I've been cycling for a while and am very happy with my entry level Giant OCR3 with few upgrades I've made, but am looking to upgrade to a full carbon frame, better wheelset, and better components etc etc.
I was looking to spend $3000ish. I was going to buy the frame and all the parts seperately / mainly online and have them then professionally assembled at my Local Bike Shop.
My question is - is there any advantage to getting all matching parts eg shimano cranks, drive train, derailleur, brakes etc or could I equally go with say shimano cranks, SRAM derailleurs and casettes, etc.
I guess I'm asking 1/ are different brand parts compatible / what parts need to be branded the same?? I assume you need same brand chain, casette and maybe derailleur is that right ?? What about gear / brake levers etc ??
Also, has anyone used SRAM or Token parts ?? They both seem to have some pretty swish and comparitively cheap carbon / light parts ?? I was wondering if the lower price equals lower quality vs campy or shimano ??
One final Question - does anyone know of an online retailer that sells full carbon frames seperately?? I've had trouble finding some.
Thanks in advance for the help.
I was looking to spend $3000ish. I was going to buy the frame and all the parts seperately / mainly online and have them then professionally assembled at my Local Bike Shop.
My question is - is there any advantage to getting all matching parts eg shimano cranks, drive train, derailleur, brakes etc or could I equally go with say shimano cranks, SRAM derailleurs and casettes, etc.
I guess I'm asking 1/ are different brand parts compatible / what parts need to be branded the same?? I assume you need same brand chain, casette and maybe derailleur is that right ?? What about gear / brake levers etc ??
Also, has anyone used SRAM or Token parts ?? They both seem to have some pretty swish and comparitively cheap carbon / light parts ?? I was wondering if the lower price equals lower quality vs campy or shimano ??
One final Question - does anyone know of an online retailer that sells full carbon frames seperately?? I've had trouble finding some.
Thanks in advance for the help.