liv211

As for me, I always prefer to assemble my own bikes, as buying a complete bike is likely to involve low-end components.
How about you? Waiting for some helpful suggestions....thanks in advance

Polaris OBark

Yes.

J_Chickles

Its more cost effective in most cases to buy one complete

Youd have a hard time duplicating the bike below for $7500 on your own

Uncaged 7 | Izzo | Bikes | Products | YT US (yt-industries.com)

However, even though that YT is a screaming bargain, - $7500 is still a big nut for a lot of people , so in that case, it may be worthwhile to purchase a lesser model and then keep an eye out for a deal on some good wheels or something. Everything with a bike is pretty transparent and out in the open now -- its hard to slip in cheap bottom brackets and headsets to cut costs - but house brand cockpit components are pretty common at the low to midrange level - but those are the types of things you can upgrade later. Kona, Specialized, Trek, etc. all get better deals on components than we do.

That said - i did my last bike the "one piece at a time" way when the Pro's Closet had a nice set of new Enve wheels for $1800 and i found a demo frameset that i paid 2k for that would have normally retailed for 3500

c_m_shooter

You can't beat the price of pre built bikes. You can get whatever level components you think you need. I've been riding a long time and you don't need what you think you do.

veganbikes

Most of my bikes are built from the frame up, way more expensive but I get what I want on it or as close as care to get. If you aren't particular about parts then a prebuilt bike will save you money potentially. If you spend the right amount you can generally get a good bike but it all depends on your needs.

base2 

Build a bike up from scratch. Once you churn through enough, it's like Lego's for adults. You can have any bike you want for the cost of cables.

Kai Winters

I prefer to build my bikes from the frame up but I have the tools, knowledge and experience to do so.
It is not easy, especially without the proper tools, and I've had to repair the mess from others who say "it's only a bike, how hard can it be"...

rosefarts

I usually build my own bikes. This involves a smattering of parts i already have, a couple good deals on used gear, and a few more items found on sale. It works and is pretty fun to do.

On my mountain bike, I literally had no spare parts and my time to hunt down parts was extremely limited. I bought a brand new complete bike, Black Friday, pre-sale, and got a sweet ride for about price the frame, fork, and wheels would have cost. It was enough that I’ll probably never build a high end bike again.

FWIW, after 6 months of hammering it, the only thing I have changed is the grips and headset cap, because I wanted to go Rasta. On my other bikes, I spend half my time thinking about my next upgrade.

Steve B.

Like rosefarts, if I have certain parts, I will build from frame. Even if I have to buy most stuff I will still build when its cost effective. I did a build from a Chinese carbon frame, that only cost $360, 105 parts were maybe another $400, wheels $450. I ended up with a 17 lb carbon bike for less then what I could have purchased new and complete, of course you place your faith in a no name frame. It has, as BTW lasted 6 years and over 7,000 miles. My gravel, HT and FS were all production bikes though as it was more cost effective that way.

Germany_chris

I built all my bike from the frame.