Build your own hybrid
 

Has anyone built their own hybrid? They are basically light duty MTBs or fat bar road bikes.

Old Cannondale M500 frame I got from the local co-op. I built it up from parts I had laying around, and just put together the cockpit with parts I got for my birthday from my wife and daughter.
...the wheels cost a bit, though. I got 'em from Velocity when I weighed about 370.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...23da72bb64.jpg

It depends on what you mean by "build."

Braze/weld a frame and fork and build up a new bike? No
Start with bare frame, build with new/NOS parts? Yes
Tear down existing bike down to individual bolts, clean, rebuild with new/NOS parts as needed? Yes
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@DorkDisk not literally brazing a frame. I meant using an existing frame and equipping it the way you want to. I’m a big vintage MTB guy. I really love to repurpose older bikes. Just wondering if anyone had done something similar. After I posted I realized that most hybrid riders are newer to the sport and don’t do a ton of wrenching experience. But I posted it so let’s see what happens.

I'm also a fan of repurposing old rigid mountain bikes, and I've done several. I suppose if you take a mtb and make it more street/road friendly, that's a hybrid, right? Anyway here's my Univega Range Rover.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f79fe255a0.jpg

My Cannondale makes a great hybrid, though I'll reserve a set of knobbies to to try it out on a trail sometime. I took it to a nearby cutoff where I've been doing laps to build base miles, and it worked great, got a lot of PRs on Strava for those segments (which I blew away again the next day, after I got my Kona CX bike back together)
The wide bar got swapped over to my Paratrooper, and that bike's narrower bar is now on the Dale, as I plan on mostly using it for city/group rides, and don't need that much leverage.

I've not ever done a frame-up _hybrid_ build per, but I do have what I think of as a hybrid bike that gets modded a lot. What you see below is a mashup of a Priority Continuum with parts from a heavily modded Priority Eight that I had once rebuilt as a fender-bike singlespeed using parts from a Haro Beasley. There's a long history of moding and swapping around of parts that I won't bore you with. What's there now though is a Priority Continuum modded singlespeed and running a singlespeed wheelset from an old Haro Beasley 650b mountain bike. Current tires are WTB Senderos making for a more mountain-bikey look. However, I have a set of WTB Ventures that I'll be swapping in to skew the bike back toward pavement riding. Handlebar, stem, and all the various color bits that you see are non-stock. Brakes would be non-stock too, except I haven't been in the mood to deal w/the internal cable routing and rebleeding. I've a nice-looking set of flat fenders that currently aren't mounted, but sometimes they are. There's a horn on the front, a custom name plate, and I guess that's pretty much it.

I love the simplicity of the bike, and it's my grab-and-go bike for fitness rides around town.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...08cbc987ee.jpg

I've had a 2001 Trek 7700 sitting in the garage for a little over a year. Right now it is only used to get to the gym and back. I guess you could sort of call it my beater bike. As far as reliability goes, it would appear to have a lot more miles left in it.

https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/Sear...50&model=65341

Here is another thread with a picture of it in it's current condition...
https://www.bikeforums.net/hybrid-bi...ved-trash.html

Back in the day it was advertised as Treks top of the line hybrid. But I'd like to re-purpose it to be a little more off-road / abuse capable. The thing that is holding me back is that I don't have a lot of spares sitting around and this thing is going to take a little cash in order to get it how I'd like it. The Rolf wheels were spec'd for 38mm tires. These are very thin wheels and my 32's seem to bulge on them. Besides, I don't think the spoke pattern is conducive to hitting fire roads etc. A new stem, bars, seatpost and shifters are not going to be a problem. What does suck is the Shimano Nexave drivetrain. Without going into detail, this has to go. The RockShox Metro SL shock is in good shape but low-end. I'm going to try and do a disassemble, clean and rebuild so we'll have to see how that goes. I have a set of 9speed brake/shift levers and I'd like to turn this into a capable triple front.

I'm just worried about this thing nickle and diming me to death. So right now I'm on a mission scouring C/L and obsolete part sales at online vendors to see what I can do.

That's nice for a trash find. It's amazing how much difference a good going over and cleaning can make.

