badger1

Now you've done it. I predict that within the next 24-to-48 hours (or possibly sooner), this new thread will pop up:

"How can an $11,000 direct-to-consumer bicycle possibly be worth the money?"

This will be followed, after a suitable interval allowing Thread 1 to find its legs and for review by the Department of Redundancy Department, by:

"Actual Cost to Build an $11,000 direct-to-consumer bike".

rydabent

But did you notice we have clean air and clean water???

And I bet since it was cold, you were not aware that we have 130 miles of hard surface trails in Lincoln.

hevysrf

Retail prices for parts really aren't a factor when trek or Scott purchases 500 high end pieces and 5000 of a vendors standard parts.

Anecdotally, I've just purchased a new bike, $2199 original list, for $1449. An older unloved model to be sure, but still 30% discount for a '22 model one month into '23. Did the manufacture lose money on that sale?

Polaris OBark

No.

As for the initial question, it is a troll post, not a sincere question, but one legitimate question is whether a mechanically competent consumer might be better off buying parts separately and assembling their own bike. (I recently did this for my wife, after we demo-ed a couple of $9K Trek gravel bikes. She now has an American-made titanium frame, GRX Di2, etc. bike with high-end, hand-built wheels for a bit more than half that price. Sure, a vendor could have done it cheaper, but what was relevant was what we, the consumer, might pay. I did waste a couple $100 bucks screwing up, FWIW.)

tomato coupe

The flip side of that would be my wife's bike. She opted for an American-made carbon frame, built up from components, and it came in at $13k.

Eric F 

Did you buy it direct from the manufacturer or from a LBS? If you bought it from a LBS, the manufacturer didn't lose anything. Any hit taken on the sale came out of the LBS. If you bought it direct, they probably didn't lose, either.

hevysrf

Spot Acme, online from manufacturer.
I had been considering a Co-Motion, but at my age and with my injuries, I'll never do any serious mileage. If I decide to convert it to Rohloff, I will have spent about 3k compared 7.5 k for custom bike.

Kontact 

That was someone else. I was referring to the distributor, the companies that make the parts, the dealer, etc. Every time something that ends up as your bike is sold multiple times, each time adding a margin.

Polaris OBark

If it keeps her happy, it is money well spent.

Camilo

Please stop the madness

tomato coupe

You bet.

genejockey 

This you?

Kontact 

Yes. But you're clearly referring to this poster:

While I was referring to everyone above and below Specialized in the supply chain.

phughes

They actually cost the same to mfg. The difference is, the $14,000 price tag includes a $9,000 donation to the organization, Can't Recumbent Association of People.

livedarklions

​​​​​No one believes you care about either of those questions.

Atlas Shrugged

What confuses me is there are people who can see through this charade and know of untold riches available through the excessive profits being realized by the few. Yet these same people do nothing to either partake in this easy money nor offer a low cost solution to their fellow cyclists.

tomato coupe

Yeah, it's a mystery why people don't take the easy money and then spend the rest of their life riding their bike whenever and wherever they desire.

PeteHski

This is a far more practical question. I don't think the answer is a simple yes or no. I did look at building up a new road bike last year and with the frame and components I wanted it was actually considerably more expensive than the fully built Canyon I eventually bought for around £4,500. But in other cases it can be cheaper to buy the components and frame. All depends on what retail discounts are available on the relevant groupset and wheels (i.e. none at all last year here!). So I think it would have to be a case-by-case comparison. Last year building your own bike with current groupsets was a non-starter anyway due to COVID shortages. Even shops were struggling to get hold of groupsets for custom builds.

Kontact 

Isn't that what a brandless direct from China carbon frameset is?

rosefarts

I love it.

I’m curious about the claimed frame weight. 1900 seems a lot higher than Rodriguez has a reputation for building. Geez, my Swiss Cross V2 is claiming 1600gm.

It seems that most steel frames of good quality weigh 1400-1800. Yeah, that’s almost certainly measured on a 54, and I know you’re the type to actually weigh the frame rather than go by published numbers.

Possibly a switch up within the brand. I swear that I saw a Rodriguez fan post last year about an approximately 1000gm steel frame. Maybe 1200 in your size.


