Given he only had £2-2.5K to spend on a new car, and was selling a BeOne frame for £250, it might not be entirely serious.

mmm yeah he also wanted some cheap forks for his Specialized Hardrock! LOL!

i know its a pI$$take but if i had unlimited budget id get a modded carbon di2 groupset with ax bars stem and brakes,LW ventoux obeymeyers yaban sl,carbon ceramic cassette,Clavicula’s with paracis bolts id have a saddle made for me in carbon.Then for frame id have edge forks on a cannondale evo six 650g frame painted gold.Then id have lime green dugasts made with my name printed on the side
Bruce

It’ll have full 7900 groupset

Well mine wouldn’t it would have Di2. Then I’d get some Lightweight wheels and then worry about which frame later.

The new UK Baum importer in Hove has some lovely frames hanging up in his shop.

No idea what they cost but they look special.

If it really was an unlimited budget, I would go and talk to Eddy Merckx and see if he would let me have one of his bikes that he won the TdF on.

Thanks for all the replies folks. A lot of great info and ideas.

I’m building the bike for a guy who’s keen amateur rider and an amazing athlete. He’s transformed himself into an accomplished cyclist/time triallist over the last few years and the hobby has become an obsession.

He rides sportives and finishes at the front and also won his local time trial handicap league in his first year so he’s pretty handy – as well as being very good on an MTB.

He knows that spending £20k or whatever won’t make him any quicker but he just likes a bit of style and has more cash than he ever needs so enjoys spending it on cycling. (He already has four Cervelos).

He decided to do an Ironman last year so installed an endless pool in his house so he could swim a mile before breakfast every day. That’s his level of commitment.

Anyway, I’ll sift through all the info. Thanks.

Bruce – I like your ideas btw.

Oh, I know this is an MTB forum but you always get a more enjoyable stream of answers/abuse on here 😆

Beej/SBrock – Yeah I do operate on a tight budget personally but people I build bikes for usually don’t. (Except for the Hardrock guy!).

No offence to you, but do you know what you’re doing to be building a bike of this ilk?

If I was spending £10k on a bike I’d want it built by a very accomplished mechanic, not one who asked a forum what parts to use… Have you glued many tubs before for a start?

For my money it’d probably be a Cervelo Project California or whatever that 700g frame’s called, Lightweights, Di2 (has to be, 7900 would be a travesty), and some nice finishing kit, if I actually wanted to ride the bike I probably wouldn’t go for the absolute lightest, be nice to have something you could trust, New Ultimate or possibly even Ritchey Superlogic or something.

He rides sportives and finishes at the front

Hmmmmmm

so is he looking for a TT bike for Tri’s or a road bike for Sportives?

Surely to finish at the front of a sportive you just have to start at the front seeing as there is no ‘start’.

Looks 695 is a beaut, but a tad mainstream for this fella perhaps,
So.
A Custom from Bob Parlee.
I’ve a Z5 custom and it fits me like a glove. I love it and I’ve only seen one other person (in London) that has one. I’ve had many many comments on both build quality/beauty and exclusiveness, and it rides so well it’s be hard to describe in a few words here, I’ve SRAM Red on it.
Well worth it IMO.

Parlee would get my money or the cervelo project californa or lots of others.

No offence to you, but do you know what you’re doing to be building a bike of this ilk?

None taken – I’m a professional mechanic and have the technical skills but TBH I don’t know enough about what’s available at the very top end of the road bike market to give the right advice. Hence asking the question on here. Oh, I’ve glued plenty of tubs and sometimes I even do it without getting glue on the wheel, the floor, my hands, my clothes, the dog etc……

so is he looking for a TT bike for Tri’s or a road bike for Sportives?

He’s got a P3 for TTs. It’s an S3 replacement he wants.

Surely to finish at the front of a sportive you just have to start at the front seeing as there is no ‘start’.

Well, technically they’re not races but the faster guys treat them as races and some of the big sportives classify the top finishers in finishing order over elapsed times. He does actual races too.

Whether the OP is full of it or not, i like this sort of post

My LBS has just built up a £17k Storck, Reynolds wheels, Di2, AX lightness everywhere. Stupidly light (in the region of 10lbs) and apparently rides like you’d expect. Goes well with the 3 other Storcks he’s got.

Me personally, I’m a bit of a mainstream man so I’d go for a Scott in the style Cavendish had his the other year. Cervelo are lovely too, that California was the business and whatever you think of Cervelo they spend an awful lot of time and money on R&D. Dressed up with Di2 and a set of lightweights, or those 5k reynolds

Whether the OP is full of it or not, i like this sort of post

Exactly! It’s fun and useful to get other folks’ input. I’m not full of it – I’ve had tons of good technical help on here from people. Although I’ve been well trained I’m limited in experience but coz I work on my own I don’t have more knowledgeable colleagues to learn from so I use STW instead.

He started off with Scotts and moved on to Cervelos and now he’s looking upwards (if you can).

Those Parlees look interesting. I’ll suggest them to him. 🙂

The only reason I took to the Parlee was because of a roadie buddy getting one at the time and just at that time a woman knocked me off my Orca and killed it dead, so I was looking to replace that. Now I’ve ridden some hairy old beasts in my time and the Orca was the smoothest of them, but it lacked the “kudos” and I was looking for something a bit more “me” and unique. I’d taken a good look around before commiting to the Parlee, Condors Leggaro came close, but chose the Parlee having had a lengthy email conversation with them, they just seemed to care a great deal about me and what I wanted out of a bike. But I think many builders would do that, so don’t discount them either.
What about something from Independant Fabrication?? or Ira Ryan?? can’t go wrong with handbuilt from a specialist..
Just a thought or two..