I built a flat-bar road bike with a Marin Lucas Valley Alp frame (Random Bike Parts) and Kinesis Crosslight 3 forks (Chainreactioncycles). It also has wheels with Tiagra hubs (Rosesbikes).
Other parts:
Shimano Sora crankset (Chainreactioncycles)
XLC pedals (xxcycle)
Shimano R440 shifters (eBay)
Shimano BL-R550 brake levers (Bike24)
Shimano Sora mini-V brakes (Bike24)
Shimano R443 front derailleur (Saint John Cycles)
Shimano Deore LX rear derailleur (eBay)

Anyway, the Evo bell I got from Niagaracycle as well as the Sunlite bottle cage. The Ritchey Comp Trail grips came from Bike24 and WTB Rocket 130mm saddle from Chainreactioncycles. The greeen XLC seatpost clamp came from xxcycle.

Pretty sweet bike overall partly because I like alu frame & fork + V-brakes & square taper bottom bracket (Shimano BB-UN55). By the way, that rear rack is a Sunlite Goldtech Tourer from Niagaracycle. It's pretty sweet as well. The Bush & Mullerhttps://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bf5d32811b.jpg
rear red reflector that I installed on it came from Rosebikes. Also the silver SKS fenders came from Chainreactioncycles. The Dimension stem came from Niagaracycle.

I have several decades of experience riding and maintaining, but none building as such, and my oldest bike is a youngin '97. I do like your question, and have two related responses -FWIW: one build experience and one hybrid-build idea-only. First, I have a full-suspension MTB custom build, because I couldn't find a ready-built/retail carbon 26" MTB bike in 2013 and 14, and I wanted full Fox suspension, AND the Grip-Shifting that is on my '97 RockHopper, and which Sram had bought up in the interim, among other nice things. So, I do now have a rare-if-not-unique 25-lb build consisting of a 2013 carbon BMC frame with the nice parts I wanted attached. I think the only thing I was not able to get was a remote lockout on the fork I liked.

The idea may be even stranger. My Trek Domane is the best-FITTING and riding bike I have, and have ever had. Alas, it is not as flexible as my other bikes. I have thought of either getting a Domane frame somewhere and having a hybrid built, OR taking my Domane, and among other things, changing over to flat bars, fitting bigger tires, replacing my Speedplays, etc,, etc.

So, there you are, and I'll enjoy reading your thread.

I finished my first build this weekend using a 1994 Cannondale H400 frame which belonged to my father in law. I stayed true to the original style of the bike, however I installed new components throughout. The one change I made was from cantilever to v-brakes. Great experience, I learned a lot, and I am now hunting around for the next frame to do this again. Unfortunately, I am new and haven't made enough posts to to upload a picture just yet.

Yes sir you are officially addicted.

It's still a work in progress (I've been saying this for months & it's getting frustrating), but Pretty Purple Princess Penelope used to be a mountain bike, and now she's a seriously comfortable, capable road bike and my commuter. I think it's the big cushy tires and 26" wheels that makes it so stable and nimble.

Still need to strip it down, clean the frame, treat some rust, shorten those cables, and change out that 175 mm crankset for a 152.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c3247516d.jpg

Previously posted bike, but with trekking bars installed.
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I'm so tempted to build my own bike but I'm just afraid it's going to disintegrate into dust as soon as I hit 20 mph

I had the exact same fear. I have made myself a regular at my local bike shop over the last few weeks and asked plenty of questions. I didn’t buy everything there, I was working on a fairly tight budget, but I did by some parts there. Final stage, I had them give it the once over final inspection to make sure everything was up to snuff. They also helped me fine tune the derailleurs. I dropped the mechanic who helped me regularly a gift card to our local beer garden as a thank you.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, the guys at the LBS in my area aren't the friendliest guys in the world. They genuinely seem annoyed when anyone asks them a question.

I'll stick to this forum and YouTube videos until I'm comfortable enough to give it a shot.

Glad things worked out for you...enjoy your ride.

I built my wife a step through hybrid for her bad hip. She couldn’t swing a leg over her standard hybrid anymore, so it was canabalized and parts were added to a Random Bike Parts Marin frame I scored for $90. Turned out great and it’s much nicer than any mass produced step through bike.

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