Advice on buying a new frame
 

Hey all,

I am looking at buying a frame and then build my own bike, it's my first time doing this, so please be gentle.

It's a brand new Cramerotti Tour D frame made from Dedacciai COM 12.5 steel. It comes with a brand new 1" threadless FSA headset and 1" cromo threadless canti/disc fork. Never been used because it's a shops old stock.

It's up for $275 Canadian. This seems like a good deal and the frame looks sweet.

Is this a fair price? I am asking because I am new at this and the frame is in my size and budget. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I suggest you go down to the bottom of the Bicycle Mechanics page to Forum Jump and check out the two Canadian discussion groups under Regional Discussions. Probably a nice frame at a great price.

How new are you to this? Familiar with working on bikes? Have many of the parts laying around already that you want to put on it?

New frames might seem like a cheap way to go, but if you have to buy all the pieces parts to put on the frame then you'll likely be more than what you could have purchased an already built bike. As well, some of the tools you need will add to the cost and some may only be used for that particular part you are installing and may not be ever used again.

If you are building the bike because you want specific things on it that you can't get on model sold fully built and are okay paying more, then building your own is realistic and will be educational.

Thanks for the help! I purchased the frame and a new Shim 105 5800 groupset from Craigslist. Luckily, I have two friends with all the relevant tools and can hopefully help me if I get stuck! Wish me luck!

Good luck!
Let us know how it turns out!

Building a bike can be a fun and rewarding experience. People who pay more then what the same bike would cost new often aren't looking for deals and are buying whatever the newest/best thing is that they have to have now. The whole 1" threadless disc fork is an interesting one and makes me wonder if it doesn't also have a rear disc, if so what size is the rear spacing. IA really quick search of the tubing shows that it is a higher end one and the tubing brand is a good one so the bike was probably a lot more originally. You'll be starting off with an older frame, and the 1" isn't that logical but I bought a high end steel in 2010 and it came 1" threadless as well, didn't stop it from being more then sufficient and keep me wondering about the need for oversized headsets on gravel, cross and road bikes.
Rest of the parts you can always search places like bikewagon, cambria, bike 24,randombikeparts, etc for a few year old parts that are new. Doesn't matter to me that my 3t carbon bar is 5 years old but still new when its 80.00 and still as good as the day it was made.
Have fun with it.

I agree with Russ, go for it. Its your size and in your budget. You could build it up with new old stock high end 9 speed stuff and have a heck of a bike. Plus you'll know every nut and bolt on it so if you break down on the road you will probably be able to fix it. I have built 2 frames up, one just recently as I was recovering from surgeries. It is a very rewarding experience.