[surajram]

Congratulations! The bike looks fabulous.

While the costs keep adding up, the ability to dial in look, feel and finish to your exact taste is worth it.

[elampumpkin]

As someone who has done groupset upgrade on mountain bikes, massive props and respect to you for completing the build the DIY route! I love the colour scheme you have picked out!

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Freespirit27

This is exactly the reason I was so desperate to join the Team. Amazing build and story

I mean, it takes more than some to make a decision to go for such a build and you are so honest about the odds you faced despite a seemingly thoroughly thought out plan.

Welcome to tbhp and many thanks! The odds faced were from my inexperience and of course the issues with the frame itself. Though at that price I had expected things like that and made up my mind. I am sure a branded frame with many times the cost will have none of the nuances and things will just fit in place.

Originally Posted by wheeledwanderer

Super thread motivating to go DIY!

Thank you. Slight cliché, but just do it!

Originally Posted by gypsygenes

Wow! What a neat project and end result. I think it needs a high level of motivation and skill to organize all of these fragmented suppliers and navigate through unclear standards. Then, the actual fitting... Man, we have had mechanics staring blank at the engine casing design and fittings on our top of the line tractor model, struggling with repairs. I have been dealing with these challenges in the farm equipments space. And, feel so overwhelmed sometimes. Your post is inspiring. Plus, a few lessons in organizing work.

Cheers to Chinondale and wish you many satisfying miles on it.

Many thanks! I agree with the farming equipment challenges. We had our small share of those. From what I remember though, the mechanics in obscure villages always came up with ingenious solutions on the cheap to save the day. Sometimes the "fix" would work forever sometimes we will be back in his makeshift garage - the other option would be to shell out big bucks and replace whole thing. It is hilarious to see expensive European machinery in those garages

Originally Posted by Pennant1970

It took me multiple sessions to complete reading through this opus! Mostly because I had no idea what much of the words that seem to make up a bicycle means! ��

Still, for some reason, persisted and found the adventure strangely satisfying. Anyway, this is not something I would even think of attempting - so well done. I am in the early stages of a (nebulous) idea of taking up cycling - so it all felt worthwhile.

I am glad you persisted. I realized midway through the post that it is going to be a long one and yet I couldn't help it. In retrospect, I think you can do it once you have knowledge of the basics and some experience of riding the bike, a few long rides, some fast sprints..things like that. Then with some patience and help of internet (this is a big one) it is doable.

Take up cycling, it is liberating in a way I couldn't imagine. All the best to you!

Originally Posted by ysjoy

Hi @amol4184,

This is a incredible story!
Really loved reading how a full bike build works, so much of passion, hard work and planning going into it!
Lots of learning and resources here!
Many years back, came across a friend and a friend of his, who had custom built bikes, by themselves
Had no idea, how it works!
Thanks for sharing!

~ysjoy

Thanks a lot! I used to read stories of people building bikes, discussing minute details, talking in words that sounded Latin and then it all fell into place once I began. Lot of fun.

Originally Posted by surajram

Congratulations! The bike looks fabulous.

While the costs keep adding up, the ability to dial in look, feel and finish to your exact taste is worth it.

Yes, the ability to do all that to the very last details is just fantastic. And then of course, you know the ins and outs of the bike you are riding as a bonus. Thanks for the kind words!

[Jeroen]

Fantastic!! I really enjoyed reading your DIY carbon fibre bike.

Congratulations on the end result. It looks stunning, I really like the colour, very smart.

I maintain all our bikes myself and I do recognise your struggles with different types of threads. For some reason the bicycle industry has made a huge mess of this. A few years ago I had to overhaul and modify the rear wheel and it’s three speed hub. It is somewhere in “fiddling” thread I believe. On one bicycle I had 4 or five different kinds of thread!! This was a high quality bicycle too. In the end I had to get a machineshop make a dedicated part. (Nowadays I make these sorts myself on my lathe and mill).

Here in the Netherlands many specialised bicycle shops will offer you custom made bicycles. They will take a couple of hours to measure you and find the best dimension on a test frame. I never went that way, I did build my own frames for a while, several decades ago. Had the rig and all the brazing and welding equipment for steel and aluminium tubing. Although it was fun, it was also very frustrating. The smallest error in the frame, will be a huge pain for years to come. So I gave up and sold all the frame building kit.

The number of derailleurs, cranks, gears, chain and what have you is extremely bewildering. That is before you start worrying about the type of rims and spokes. I enjoyed reading how you fought your way through all of this with a lot of Internet searching and reaching out to experienced builders. That is part of the fun, of building yourself. It is an incredible satisfying process as you learn more and more.

The latest gadgetry here is electronic derailleurs. And if some of the experts are to believed, this is the best invention since sliced bread. I am not convinced yet. As it is, I am carrying spare batteries for my Garmin GPS, my bicycle computer and a battery bank for my phone. Talk about light weight!

