Last year I dented and wrecked my tri bike and bought a new complete tri bike to replace it. Now I’m thinking about buying a cheap road frame/fork on Ebay and stripping the parts from my old tri bike and building up a road bike. I’m pretty inexperienced wrenching but I’m starting to do enough group rides that I want a road bike to ride. I think I should be able to get away with buying only STI shifters, road Bars and pedals. The rest I think I can move over from the old tri bike (Front and rear der., brakes, cables?, chain, cranks, bottom bracket, stem, seatpost, wheels, skewers).
My questions are am I forgetting something big? I know there will be a ton of little things that I’ll probably need, like bar tape and what not, but am I forgetting anything else? Are there compatability issues I should be aware of (like F/D clamp-on vs. braze on, Bottom bracket?)
Also what are the major tools I will need, especially around the bottom bracket?
What is the best book that can guide a newbie through this process? Zinn? Others?
I’m really kind of looking forward to the project, although my wife isn’t! Thanks,
I’ve done the same thing a few times. It’s most difficult the first time.
You should have no trouble transferring everything to the road frame. You’ll need a special tool for the bottom braket but everything else is standard. Just be careful not to over torque.
Zinn’s book “Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance” is quite good and will be very helpful.
This will definately be a learning process for you. Take your time and have fun.
The biggest potential problem is installing your own headset and/or crown race. IMO, have your LBS do this for you.
Otherwise, providing you have the proper BB tool and somewhat standard parts, you could train a circus monkey to assemble a bike. Albiet, a good build (lubed, cables cut properly, etc) is a totally different story…
BB (English vs Italian) , FD (clamp-on come in several sizes for various seat tube diameters vs brase on) and Headset (integrated and what type of integrated headset vs cupped), seat post diameter are the ones that come to mind.
FIW: For the price (i.e free) I think parktool.com is the best site for just about any job. Step by step instructions and tool recommendations.
It really is easy. Aside from the already mentioned BB tool, you’ll need
chain tool (easy to size and shorten the chain to the right length)
allen wrench - pretty much one size fits all (just can’t remember which size it is!) as one wrench puts together just about everything on a bike (brakes, shifters, seat post, stem). You’ll need a larger one for the cranks
good cable cutters - head to Home Depot or the like for some heavy duty cutters to cut the cable housings
The only thing you’ll really have to watch for is the front der. Just make sure the der. and frame are compatible (clamp on (incl. diameter) or braze on).
I would also have your LBs face the headtube and clean out the BB threads (and maybe ream the seattube). It is a cheap and fast procedure that will make your bike ride better and make future maintance/upgrades much easier. This should be done to new and used frames. Also, check frames for a straight alignment.
Remember to grease everything (except carbon parts)–especially the HS races and BB threads. More is better.
Finally, for steel frames you should weigle the indside (twice). Some form of frame saver/anti-ruxt will make everything easier for the future.
Building your first bike is the greatest, after the first it all becomes work. At least it did to me. eddie.
Before going the eBay route, I’d suggest checking around your local town\club. There’s a big advantage in being able to see what you’re getting before you pay for it. I can give you personal horror stories about buying things on eBay. Occasionally things turn out better than expected, but usually it’s just the opposite.
Roadbikereview is another good spot to look for used items.
I did this, I got a nice Italian frame and a brand new Reynolds full carbon Ouzo Pro fork AND headset for $125. I love the way it looks. It just “feels” right while riding, because I had a hand in building it. I also got pretty much the parts I wanted, I had the LBS put together the hard parts (and no, I don’t feel guilty, because I shop there a lot). Only problem is, the stem was too short, if anyone wants to trade stems…
Excellent point, one of the reasons that I don’t commute more is that I don’t have a great place to keep my tri bike where I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I could definitely see going for a nicer road bike down the line if I can scam it by the wife.
Don’t move over your cables and brake pads from the old bike. These are items that wear out and are replaced on a regular basis, and they are not all that expensive. Most people don’t replace their chain often enough, so you might want to go ahead and put on a new one of those as well.
Buy a good set of bike specific cable/cable housing cutters. Park probably has the best. Even good wire cutters from the hardware store seem to be more likely to squash the end of the cable housing a bit, which adds extra friction (bad).