Building a road bike

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Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed Oct 08, 2014 11:52 pm

I'm in the process of building up a road bike, had a frame sat around for ages and I'm gradually getting less and less fit so it's time to start cycling again ... I'll be starting out just doing random rides with the local club on a sunday morning, but might start back into racing if I can get fit enough ... which is unlikely ...

So the question is, what groupset to go with? My knowledge is all 10 years out of date and the prices seem to have gone insane since I built my last one. My plan was to look on ebay and go for last years Dura Ace like I did last time, but I'm thinking I need to go a bit cheaper. It's going on a nice frame and I hate cheap components but I don't want to go overboard ...

So Shimano, Campag or Sram, and what sort of level? Do I buy a groupset, or buy a complete 2nd hand bike and swap over the bits?

I'll add some pics of the build so far, but interested in anyone's thoughts...

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby chris » Thu Oct 09, 2014 6:38 am

Certainly worth looking at a second hand bike, but then you are taking a gamble on the parts and how long they will last.
And you probably need to check out what's current on the cycle forums or if you know the local cycle club it maybe worth speaking to them for advice, someone may even have a bike or bits for sale
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Fred Gassit » Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:10 am

Oooh, sounds like a fun project! :thumb:

Ultegra 6800 11-speed looks like a good bet for 460 (from Ribble, sale on today!)
Dura-Ace 9000 (mechanical) is twice as much (980).

Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 Electronic is amazing, but 2 grand just for the gruppo. Ultegra Di2 is half that.

Don't know anything about Campag.

What sort of frame are you going to use?
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Thu Oct 09, 2014 12:08 pm

Cheers guys, I might have to do some lurking on a forum or two ... and I'm still a member of Stourbridge Cycling Club so good idea to chat to them ... haven't been for a while!

It's a Rotwild frame with carbon forks, probably a grand when new which is why I don't want to fit cheap stuff. Ultegra might be worth a go .

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Fred Gassit » Thu Oct 09, 2014 12:44 pm

Rotwild - nice! :thumb:
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby damodear » Thu Oct 09, 2014 12:47 pm

There's a Facebook page called "Cycling Buy,Swop & Sell".
There's always gear sets popping up on there.

Now is the best time of year to keep an eye out as loads of people are selling off their summer bikes parts.
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby gimmeablackun » Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:37 am

I don't know much about cycling but I have been keeping an eye on this page. I've got an old Claude Butler GT downhill bike that I really need to change. It's far too heavy for what I want.

Seems to have decent bikes pop up from time to time at decent prices.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=non-motoring&M=873&M=875&M=874&M=929
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Fri Oct 10, 2014 3:39 pm

Here's the bike so far ...

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Not as nice as the one in the link, but still well made and barely used. Looks like Campag Centaur might be good ... found a guy in Stourbridge CC who's upgraded his bike to Record, so I can get an almost new groupset at a decent price.

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed May 20, 2015 8:28 am

Well the weather is fairly decent and I'm teaching my youngest to ride without stabilisers, so time to kick start this again ... managed to get a few bits off a friend in the local cycling club, so fingers crossed this bike will make it on the road soon. Looks like it will be a Campagnolo groupset, because that's what I can get fairly cheaply ... as Alan gradually upgrades his bike, I'm having all his old stuff!

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby greg#2 » Wed May 20, 2015 11:58 am

With cycling, is there a significant element of fashion/flash/one-upsmanship to the upgrades? or are there proven significant performance advantages to upgrading this stuff.

ie a standard mid/top level halfords racer type bike for several hundred Vs carbon/carbon bespoke pick 'n' mix special for several thousand. in the hands of a club level enthusiast would there be a noticeable 'bolt on' performance upgrade or are we talking Nth degree stuff here and you need to be lance armstrong to leverage the benefits.

Physics would suggest that travelling at a steady speed down a road, the extra weight will make negligible difference as you are not accelerating the weight - also, the savings in rotating mass are miniscule and the difference in total vehicle weight (inc. rider) will be single percentage points.
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby greg#2 » Wed May 20, 2015 12:07 pm

a probably ignorant example of what i am on about, for £299 you get this

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -2015#tab2

to me, it looks fine
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Fred Gassit » Wed May 20, 2015 3:18 pm

greg#2 wrote:a probably ignorant example of what i am on about, for £299 you get this

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -2015#tab2

to me, it looks fine



But it will feel like riding a farm gate on wooden cart wheels!

There is a huge law of diminishing returns once you get past a certain point, but a bike in the sweet spot (about 1K for a carbon frame, 105 gruppo) will feel magical compared to a gas pipe special.
You need to try one as you are spot on the MAMIL demographic! :)
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed May 20, 2015 4:53 pm

It's half and half, there is some fashion following / one upmanship, and there is also quality, feel, sharpness etc. The Halfords bike is a Chevrolet Spark, I'm building a Caterham. Both will get you to the shops, but with one you'll want to wear a disguise and with the other you'll be looking for excuses to take it out as often as possible.

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby stuartb » Wed May 20, 2015 7:49 pm

Do you ever get to a point where the bike is just too light?

E.g. it gets blown around too much in the wind, or there's less gyroscopic effect so less stability?


I'm considering getting a bike soon, but I can't get my head around spending more on one than I'd spend on something with an engine.
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Thu May 21, 2015 12:06 am

stuartb wrote:Do you ever get to a point where the bike is just too light?

E.g. it gets blown around too much in the wind, or there's less gyroscopic effect so less stability?


I'm considering getting a bike soon, but I can't get my head around spending more on one than I'd spend on something with an engine.

Not that I've got to. My lightest MTB started at 21lbs and was 15.75lbs by the time I'd finished with it and that just got better and better as I lightened it. Some elements of it were barely practical, I had titanium spokes and they flexed so much they had to be tightened every couple of days.
I had a time trial bike that was terrible in cross winds but that was caused by the aero spokes and deep rims more than the weight I think

You don't have to spend loads, but as with most things you get what you pay for.

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Mozza » Thu May 21, 2015 6:08 am

I'm sure it would be cheaper to loose that 5lbs in body fat than fitting titanium spokes, that is if you have it to loose.
Just wish I could manage a couple of stones for racing. :)
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Fred Gassit » Thu May 21, 2015 9:03 am

Have you tried road cycling for fitness/weight management Ken?
The theory goes that if you stay between 65 and 75% of max heart rate your body burns fat rather than sugar reserves.
'Er indoors has been working on this recently, but is finding it hard to avoid going into the red on uphill sections, so no great results as yet.
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Re: Building a road bike

Postby Mozza » Thu May 21, 2015 11:06 am

I used to do triathlons, biathlons and marathons, so probably yes.

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby greg#2 » Thu May 21, 2015 11:31 am

So when i'm karting, i'm doing this fat burning thing wrong then!!!!!

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Re: Building a road bike

Postby stuartb » Thu May 21, 2015 4:54 pm

Fred Gassit wrote:Have you tried road cycling for fitness/weight management Ken?
The theory goes that if you stay between 65 and 75% of max heart rate your body burns fat rather than sugar reserves.
'Er indoors has been working on this recently, but is finding it hard to avoid going into the red on uphill sections, so no great results as yet.

Interesting. Hadn't heard of that before. Might see if it works.

My experience is that I burn muscle more readily than fat.
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