It was funny reading about your interaction with China. I buy quite a bit of stuff on AliExpress. Excellent stuff, good quality, and cheap! But awful websites, so you find yourself talking to China by means of google translate! Lots of fun and frustration.

I hope you get as much pleasure and satisfaction out of riding your gorgeous bicycle as you did building it.

Take care

Jeroen

[mh09ad5578]

Incredible build mate! I never imagined the complexity of these, thought it was justa mix and match kind of thing. Loved the details, loved the bike,wishing you tons of happy miles crunching on it. Thanks for sharing!

[ninjatalli]

Incredible work, Amol. The bike looks absolutely fantastic!

Bookmarking your thread to come back and read at leisure to understand the different nuances of bike part related rabbit holes you highlighted on your experience.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by elampumpkin

As someone who has done groupset upgrade on mountain bikes, massive props and respect to you for completing the build the DIY route! I love the colour scheme you have picked out!

Thank you! I recently converted a bike from drop bar to flat/MTB type. It was a lot of fun too. Made easy by exposed wires and simple connections to shifters and brakes.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Fantastic!! I really enjoyed reading your DIY carbon fibre bike.

Congratulations on the end result. It looks stunning, I really like the colour, very smart.

I maintain all our bikes myself and I do recognise your struggles with different types of threads. For some reason the bicycle industry has made a huge mess of this. A few years ago I had to overhaul and modify the rear wheel and it’s three speed hub. It is somewhere in “fiddling” thread I believe. On one bicycle I had 4 or five different kinds of thread!! This was a high quality bicycle too. In the end I had to get a machineshop make a dedicated part. (Nowadays I make these sorts myself on my lathe and mill).

Here in the Netherlands many specialised bicycle shops will offer you custom made bicycles. They will take a couple of hours to measure you and find the best dimension on a test frame. I never went that way, I did build my own frames for a while, several decades ago. Had the rig and all the brazing and welding equipment for steel and aluminium tubing. Although it was fun, it was also very frustrating. The smallest error in the frame, will be a huge pain for years to come. So I gave up and sold all the frame building kit.

The number of derailleurs, cranks, gears, chain and what have you is extremely bewildering. That is before you start worrying about the type of rims and spokes. I enjoyed reading how you fought your way through all of this with a lot of Internet searching and reaching out to experienced builders. That is part of the fun, of building yourself. It is an incredible satisfying process as you learn more and more.

The latest gadgetry here is electronic derailleurs. And if some of the experts are to believed, this is the best invention since sliced bread. I am not convinced yet. As it is, I am carrying spare batteries for my Garmin GPS, my bicycle computer and a battery bank for my phone. Talk about light weight!

It was funny reading about your interaction with China. I buy quite a bit of stuff on AliExpress. Excellent stuff, good quality, and cheap! But awful websites, so you find yourself talking to China by means of google translate! Lots of fun and frustration.

I hope you get as much pleasure and satisfaction out of riding your gorgeous bicycle as you did building it.

Take care

Jeroen

Thank you kindly. In my opinion building the frame yourself is the holy grail. You unlocked highest level of achievement of biking DIY I would be glad to hear and see more of those frames someday.

The standards are truly bewildering as you rightly said and many of them don’t make practical sense to me like flat mount vs post mount or the huge mess that bottom brackets currently are. The planned obsolescence works great for industry but people who are wrenching older bikes they find themselves at dead ends. Some old parts are surprisingly getting expensive too over on eBay compared to new ones.

Speaking of new technology, electronic shifting, hydro brakes etc there is an electronic groupset coming out of China at less than half the cost of Shimano 105 Di2, made by company called LTwoo. I was very tempted by the price but for now I’m sticking with mechanical. My next build will definitely be some sort of electronic. I’m waiting for legit 105 Di2s to appear in used markets and then pull the trigger. I’m sure all the weight savings would be wiped off due to batteries and junction boxes! It’s a strange race between tech and weight loss. It will be interesting to see how much lighter they can go with frames.

I have grown fond of Aliexpress lately. As the situation has improved most stuff gets to my doorstep in about 2 to 3 weeks, not bad considering the prices. I found unusually good quality stuff on there too like beautifully made carbon saddle, pedals, and cranksets etc. Though I must say most bigger purchases are from used markets while fringe, frivolous stuff all comes off of Aliexpress. If it gets lost in post so be it, no big heartache.

Again, thank you and see you around. Happy holidays!

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

Incredible build mate! I never imagined the complexity of these, thought it was justa mix and match kind of thing. Loved the details, loved the bike,wishing you tons of happy miles crunching on it. Thanks for sharing!

Haha me too. I pretty much thought about the complications too. In my mind it was all straight forward.

Thank you for the wishes.

[Sanjunair5]

Excellent build and even better narration!!! I was glued to it till the end!

I am on my way to starting a bike conversion project myself and this thread has all the motivation and triggers I need! I have a B-Twin Riverside (the old discontinued design, not the one available now) which is sitting unused after I migrated to a road bike (Giant SCR 0). I tried selling it off and decided not to after seeing how people try to lowball you. Thus originated the idea of pursuing a project to convert the hybrid Riverside 500 bike to something else with drop bars, front suspension, and possibly tires suited for more offroad use! I haven't yet figured out many things including how to convert the Acera groupset to work with drop bars. But first task is to get started!

