Originally Posted by
BHG6
Building bikes is fun! It doesn't really take much in the way of specialty tools until you get to the bottom bracket - otherwise, you can get by with a basic set of hand tools for the most part.
My philosophy has always been to buy the tools/manuals instead of taking it (bike, car, motorcycle, etc) to a shop so that I'll have the tools on hand next time I need them. It's far cheaper and more satisfying than paying someone else to do the work.
And without ragging on the Chinese frames (there certainly are good ones out there but, you really want to know what you're looking at before you buy) I would suggest looking on e-bay for "new old stock" brand name frames - there are tons of great deals on brand new carbon frames for around the same price as the no-name stuff. I scored this brand new, never built BMC RM01 frame for $400 shipped to my door from a bike ship in Huntington Beach. It was 3 years old at the time.
Do your research before you buy - that way you'll be ready to pull the trigger when that great deal pops up.
Thats a great looking bike! I was looking on eBay at NOS CF frames as well, just to get a general idea on prices. I was surprised to see some are about same as China CF ones, so definitely something I will keep an eye out on. In terms of tools, I completely agree. I work on my motorcycles, have tools for them, dissembled carbs and cleaned them, do all regular maintenance and so on. Not worried about getting dirty and using elbow grease when needed, was more worried about doing something wrong and having a catastrophic failure because of it since bicycles are not something I know much about as of right now.