[Closed] Buy complete bike or build one - cost effectiveness

I don't have a clear answer. But i expect if you look carefully at the £950 new bike it will have had corners cut you wouldn't have cut if you'd built it yourself. Also check that the £950 bike is in stock

My son (a grown up) and I were looking at this recently. His quote "Anything vaguely cool goes for a bomb". I think an Orange crush frame falls into that camp. You need something like a Pinnacle etc. with similar geometry

I'm sorry that was no help but it was a bump

I nearly always build my bikes from frame up as I am never happy with the factory builds.

I've just built a Five for my son and managed to get a spec that was between the Pro and RS model. I got a new frame for just over £1k from Sunset.

The key is taking your time and being cheeky with your offers -

Hope Fortus 35 Wheels - £230 used once. When i collected the seller sold me a set of new tyres and bars for £20 too.
New Yari Forks - £289
New Hope X2 Brakeset - £235
New headset, stem, bars and a used saddle direct from Orange - £40 (Orange have an outlet where they sell parts on both eBay and Pinkbike.

I did then splash out on a new SLX 12sp groupset but its the last bike i'll be paying for.

With regards to supply and demand it is crazy at the moment. I've just sold a Cannondale road bike for £25 more than I paid for it 4 years ago.

26 inch bikes are also fetching good money.

Be careful if build it up yourself, it is very easy to blow the budget just by going one level up on some items.

Almost certainly cheaper to buy a full build bike if you’ve got £1000 to spend. The cost of frame / wheels / fork / groupset almost always takes you to the same cost as a full bike and it’s amazing how things add up - tyres / bb / headset / seatpost / saddle / grips / rim tape / tubeless valves / sealant etc etc.

It depends what you’re after spec wise though. If you’re after something very specific and have the patience to wait for months for either secondhand parts or bargain sale parts then you could get something more personalised to what you’re after.

Yeah it's all the extras you don't think about that make a self build more expensive if you want don't have an extensive spares box. The advantage is you get what you want though, I very rarely look at a bike and think there's nothing I would change.

I misunderstood

I think buying used a complete bike is better value. Unless you are very patient

Some one on here said about breaking a bike to sell. "Always more people with £250 for a fork than £1000 for the bike"

I recently went from 26 Soul to 29 Solaris and ended up keeping my brakes, seat post and saddle. By shopping around I ended up with everything else new and the equivalent to a Cotic gold build for about £1800 instead of £2500+ It took a while to gather the parts but I really enjoyed building it - I think that’s the real decision maker.

Pretty much always cheaper to buy a complete bike new or second hand. However, that depends on if you are happy with the set of components that the bike has on it.
If you start swapping everything for something better (I do) then better to just build yourself with the right parts in the first place as no complete bike will ever have the exact parts I want on it.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was debating new vs used but think a 2019/2018 used good condition complete bike makes more sense. I’m seeing lots of “COVID buyers regret” sale adverts; 2020 complete bikes but listed at broadly list price (no one would pay the same for a used hike with no warranty, surely? Must be lack of new stock driving those sales I guess).

If I’m buying new I’ll finance it and will go up to 1500 I think. Or, I am seeing 2 year old rrp £2k bikes for 1k so that makes more sense for a quality bike. I think I’m settled on 2nd hand.

Question then is 1k used or build for 1k. My guy says complete bike is the way to go for now to get me started. Lots of decent bikes for around a grand and may be compromising on brakes, or Groupset or whatever, but if I get a full build with the right frame and forks (hardcore Hardtail) I can’t go too far wrong and like you say, no hidden costs (like forgetting to consider inners, purées, tubes, headset, bb etc etc)

Birthday is in a month so can’t go shopping yet, just trying to decide what I’ll be shopping for when the time comes. Further opinions welcome!

I’m currently building my first bike as we speak as I couldn’t buy off the peg due to the CV. Even though I’m spending more than I would if I bought a ready made bike, I won’t need to upgrade or change any unsuitable bits as everything on the bike has been chosen by me, and when they do need replacing due to wear, I’ll be able to do it myself as I learnt how to build it. So the “value” of the bike won’t be apparent straight away but in the long run it’ll pay me back.

Buy complete to get the frame you want with the components you can afford. Frame and fork even, if that's an option.

Everything else can be upgraded as it wears out or budget allows, and you can still ride it with budget parts....you can't ride a box of XT kit.

Depends on if you are happy with the fork and wheels on the complete as these will be costly to upgrade.

Given the inflated used prices at the moment, I'd buy new personally. I'm quite happy fixing bikes, but lack of warranty and reduced lifespan of components (which will just cost you later on) makes used bikes no more value unless you're actually getting a good deal.

And it depends what you're looking for, but if you're looking at the budget suppliers (Halfords, Decathlon, Planet X, etc), there's no way you can build for what you can buy complete there.

£1500 is a funny pricepoint though. It's a good budget, but there will be some compromise. Particularly wheels and finishing kit. Personally I'd establish some good base requirements and go from there.

Thanks again guys.

1500(ish) new gives choice of Whyte 901, 905 (ok so a little over but worth it), nukeproof scout comp (the race is £1099 but proper entry kit), commencal meta HT ride (second level up and only 1200 direct from commencal) or meta ht essential For 1700, a range of ragleys and possibly a bird build. All would come with warranties etc as are new.

Second hand though, there are 2017/18 orange crush pro spec at 1100 - damn nice high spec bikes. Or scout comp/Ragley/Whyte/bird for £950 rather than 1500. All come with compromises but great starting spec.

Or I build one but worried I’ll keep saying “ah, well, just get the XT rather than SLx” etc and it’ll end up at 2k+ and I’ll have to explain myself to my better half which I’d rather avoid. And so if I recognised now I should compromise, an already complete build makes more sense.

It’s possible too that my work will have C2W soon. HR are saying they’re “a couple of months away” and my Bday is 17/7 so it might all line up for that too.

Decisions decisions.

It depends.

I pre ordered one of the new On-one Scandal frames intending to build it up cheaper than the £1200 GX build but with a similar spec, then the GX build pre order was down to £999, then I got another 10% off and by that point it was a no brainer.

It only really worked out if you had a load of bits to fill in the blanks. Like the seatpost, bars, stem, grips, saddle etc, otherwise by the time you've gone out and bought a mid-range one of each you've spent a £100+ just on the bits that the OEM's are spedning pence on. And at least a few expensive bits in the spares box (a set of brakes, or wheels).

I could probably have built it up cheaper with patience and a lot of foresight. But unless you waited for deals to come up (like the £250 rebas, which then looked poor value when the £250 35's appeared) I doubt you could beat the complete bike price if you had to order all at once. Same 2nd hand, unless you already had all the bits you spend ages looking for bargains, missing them, buying twice because something better turned up etc.

I picked up a big dog frame for £150 in the pre order and then spent a few months gradually buying parts when there were good deals.

With the exception of a stem and BB I already and a second hand brand x dropper bought from here for £60 (but came with new lever and cable), everything else was new.

The full build details below but managed to do it for £1100 all in which was lower than the GX spec full build price when it came out and to me, a much better package.

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/first-bike-build-big-dog/

The key is taking enough time to pick up the bits cheap when the deals are on. Almost impossible I’d say to do it this cheap in a hurry.