SBrock can I suggest you don’t open threads that may contain discussions involving something other than mountain bikes. It works for most people as there is no need to open every forum post. Although it’s unlikely you’ll still be viewing a post that’s got you so enraged and you have no interest in so this post is almost as pointless as yours. Almost.
And open your mind, chill out and try to remember no one made you forum boss.

Has anyone suggested Colnago yet with super record, etc.

Has anyone suggested Colnago yet with super record, etc

Colnagos are lovely but wouldn’t look right without Campag and the big S will be present…..

I’ll have a look at IF and I’d never heard of Ira Ryan.

I guess the personal interest of the builders helps justify the premium prices so it’s standard at this level.

Fair enough, there is no way I would put shimano on a Colnago either.

Remember that for custom build there’s likely to be a longish lead time and possibly a waiting list.

Custom builders do have lea time waiting, but that wasn’t really the case for me. Bob to Me in 5 weeks. But then I’m a pretty standard height/reach kinda guy.
There are so many custom builders to choose from it’ll boggle your mind. Ira Ryan, well he’s a demi god.

For a very short while I chucked my 7900 (off my Orca) on my Z5 whilst waiting for my Red to come through, worked perfectly fine and dandy. Whilst the look of a bikes important, I think it’s the way you ride it’s more of an importance.

I would go for either high end Colnago, Viner or Bianchi – & forget the big s. IT HAS TO BE CAMPAGNOLO SUPER RECORD

A work colleague bought a custom Colnago.

He then put Di2 on it!

A very sad day.

£20k or whatever

woaaaah. that’s a nice budget to have. seriously, up to 20k?

if he wants performance i can’t see anything but the R5 CA doing the job, forget whether the heritage is there or if Cervelos are usually made in china or not. there’s nothing else that can come close at the moment.

Full di2. Lightweight wheels. whatever finishing kit can live up to the rest of the bike and he likes the look of. Some thermo-fit Shimano shoes too.

Spend another £3k on a nice steel custom, nothing crazy, with ultegra and std wheels as a training bike. You know, just so you don’t get too used to a 13lb bike and get weak.

And the rest, on a trip to the Alps. or 3. Because it’s not about the bike really – you need to ride great places without a number on your bike sometimes.

Hmmm, them there Lighweight wheels are bu*gers to keep true you know. I bought a set for my Z5 and sold them cos I had to true them up every couple of hundred miles or so.. I’ve got some FFWDs on and they’ve been superb.

Disgusting.

I met a guy last year commuting on a parlee with lightweights. He said the lightweights weren’t an issues on the pot holed roads. I didn’t believe him.

Lightweights are sooo last year, look at enve or mad-fiber.

If he wants deep wheels for performance (aerodynamic specifically) get Zipps. For a specific depth they have a lower drag coefficient at most yaw angles when compared to any other wheel and this repeated time and time again in many independent tests.

Iain

Well there is no budget.

You work out the best kit for the application and the last question is – how much?

£20k may seem like a lot of dosh for a bike (which it is) but if you were in to driving expensive cars on a track then you could blow £20k on a race exhaust so it’s all relative.

He goes to the Alps and the Pyrenees and Tenerife etc already and has two Cervelo training bikes so he’s well sorted.

If he wants deep wheels for performance (aerodynamic specifically) get Zipp

He’s got most of the catalogue already……….

MOOTS!

Look at weightweenies if you would like a good idea of the best stuff out there for road bikes. There are some cracking bikes on there and some just make my jaw hit the floor.
My uncle’s bike is an R5ca with Di2, Mavic CCU tubs, fibrelyte cages, rings, and jockey wheels and then topped off with KMC X10sl and Recon ti cassette. 5.6kg and VERY pretty.
However, once note of caution is that the headset is a total b*tch: the PTFE bearing it rides on is temperamental to say the least and the adjustment process as it beds in, requiring additional shims every couple of 100kms is a bit of a hassle. Mind you, he just gets the mechanic to sort it so it’s not like he loses any sleep over it…

if you want any real advise on a build email me at bruce @ 4crosswheels.com and ill be happy to peice together a build for you
Bruce

alternatively, you could just walk into Bike Lab in Poole, pull you pants down, bend over and proceed to get rogered senseless with full retail price exotica.

I’d have an indy fab 953 tubing with di 2 kit and dt 190 hubs

that’d be for going to the shops and then that uber cervelo for poncing about in my rapha imperial kit 😉

The answer is obvious, it’s got to be an Orange 5…

Unless I was racing I wouldn’t use tubs no matter what the budget. The best carbon clinchers at the moment seem to be zipps.

An R5Ca won’t be any faster than the S3. If I were getting a bike for its looks it wouldn’t be a cervelo.

“I’d have an indy fab 953 tubing with di 2 kit and dt 190 hubs”

I would too, or just std DAce, but would that be enough if your budget is unlimited? Wouldn’t you still be thinking ‘i could have better’ and be trapped in that cycle of consumer doubt? 😉

953 / DAce is my dream road bike, i’d stop there and be grateful everytime i rode it. But that’s me, not a chap with 20k burning a hole in his expensive pants.

Custom 953 is one thing i would happily spend good £ on – that thingy Penn chap (‘it’s all about the bike’ book) had 100% the right idea on the frame. On much of the bike actually, imo.

The answer is obvious, it’s got to be an Orange 5…

😀

Jameso, that’s the hack bike if we’re on unlimited budget 😉

There prob is a danger of going higher and higher with the kit but i’d be sex wee in my pants happy with that bike and end up spending great chunks of money flying it round the world to ride it in different places. Ah well I can dream