Cheaper to build or buy?

[luckyboy]

Hey, me again.

Just saw a Wilier frame on eBay for £199 and wondered - how much would it cost to actually buy up all the parts and get someone to build a bike/build it yourself as opposed to buying a ready-made bike?

Could you get a wheelset, handlebars, groupset & other bits along with that frame and be under £500?

Just a thought.

 

[Big GMaC]

Hey, me again.

Just saw a Wilier frame on eBay for £199 and wondered - how much would it cost to actually buy up all the parts and get someone to build a bike/build it yourself as opposed to buying a ready-made bike?

Could you get a wheelset, handlebars, groupset & other bits along with that frame and be under £500?

Just a thought.

I thought about this as well.

It only works I think if you go through e-bay, because otherwise the bike manufacturers are getting much better economies of scale that you are

 

[Martin318is]

Thats true to a point. Manufacturers have OEM deals with Shimano etc and therefore the parts are cheaper for them.

However, that doesn't mean that the cheaper price they pay isn't offset by the premium they put on their finished bike because it is a <insert big name brand here>

Websites like ProBikeKit and Wiggle etc often are able to sell wheels etc cheaper than normal because they have got hold of OEM kit. If you shop around, you may well be able to put all the gear on the bike for less than a manufacturer would charge.

BUT you may then be restricted in which brands and models you use based upon the prices that are available to you...

 

[biker jk]

For what it's worth I built my bike up for around 30% less than a friend paid from a bike shop with the same frame and spec.

 

[Hoekstyn]

Some very carefull shopping of the sources available can do it for you. I have just over $1100.- in a $3200.- Bianchi. Took about a year to get her all together.
Good luck

 

[unsheath]

Generally speaking, its cheaper to a full bike on ebay than to scrounge around for bits a pieces. A lot less headaches as well.

 

[ElChingon]

Cheaper to build your self, assuming you have all the appropriate tools and know how. Otherwise you'll end up back at some shop.

 

[55by11]

It's far cheaper to buy a complete bike. I bought a nice road bike from Decathlon (French sports hypermarket in most European countries) with carbon front/rear and Campag 10 speed for under 500 euro last year. 5 year guarantee on the frame and 1 year on parts. Unbeatable deal in my opinion.

 

[SlantParallelogram]

It is almost always cheaper to buy a complete bike than to buy a frame and a gruppo or individual components. Even when I used to work at a bike shop and could get everything at dealer cost, it was still cheaper to buy a complete bike.

I suppose that if you have a lot of time on your hands, and can cruise ebay and the rest of the web for deals, then you might be able to get close. However, you need to have quite a bit of time on your hands.

The other thing about the complete factory bikes is that they save costs in places that don't really have any impact on performance.

For example, factory OEM bikes usually come with generic seatposts, handlebars and stems. They weight about the same as the brand name parts, but are surely much cheaper. I would happily put these parts on my bike, except they aren't even available. Instead I have to pay for some overpriced brand name handlebars that aren't any better or any lighter.

Actually this was more of a problems years ago, before ebay and the internet. Now you can actually find people selling brand new generic bars, stems, seatposts and that type of stuff that came off OEM bikes.

 

[ElChingon]

Well to buy any bike in any configuration sure a pre-built but to build something you spec out yourself to your likes and exact sizing requirements, building yourself. Unless you like to go finding the parts after you have the whole bike and end up with who knows how many extra parts you don't want.

 

[SlantParallelogram]

Well to buy any bike in any configuration sure a pre-built but to build something you spec out yourself to your likes and exact sizing requirements, building yourself. Unless you like to go finding the parts after you have the whole bike and end up with who knows how many extra parts you don't want.

Unless if you have a weirdly proportioned body, an off the shelf bike will usually fit quite well. It will still probably end up cheaper to buy a complete bike and then swap bars, stems, or saddles later.

 

[Notso Swift]

I have done both, from now I will build
Building is more fun and you can spend money on things that matter to you. It is also a good place to reflect your style.

So many items are "personal" especially saddle, bars, stem that I found myself spending extra on a built bike anyway (I am odd sized though)

I built a Look up from a frame and it cost me half what it would have, and it is not an "econo" build I have full Dura Ace (7800 but it was new at the time)

Also buying some thing that is on run out is a great way to save HEAPS, a mate built a Colnago C40 just after the C50 came out (must be about 3years ago now) and saved 40% on the frame cost