I want a new bike but cant afford it (its reduced in the sales to £1600).
Most of the parts on it i wouldnt want anyway.
I could get about £800-900 if i strip away the bits i dont want and sell them.
I could sell my current frame for about £400 and some other bits laying around the shed for another £200 or so.

This will more or less pay for the bike but take some effort.
Tell me it makes sense?

It makes sense.

And if nobody buys the bits you try to sell?

It’s a no brained Shirley!

im out – you are likely to spend 1600 and recoup, er, a bit, never as much as you planned/hoped, factor in postage, ebay fees, packaging and pain in the arsedness of all the deals, yep, im still out.

It’s reduced down from £2800 and I’ve had my eye on it for yonks.
It’s also the last one in stock. The only downside is it’s 26″ and I’ve never Sat on one.

The theory is sound

You’ve got to be prepared for the fact that 2nd hand parts sales are pretty slow right now, and though some items off the bike may sell instantly, others may take weeks or months. That and have you got your valuations accurate? What if you only got £600-700 for the parts, not the £800-900 you want? Would you be upset or could you live with it?

Just playing devils advocate here by the way. I’ve done this sort of thing continually over the last 10 years or more, and more often than not things have worked out well for me. I have been stuck with a few items I just seemingly couldn’t shift for love not money, despite supposedly being desirable and in good condition, on occasion.

Oh, and Royal Fail charge more than ever, and they don’t like funny shaped packages such as MTB handlebars very much for instance!

There’s dealing with a stroppy wife to factor into the mix too.

No

I dismantled and sold every part of my bike not that long ago. It is a very laborious process and didn’t take long before I was pretty fed up with it, if that helps!

It makes sense but it won’t work out as planned …

Go for it it’s never stopped me 😉

Its a sound plan, in theory: I’ve done it and that’s why I have a shed full of unused bits that have sat untouched for years. But don’t let that put you off…

My current bike pedals like a tiny bb pivot 3 legged donkey up a long fireroad.
To say it is a chore is being kind. It’s great downhill though.
New bike would be more sensible to pedal but still fun downhill.

I can afford it.. it would be on a credit card which I can transfer to 0% for 9 months

Do it, you should regret the things you’ve done, not the things you haven’t done but wish you had.

No.

It’s better to save up the money and buy it when you can afford it.

The main things to sell would be 170mm rs solo air rc lyriks, avid elixir 5 brakes and rotors,Sram x7 mech and shifters, truvativ descendant crankset, e13 ls1 chainguide, sram cassette, a few stems, maybe the maxxis ardent tyres and maybe the wheels if I could get enough. I also have my current frame and some little used rs argyles. There’s probably some other stuff ice missed.

I thinking of doing the same just so i can get the frame in the colour I want! (And to get rid of horrible Avid brakes!)

Only do it if can afford to wait for the bits to sell and get less for them than you exspect

I was in a similar situation and brought a complete bike (2nd hand though) striped it to the frame, after selling all the bits the frame came in significantly lower (less than half) the price a frame alone would have cost. Yes it was a hassle to sell all the bits but it was do that or don’t get the bike, most things in life worth having take effort! I’ve forgotten all the hassle 6 months on but love the bike, short term pain for long term gain.

When working the returns out I based the prices on rock bottom immediate sale prices to look at worst case scenario…fortunately I got got decent prices and quick sales, and the truth is some of the buyers got a great deal too! As long as you look worse case scenario and it works go for it 🙂

This isn’t man maths, it’s mentalism.

There’s dealing with a stroppy wife to factor into the mix too.

Probably best you relinquish whatever financial control you have left to her.

Devote half an hour and an hour to doing the sums, and if possible stick it in a spreadsheet. Work out what the approximate sales prices you can get on ebay and then subtract somewhere in the region of 15%.

I have a fleet I am quite happy with and they have come together from serial bike swapping which means that my collection owes me very little.

Remember, you’ll be selling 26 inch bike parts (that obsolete, trail-killing abomination before the bike industry) – they’re already being discounted from new and with warranty aren’t they (?), so think carefully about what you’ll get for them

I don’t think those base parts will be anywhere near 800-900. Used elixirs get peanuts these days for example. Go for it though; ive done it and ended up with frames that cost me nothing!