How addictive is bike building?!

[Ludo]

I did my first build earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed the search for all components, the associated technical learning and then actual bike assembly. I am now constantly looking for excuses for the next one:
Building bike for my kids
Trying to convince friends to build rather than buy,”I’ll build it for you”
Should I built a full suspension for me?

Am I the only addict?

[00Garza]

I'm not a fan of the actual building, but pricing out potential builds has become a hobby for sure.

Full sus bikes seem to have the most issues just because they have more moving parts and more "holes" that need to be within tolerance to work well.
Lots of people happy with them though.

[Tijoe]

Very addictive.  I've built my own bikes for at least the past 40 years.   Shifted to primarily building bicycles using parts purchased from Aliexpress over the past 8+ years.

[jonathanf2]

It's fun building bikes. I wish I had a reason to keep building them out. As it stands, my current frames constantly change regarding components. Each of my bikes are completely different from the year before!

[s3si1u]

Very, very addictive. I've been building at least one bike a year for the last 3-4 years. I really enjoy painting them, too.
The entire purchase>paint>build process takes a few months, but for me it's as enjoyable as riding the thing once it's complete.

[Serge_K]

Will vary based on where you are, but currently, in Europe, second hand prices have collapsed. You can get - just as one example - a TON of Trek Emondas for really attractive prices.
In Europe, afaik, groupsets are still incredibly expensive, but chinese ones are really questionable (i'm sitting with 2 broken er9 out of the 5 i've installed for eg, and out of the 4 sensah mech i installed last year, 1 died after 1k km). In the US, SRAM groupsets are apparently super affordable.
My point being: if you're trying to be rational with the value that your money buys, keep in mind where the second hand market is, because it's now extremely easy to build a chinese bike (with arguably appalling resale value) for more than a branded second hand bike w largely the same specs.

[TidyDinosaur]

Will vary based on where you are, but currently, in Europe, second hand prices have collapsed. You can get - just as one example - a TON of Trek Emondas for really attractive prices.
In Europe, afaik, groupsets are still incredibly expensive, but chinese ones are really questionable (i'm sitting with 2 broken er9 out of the 5 i've installed for eg, and out of the 4 sensah mech i installed last year, 1 died after 1k km). In the US, SRAM groupsets are apparently super affordable.
My point being: if you're trying to be rational with the value that your money buys, keep in mind where the second hand market is, because it's now extremely easy to build a chinese bike (with arguably appalling resale value) for more than a branded second hand bike w largely the same specs.

You are right. Last year I built my TFSA SL6 equivalent for about 2.000eur. Today I can buy a real SL6 with about the same components for about the same price...

[Ludo]

I completely agree, all the 40-50% discount on new bike put a lot of downward pressure on used market. The rational choice means much more toward used than new chiner if you don’t factor in the desire to be different and the DIY aspect. I somewhat expect the Ali prices to drop in the next few months to account for that or their demand will dry up.

[jonathanf2]

The US is big. There are no good deals where I live even though I live in a major US city. It's cheaper and faster (I live near the US AliEx distribution hub) for me to build Chinese carbon bikes as opposed to bargain shop on various online marketplaces. Plus I tend to stick with Shimano mechanical components. Besides one of my bikes getting an LTwoo ER9 conversion, the rest of my bike builds are running on a mix of Shimano groupsets and AliEx frame/wheel/crankset/disc rotor parts. I feel like that's where you get the best of both worlds in terms of reliability and bang-for-buck.

[carbonazza]

I did my first build earlier this year...
...
Am I the only addict?

At only one bike, you can still stop before it is too late 

[dsveddy]

Did my first from-scratch build last spring. I really can't stop, I'm an addict indeed. Built up a new cross/gravel bike last fall. Did my first wheelbuild this spring. I've upgraded my road build so much that I nearly have an entire suite of parts that I could build onto a frame, so I've been speccing and pricing out a beater build around those parts. Maybe to sell second hand? Not sure. I do worry that going that route will lose me money. But I sure am having fun.

[Ludo]

How did the wheel building go? It’s one of my regret on initial build, I wish I went ahead and did the wheels myself

[dsveddy]

Wheelbuild has been phenomenal. 1320g for a set of 50/55mm deep/28mm wide wheels, steel spokes. I'm planning to make a dedicated post detailing the adventure soon, as well as some tips and tricks. Lots of time invested though.

[Ludo]

Awesome, looking forward to it