I’m wanting to build a bike to my own specs, I thought I would be able to get a bit of a discount by buying the frame as second hand, but it’s proving oddly difficult to find any.
I tried Ebay thinking that would be the one, but it’s just loaded with Chinese brand frames.
Do I have to buy a new frame from the manufacturer?
If you’re doing this to save money, buying a new bike from last season will save you more. If you’re just wanting to make minor changes like a certain type of crankset or dropper, buy whatever gets as close to your preferred specs and then upgrade. Remember that you can always sell the “new takeoff” parts that you replace.
I did this with a road bike once and it ended up being a giant pain. I got a pretty good deal on an older frames et and built it up, but I still ended up buying a new bike a couple years later.
I bought my frame on ebay, but it took a few weeks off watching listings to get what I was looking for.
hmm ok thanks!
I am wanting to ‘endurofy’ a downhill bike, so swap out the cassette for one with more lower gears.
I’ll keep an eye out for a Trek Session or something. Hard to find one in a small size…
Swapping a cassette should be simple. Worst case you might also need to replace the rear derailleur.
I think everything would need to be replaced, the gear sizes and likely spacings would be all different. Not a game-breaking issue. The main hitch will be getting a cassette that is the right width.
As long as you’re staying at the same brand and number of speeds, rear derailleur is the only thing that might need to be replaced. If you also want to upgrade the number of speeds, you’ll need to replace the rear shifter as well. For example, Shimano 9 speed to Shimano 11 speed.
I would take the bike to somewhere like REI and talk with them about what your goals are for the upgrade. They’ve always been happy to share information any time I go there, even if I’m not having them service the bike. Note that replacing a cassette will require a special tool or two, but they’re relatively inexpensive.
Cage plate will need to be larger to account for much larger gears.
It’s seeming like the best option is to just buy a complete and then swap out the parts.
I’m thinking I might just get a cheap Trance 2018 to keep me on the tracks in the meantime, and have this as a side project I can take my time on
A used, complete bike is a great option, especially if it’s different enough to get you on different trails than your current bike. Good luck!
I was looking for frames recently and know exactly what you mean with eBay however you are able to find stuff on there in my experience it is just a case of filtering your search. I had some luck by filtering so I was only shown results by location and specifying my country and also by sorting by geographically nearest to me first and that usually got rid of the majority of the Chinese shit.
I was also going to build a bike up from scratch but after working out costs it was cheaper to buy an already built bike with as much of the spec I wanted and then I will just change out the bits I wanted and can sell on the old stuff as suggested in the other reply.
Good luck with your search, I have a friend who has been on the look out for a small size bike and he is struggling, it isn’t much better at the other end of the spectrum either as I always have to try and find XL.
