New to bike building, excited to start, looking at frames as starting point

[cvrle1]

Hello everyone,

Lurker for few years, decided to finally say hey and post in this very helpful place. I have been playing with the idea of building a road bike from scratch, even though I never did it before. Read a bunch of threads here and spent time looking at frames to start with. I am a recreational rider, but love the idea of building something myself. I did look at used market around me, but prices are insane. 10+ year old bikes with low end components are being sold for close to $1K. Anything with better components but still old frame and I am looking at over $2K (ex: 2011 Bianchi Sempre with Dura Ace 9000 groupset and Ultegra cassette is going for $2100) Also having 3 kids, their sports and all other activities take up most of the fun money, so I like the idea that I can buy parts when there is extra cash for it, wait for deals, and dont have to fork up $2K+ at once.

With all this in mind I spent some time looking at frames, as I figured a lot of other decisions would be based on frame I choose. Since I am not a hardcore rider and longest ride I did was about 45 Km (I did try to ride daily before kids), I am trying not to spend a bunch of money on this, so I was looking at lower cost frames to start with. Here are ones that I found so far:

Velobuild GF-005 - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809317905227.html
Airwolf YFR066 - https://airwolfcarbonbike.com/product/yfr066-airwolf-carbon-bike-frame-700c-disc-brake-road-carbon-bicycle-frame-roadbike-frame-carbon-road-disc/
Airwolf YFR016 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/223308919435
Ceccotti DCRF02 - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808445806867.html
Ceccotti DCRF16 - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802965258359.html
RBK - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808750261258.html
No idea what brand, but looks same as RBK above - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808769647207.html
Twitter R10 - https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256810017427133.html
Meinier TR045-12 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/405036805895
Meinier DS-118 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/406206913592

Please feel free to rip my plan apart, let me know above are crap and that i should look elsewhere, or if any of them would actually be a good choice for this build.

Thanks everyone for the help, and looking forward to posting more and picking your brains if you let me.

[Picograms]

They all have a pretty aggressive geometry, some have maximum tire clearance of just 25c, one is rim brake, some have external cable routing, some are fully internal and some are just shit.

You need to narrow down what you want to do with the bike. Are you fit and flexible to justify a racier geometry or do you need a more relaxed one? Building bikes is not rocket science but you will need some specific tools and some research time to see what fits where and how. If you are not confident you could buy the parts and have bike shop assemble the bike for you.

[cvrle1]

Thanks very much for the reply and info. I have Cannondale R600 Sport that I used as my 1st road bike, and that geometry was fine. I didnt have issues riding it, and now use it as indoor trainer with Saris H3. I am indifferent when it comes to V-brake vs disc and internal vs external routing truth be told. From research that I did I dont think for me either would make too much of a difference riding wise, as I would be limiting factor on a bike 

Good point about 25c tire clearance, that I missed, so thanks for that bit. Removing all those cuts the list down to 4:

Velobuild GF-005
Airwolf YFR066
Twitter R10
Meinier DS-118

Now to figure out which ones are just shit as you put it. This is by no means final list for sure, I am really early in this process and will take my time, but great to learn more as I move along in this process so that i am not wasting anyone's time asking about crap frames that should never be considered.

[Picograms]

The velobuild is a gravel bike. Airwolf and Meinier framesets come with handlebars, if this is your first build it may save you some trouble. I also recommend something with a threaded bottom bracket.

Personally i would get none of them. Check the threads on here, there are some decently reviewed bikes and since you are not picky about geometry and features you can chose whatever you like the shape of and fits your budget 

[cvrle1]

The velobuild is a gravel bike. Airwolf and Meinier framesets come with handlebars, if this is your first build it may save you some trouble. I also recommend something with a threaded bottom bracket.

Personally i would get none of them. Check the threads on here, there are some decently reviewed bikes and since you are not picky about geometry and features you can chose whatever you like the shape of and fits your budget

I wouldnt go as far as saying that geometry doesnt matter, because it does and I want to make sure bike would fit me and type of riding properly. But cabling and v-brakes vs disc that one I am definitely open to going whichever way. I wouldnt dismiss a bike that would be great fit just because I cant use disk brakes as example. Thanks again

[gribs]

I'd personally not buy any road frame without disc brakes and clearance for 32mm tyres. It's getting much harder to get good rim brake wheelsets now and higher volume tyres are just nicer to ride. The choice of groupset would influence whether fully internal routing was appropriate as I wouldn't want to run mechanical brakes with full internal routing. Getting a T47 threaded bottom bracket also makes life easier.

