tool will cost you £5 – £10, a good multi-tool should have the rest of the tools youll need.

Shimano SLX 10 Speed Disc Brake Groupset & MT15 Wheels from Merlin cycles – £494.95

it’s a 29’er (unless the MT15’s are 29″?)

yeah i know, got one myself 🙂

left in the price of the spokes and rims, simple job to get his LBS to lace them up.

Could then sell the rims and maybe the slx skewers and poss front mech and shifter if he wants to go 1 x10. Leaves a couple of hundred spare which is ballpark for some second hand or cheap suss forks

Just seconding toppers and takisawa…

If you have a little mechanical aptitude, you could do most of the build yourself, learn a lot about your bike and save a fair bit on the parts.

As toppers says, get the wheels and the headset done for you and the rest is easy and tools cheap. As said above, I’d look at On One for Alfine wheelsets and you could even take your frame and your £18 On One Orbit MX to the LBS and get them to fit it and you’ll still come out ahead of their £50 to supply and fit.

Saying that, fitting a headset isn’t that big a deal – you can make your own ‘press’ with bits from the DIY shop for a few quid (there are pictures on here somewhere).

There was a guy selling a Truvativ Stylo SS crankset over in the classifieds yesterday IIRC.

bargin;

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-on-one-ti-29er-alfine-bike-split

As above, self build. That way you can choose the parts for the best prices online and you can learn how to build and more importantly then, fix your bike yourself. It’s really very easy.

Parktool.com do lots of very good guides on how to do it all.

Tools, you won’t need much more than decent allen keys (£10-£15), a BB spanner (£10?). Headset – TBH I’d suggest two planks of wood and a hammer but your shop will do this for a tenner or so usually otherwise.

What wwas said

Id talk to the shop and mention you can get the parts online (from main stores, not even the super cheap ones) for a lot cheaper. If they want your business they should come a fair bit lower than that final cost!

<HIJACK ALERT>
sadexpunk – is the frame a Swift? What size?

All of course assuming the OP isn’t interested 🙂

its a medium swift mate.
mail me if interested cos i might forget this threads here 🙂 im not desperate to sell but the wedge could come in handy right now.

e mail singular. I think they are about to start doing builds for this sort of money

I built my bike with no prior experience using the best deal parts I could find from Merlin/CRC etc. If you get your wheels built up and buy a £30 tool kit and the Park blue book (£?20, or use youtube/park website) you can save a lot. I had the bike shop cut my steerer, press my headset in and shorten my brake hoses. Everything else is very easy even for a numnuts like me.

I guess if the shop supplies you the parts then they build the bike for you for free do they ?

Good bike choice tho you wont be dissapointed

Yes, fitting is free and all prices include VAT.

I have my own good quality spanners, sockets, drivers etc What other tools would I need for a DIY build?

Thanks for all the interest and advice in this thread.

If you want to play it safe, take it to a shop to get headset fitted and forks shortened. Shouldn’t be too pricy. You may need some extra tools (chain tool, quality Allen keys and a chain ring thingy spring to mind).
Alternatively see it as an investment of goodwill in the LBS. I’d go for a cheaper chain, stem and bars as you wouldn’t notice any difference and possibly SLX brakes (not sure on the relative cost, but usually cheaper than Martas and very good).

Personally, I go with two lumps of wood, a hammer and a pipe cutter from Wilkinsons. Built a lot of bikes, haven’t had anything fail yet.

Where are you in the country? Someone might lend you a few bits and even direct a bit for a beer or two..

BTW, YGM sadexpunk 🙂