What I find interesting about your post, is that the bike you’ve just described seems a lot better than similarly priced stock bikes from the shop. The wheels, the seatpost, the crank. The mechanical shifting was definitely a weight choice, not price.

The Aethos or whatever doesn’t have anything close to that. Certainly it’s the same route I’d take if that was my budget for a new bike.

I hate to somewhat agree with the ***** posters here but a stock bike should be cheaper than a boutique frame with handpicked parts.

Atlas Shrugged

Not at all. The open mold frames are comparable to mid-tier offerings at best by the major manufacturers and no where near the top end offerings and not what we are talking about. Yes there is a savings but when you factor in questionable quality control, lack of warranty, long lead times, bare frame only with no assembly, no LBS support, dated design, you pay a real price for those savings. I have a current S Works Roubaix as well as a Carbonda CFR696 and there is absolutely no comparison yet each serves a purpose.

base2 

Yeah, the final weight I had to swallow a bit hard.
I think it is the drop-outs. At 7.85 grams/cc the difference between the referenced Swiss Cross & my Rodriguez is ~44cc's (or 2.68 cubic inches) of steel. I had specified IS/post mount disc brakes & vertical dropouts. That alone drove the plate steel drop-out decision.

I am actually kicking myself a bit. These hooded style drop-outs would've saved a lot of grams, and still allowed the future freedom of an IGH/hybrid drivetrain, but confined me to flat-mount brakes with their associated pre-determined rotor size options. In the end (as pictured) I decided to run a 140mm rear rotor, but also have the freedom to run any rotor I want with the proper IS adaptor. So I guess it still worked out & I learned a new thing.

I also added a few braze-ons not in the usual weight weenie playbook. One additional was for the purpose of CX style cable routing to afford the option of a Sturmey-Archer CS-RK3. The idea was to reroute the front derailleur shift cable & housing from the seat-tube mounted pulley & plug it into a seat-stay housing stop. Then both shift cables would run moreorless parallel to each other to the dropout for their respective shifting duties safely free from the risk of heel strike caused by conventional under-bottom bracket routing. The other, of course being the CX style shift pulley to operate a road front derailleur.

The frame also has a full compliment of rack mounts, brake/chain-stay bridges, etc...That are sometimes omitted for weiner bike aspirations. I'm sure this adds a bit of grams but the versatility is welcome.

Version 1 of this bike which I first rode in January of 2021 had the Sturmey wheel I built, 160mm rotor & basically all of the parts from my Ritchey Ascent Breakaway installed & it worked well as a stopgap until the supply chain sorted itself out.

Pictured below:
Rodriguez by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

The bike evolved as parts became available.

Another "trick" that Rodriguez uses that I did not employ was the paint. I opted for black high gloss metallic paint with clear. The usual course is a thin application of coal black primer with a minimal clear to seal it all up. So there is probably at a 100 gram disparity there as well.

Thanks for the compliments towards component selection. I like mechanical. I even started a thread about electronic shifting after trying it. Something about electronic grated me & I seriously wondered if maybe there was something I missed. Turns out, no. It's a philosophical difference, nothing more.

I hate to admit it; And it's a secret, so don't tell anyone. But, the sadist in me also sort of likes the wait, the hunt, the research, the emails to manufacturers concerning weight limitations, making changes, the unexpected import duty uncertainty & associated PIA morning drive to the shippers downtown distribution hub to pay a tariff; Things like meeting the artisan to clarify something on the build sheet, etc...It's all very much the opposite of the plug-n-play, swipe the credit card approach. The build is almost more rewarding than the ride in it's own way.

It does make me wonder how many other "weight weenie" bikes can accept fenders, 700x42 tires, and be full-on competent gravel bikes with little more than a wheel swap & mounting of a different derailleur.

Eric F 

I'm curious about the differences you've noticed between the S Works and Carbonda.

genejockey 

No. Here's that video I mentioned before.

Atlas Shrugged

The weight difference is substantial.
Build quality is not as refined, with the headset, drop out and bottom bracket not as accurate.
Paint, although nice is not as durable and is fairly thickly applied
Riskier purchase with no warranty to speak of and long lead time

Overall built up with GRX 810 and is a great around-town gravel bike.