I've personally had a frame from Light Carbon and am happy with the quality, and currently have a frame on order from Mondince.

[Fish #6]

I'd personally not buy any road frame without disc brakes and clearance for 32mm tyres. It's getting much harder to get good rim brake wheelsets now and higher volume tyres are just nicer to ride. The choice of groupset would influence whether fully internal routing was appropriate as I wouldn't want to run mechanical brakes with full internal routing. Getting a T47 threaded bottom bracket also makes life easier.

I've personally had a frame from Light Carbon and am happy with the quality, and currently have a frame on order from Mondince.

i strongly agree with this advice.

I've just up/side-graded from rim brake to disc. Rim brakes are great, but for most of us the advantages of disc brake bikes with wider clearance really mount up. Obviously, if your primary goal is to win the UK National Hill Climb Championships then it's rim brakes all the way, baby!

I went for an ICAN FL1 frame for my first build, which I'll happily recommend. Why?

• It's well made, with smooth internal surfaces and carefully machined interfaces - bottom bracket, headset and brake mounting points - meaning that it's easy to build with and, so far as I can tell, it rides well. 
• It's largely non-proprietary - T47 BB, FSA ACR compatible headset and round seat-tube. This gives you lots of choice for compatible 3rd party components, such as cranks, handlebars and seat-posts. (It only misses out on the UDH standard for rear derailleur hangers - so buy a spare or two). 
• It's cheap! Not Airwolf / Twitter cheap, but cheap.
• It's relatively light.

Aesthetics really do matter though and you might not like the old-fashioned non-dropped seat stays. Equally, if your heart is set on SRAM then UDH is pretty much a must. As others have mentioned, geometry needs to be in the right ballpark, so try comparing your Cannondale against some of your candidate frames using a site such as geometrygeeks.

You mentioned buying parts incrementally, which makes perfect sense. However it would be smart to pin down decisions on frame and therefore both bottom bracket standard and internal vs semi-external cable routing, cranks and groupset before you buy anything. This way you avoid some painful incompatibilities down the line.

For a budget limited build, the decision, in roughly increasing levels of cost, between these hydraulic disc groupsets:

• L-Twoo or Sensah mechanical
• Shimano 105 mechanical 12 speed
• Ltwoo or Wheeltop electronic
• SRAM/Shimano electronic

is a really interesting one. Any of these options can be made to work, and your choice may come down to the level of discount available. I stretched my budget by going for Shimano electronic which made cable routing and gear-shift tuning much easier and probably bought me reliability, but purchased from AliExpress which might make any future warranty claim a challenge.
 
For BB's: all can work fine, but I would choose a frame with either a threaded BSA and hence 24mm steel (or Ti) spindle cranks or a T47 and 29mm aluminium or 24mm steel spindle cranks. These are likely to be the most straightforward options.

Choosing compatible parts and trading off cost/weight/reliability on different components is a big part of the fun. It's not essential, but it may help you (it will!) to document your decisions as you go in a build-list spreadsheet.

[cvrle1]

Thanks kindly for that very detailed reply. A lot of info in there to digest and read over. Much appreciated. As mentioned I am just starting on this journey, so trying to learn as much as I can and plan out as much as I can so that time comes I dont pay a proverbial "newbie tax" by buing wrong parts/bad parts and wasting money.

[Tasthal]

I agree with the others, go for disc and wide clearance. In addition (since you're here for some years maybe this is superfluous), make sure to use unbiased youtubers as source for reviews and especially build tutorials.
Obvious place to start would be Trace Velo, best in the business by far imo. I would include Jourdain Coleman too as a good example of someone inexperienced trying their best at bike building, although I think he's been sponsored to promote certain items.

There are a host of others showcasing super budget builds. It will help to get a sense of what is involved and where the pitfalls are. Great to hear you're getting back into cycling and going for such a project. I'd say definitely give it a go, as long as you don't break anything or misorder, you can always spend a little and go to a prof. mechanic if it doesn't work out 

[cvrle1]

I agree with the others, go for disc and wide clearance. In addition (since you're here for some years maybe this is superfluous), make sure to use unbiased youtubers as source for reviews and especially build tutorials.
Obvious place to start would be Trace Velo, best in the business by far imo. I would include Jourdain Coleman too as a good example of someone inexperienced trying their best at bike building, although I think he's been sponsored to promote certain items.