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Incredible work, Amol. The bike looks absolutely fantastic!

Bookmarking your thread to come back and read at leisure to understand the different nuances of bike part related rabbit holes you highlighted on your experience.

Many thanks Ninja. I have bookmarked your thread too!

Originally Posted by Sanjunair5

I tried selling it off and decided not to after seeing how people try to lowball you. Thus originated the idea of pursuing a project to convert the hybrid Riverside 500 bike to something else with drop bars, front suspension, and possibly tires suited for more offroad use! I haven't yet figured out many things including how to convert the Acera groupset to work with drop bars. But first task is to get started!

Thank you!

Drop bars with front suspension would be pretty unique combination. I don't recall many such bikes but I'll be interested in how this turns out.

I do see a problem with Acera though which is a flat bar shifter mechanism.The drop bar/road brifters don't work with them. There's a company that makes drop bar shifters that work with Deore, XT and such MTB derailleurs - https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/

This could be worth checking out though it's expensive. There is no straight forward way to make that combo work.

On the cheaper side, Wolf Tooth components makes an adapter for road brifters and MTB derailleurs - https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/tanpan

Just last week I had sent a mail to them asking if TanPan would work with 12 speed Deore and 12 speed Chinese brifter made by Sensah but they said it doesn't. Max support is for 11 speed derailleurs. So I feel Acera might work.

I wish you luck in the adventure. It's going to be fun!

[Sanjunair5]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Drop bars with front suspension would be pretty unique combination. I don't recall many such bikes but I'll be interested in how this turns out.

Honestly I feel it is a stupid idea! And that's probably why one doesn't hear about any such cycles! But then should that stop you? That said there are people who share your stupidities as I later found out on some cycling websites like there's - https://bicycle2work.com/full-suspension-road-bikes/ and here - https://theradavist.com/bombtracks-n...nt-suspension/

Originally Posted by amol4184

I do see a problem with Acera though which is a flat bar shifter mechanism.....

I wish you luck in the adventure. It's going to be fun!

Thank you Amol for these tips. I will check them out. I have been searching for workarounds for some time and hadn't managed to get anywhere so far. I was dreading the prospect of having to buy new groupsets and that would have made this a 'lesser' project.

[amol4184]

Pampered the bike with some more love and also started experimenting with different brake pads and calipers.

Right now bike is running semi-hydraulic caliper on the rear with ceramic pads and mechanical caliper on the front with semi metallic pads.

While at it, mounted carbon wheels coupled to 32c semi slick tires, ultralight one piece cassette and 160mm rotors. Bike now feels decidedly quick off the mark and faster while rolling. Thin tires make all the difference!

[gypsygenes]

@amol4184 - I heard Factor Bikes' founder on the Roadman podcast recently. He speaks of carbon frame manufacturing ecosystem in a bit more detail and it matches your experience. Overall, a great episode for those interested in bikes - riding, design, manufacturing, all of it. So thought of dipping in and share the podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR...ZjE0ODlh?ep=14

[amol4184]

Many thanks, I am not into podcasts so this was something new. I learnt something more. Pretty interesting!

[amol4184]

Not a direct update to bike in OP, but I built up another open mold frame which is rather popular among smaller bike companies - the Flybike FM696 or Carbonda 696 as it is more popularly known.

Some companies that sell this mold -
1. Bombtrack Hook EXT-C
2. OBED Boundary
3. Boltcutter Peacemaker
4. On One FreeRanger
5. Cobalt Warhawk
6. De Rosa Gravel


and a few others like the one here, Framed Basswood which is an in house brand of a US based company called the-house.


The goal was to create a serious gravel bike with 1x setup which is all the rage now a days with large cassette and small chain ring up front.

The kit used:
1. RS505 hydraulic shifters mated to 105 R7000 flat mount calipers.
2. 105 R7000 crankset, derailleur, chain. Crankset converted to 1x by removing the 2x chain rings and installing a single 38t chain ring.
3. WTB i23 650b wheels with 47c WTB Resolute tubeless tires.
4. 11-42 Sunrace cassette. Since it is too big for 105 derailleur to shift, Wolftooth Roadlink adapter was used.

Cabling was straightforward with all the cable guides pre-installed unlike my previous open mold bike. It is also semi-external resulting is much easier installation and is going to be easy to maintain too.

With heavy tires and wheels, bike weighed 9.95kg with pedals installed. Not bad.


Rides beautifully though those heavy duty 650b tires take a lot of effort on pavement and are happy on serious gravel. It is definitely not suitable for road riding - thankfully that 11-42 + 38t combo makes it easy to climb. Also because of their thickness you feel like riding a suspension bike! Its fun in its own way.

[gypsygenes]

Looks gorgeous. Can think of riding down mountain passes on this.