There are a host of others showcasing super budget builds. It will help to get a sense of what is involved and where the pitfalls are. Great to hear you're getting back into cycling and going for such a project. I'd say definitely give it a go, as long as you don't break anything or misorder, you can always spend a little and go to a prof. mechanic if it doesn't work out 

I actually did watch several YT videos so far, Trace Velo and Cam Nicholls being 2 youtubers. I plan on watching a lot more from them, as well as others (like Jourdain Coleman) to get as much info as possible. I feel I should be able to get this done, as I am pretty handy and like tinkering and building things (saltwater aquarium, 3D printing, record players, motorcycles) but do have a good bike mechanic close that I used few times for my Cannondale. Of course these could be famous last words and I completely mess things up but let see

I do have one general question. When it comes to frames at least (since thats what I am looking at to start with) Is it better/cheaper to get frame from manufacturer's website (if they have one) or AX? Few times I saw price was cheaper on AX after all the coupons, but not sure how things function now with US and tariffs. Not sure if there is a difference if it is shipped from AX or manufacturer directly.

[jonathanf2]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you (kids, family, etc.). Built all my bikes and I'm constantly tweaking them to fit my riding needs.

If I were you, I'd build something easy like a 1x all-road style bike with 1:1 gearing. Get a 40/42t chainring and a 10-42/44t cassette. Run 32c semi-slicks and it'll work great for both road and light off-road use. In terms of the bike, I'd get something with flexible tire clearance, UDH and either a BSA or T47 BB. Depending on how you like to ride, you can tweak your bike to be either road or gravel specific or just keep it as an all-arounder.

[cvrle1]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you (kids, family, etc.). Built all my bikes and I'm constantly tweaking them to fit my riding needs.

If I were you, I'd build something easy like a 1x all-road style bike with 1:1 gearing. Get a 40/42t chainring and a 10-42/44t cassette. Run 32c semi-slicks and it'll work great for both road and light off-road use. In terms of the bike, I'd get something with flexible tire clearance, UDH and either a BSA or T47 BB. Depending on how you like to ride, you can tweak your bike to be either road or gravel specific or just keep it as an all-arounder.

Thanks a bunch for info and recommendations. Will look more into it as it makes sense. I am not going to race, nor am I looking to fly down the streets so 1:1 gearing probably is good option for me. From quick read, UDH I can use with pretty much any frame, but will read more about it. And thanks for recommendation for BB as well. A lot of food for thought and things to research.

[cvrle1]

After spending weeks of reading and learning, I settled on a frame that I will use for this build. It is Yoeleo R12. I read a bunch of reviews and saw a lot of videos, so it gave me confidence that it would be a good choice. One thing to note is that frame is not the current version that Yoeleo sells, but previous one that they used several years ago. I got it through AE store called Pro Choice. Yoeleo sold that mold to these guys and now they are re-selling it without Yoeleo stickers. Here is info from Yoeleo themselves about it.



Reason i went with this one is price. I got this frame shipped to Canada for about $430 USD (plus 30% cashback from Rakuten that actually is showing up in my account), so quite a bit cheaper than current model from Yoeleo. Taking into consideration that it is a Yoeleo frame that is well regarded, I figured it would still be better than other low end frames like BXT, Twitter, Ceccotti, etc. I made sure that all the videos and reviews I saw were from 2020/2021 as I figured odds are that they are using this version of the frame. Pro Choice offers multiple color choices. You can either go with 1 of 28 colors, or do custom 2 or 3 colors paintjob as well. I placed order on Nov 18th in Metalic Pearl green color and seller just sent me 3 pics of frame after it has been painted last night. I saw 2 other frames being painted next to mine, so thats a good sign I guess 





Seller is extremely responsive over WhatsApp and kept me informed through the process. Frame was shipped out last night, so now I wait till it gets here in few weeks hopefully.

[Takiyaki]

Good choice, that's a frame I'm considering as well.

[cvrle1]

Wanted to see if there were any guides or maybe even good videos on what to look for and how to check the frame out once it is delivered. Want to make sure that I didnt get a lemon of a frame, full of issues that are not obvious from 1st glance.

I found this older thread that has some info that i will follow, but any other items that are not listed there that I should check for?

https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4577.0/

Thanks