My first road bike, built completly from ebay

First off, sorry about the crappy pic, but the room was dim and my phone was all I had, but here it is.

The story behind it is I was always an avid Mtn. Biker, but after riding my friends Litespeed several years ago, I had always wanted one. Moving from Austin to South Florida, I felt like the trails here were not that much fun, so I decided to ditch the Mtn. bike and build a road bike. My funds were very limited, so I stayed under 1500 for the entire build using ebay and waiting a couple months for good deals to come along. My patience wore thin over the couple months, but I feel like for what I ended up with, I made wise choices and have a much better bike than 1500 would have got me at a lbs. My buddy with the Litespeed always told me roadbikes were more about components than anything else so I tried to get the best I could, for what I had.

I'm short, so I found the frame on ebay and started there,
2003 Litespeed Saber 49cm, (I know it's technically a TT bike, but it fits very well and I like the geometry)
2003 or 2004 Zipp 650c tubulars (had in interesting first experience changing a tire and cleaning old glue off)
2010 Sram Force gruppo, 11-23 cassette, 53-39 crank, 170mm arms (I lucked out and found these nearly half price from the new stuff on ebay, the guy said they only had 150 miles on the entire group, the mechanic at the bike shop agreed that these were barely used at all)

At this point I had the weight weenie bug and decided to build it as light as I could, so I found some zipp carbon bars, carbon seat post, exustar carbon/ Ti pedals and a fizik arione full carbon seat, well besides the padding.

I really didn't know what size stem to get, so I found the cheapest I could to use for now as a base measurement, I am thinking on going about 10cm shorter, so I am glad I didn't drop the money on a carbon stem yet. I have about an inch to play with under the stem to drop the bars if needed, but for now I like the way it rides, probably after more mileage I can see myself dropping the bars on down.

I had my Lbs put it all together and throw on a cheapo cateye strada double wireless computer so I could support them somewhat and voila we hung it up on the scale and ended up with 15.7lbs with pedals and computer.

My farthest ride on it so far is only 33 miles, but hopefully that will improve and I will soon be able to go out with the groups and ride the long weekend rides. I don't think it's the distance they go, but they travel at a higher speed than what I am used to. I've been searching around for a beginner group ride, but having no luck so far. Once I move over the weekend, I will have a better way to ride to work, so I am excited to get some mileage in before work!

 

SWEET!! nice job there. Bike definitely looks sharp. 15.7lbs? WOW. excellent.

I'm also putting together a bike. Picked up the frame in the fall and slowly picked up parts here and there. I have about 95% of all i need now so I'll soon be putting it all together.

 

Campbell, that looks great!

 

Nice, out of the 5 Mtn. bikes I have owned, I have built 3 from frame up, and I always like riding the one's I've built better than any other already built bikes. I'm excited for you to get it finished! I bet you can't wait, Post some pics when it's done!

Thanks Paramount!

 

Looks excellent! Nice build!

 

Well done, that's a great job and shows what you can do if you're oprepared to get down and dirty. great looking bike.

 

Niice bike, I got mine off of Ebay, a specialized s-works, only thing that didn't come with it was the cassette and wheels. got those from a friend and the whole thing weighs 8.5 kilos... 18.7 pounds I think.

Also, is there any brand name to that carbon seat post?? I like it

 

The color scheme reminds me of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms.

 

Yes it says Teckno, I had never really heard of it, but it's super light and strong and I really liked the look also. I picked it up on ebay for around 25 bucks used I think.

Yea, I guess it is the same colors, especially the wheels and the frame matches their helmets, haha

 

geometry looks like road, not TT
i ride a Ti frame myself and im very happy so far
you did great on your budget, that bike could easily cost 2500 usd

 

Yea it does really look like road geometry, but going my the Litespeed website, it's definitely a TT bike. I rode my friends Specialized Tarmac a couple days ago, and I really like the Ti frame too over the carbon, although the tarmac is a very nice bike, I am really liking the rigidness of my bike and how responsive the steering is over a regular road geometry frame.

Thanks for all the positive comments!

 

I like the idea and I applaud your efforts. But you have gotten me worried - if $1500 is a "limited budget" for a road bike, Im in trouble!
I want to do about 16 miles a day as a commuter - and can scrape up $500. I dont want to be a "cyclist" as much as a rider. Will one third of your budget get me anything worth having?

 

yes 1/3 of a good bike...
its ok for commuting i guess

 

For 500 bucks, I definitely would not look to build one from scratch. I would check craigslist and ebay everyday and see what pops up complete. I have seen very nice bikes go for that price, my advice would be to look for something a little older, with 105 components. That would be what I think you could get for around that price. Any bike is better than no bike at all, and as far as a commuter, I wouldn't spend more than that anyways unless you can keep your eyes on it during the day. I am actually lucky enough to have my bike within 5 feet of me all day long, so I never have to worry about it being stolen, otherwise I wouldn't even use mine as a commuter.

 

Thank you very much for these comments. It means a lot to get a breakdown of this type. I don't know the "hot" names, the new technologies and I'm definitely not a cycling buff. I used to ride roadies 30 years ago. Todays explosion of choices is more bewildering than anything.

This puts me in the learning curve, first, and the buying mode second. The more so because I definitely have a budget.

I wasnt planning on a scratch build, thanks for mentioning that. A complete set up is my angle and Ive seen the Motobecane Fantom CX - cyclocross with road tires and fenders sounds dandy to me! Or maybe their "cafe" series, with down bars. Something along those lines, anyway. For some reason I like the Motobecane line...

I have a secure lockup for the bike at my workplace: barbed wire fences, cameras and security guards. Who needs a lock?!

Youve helped greatly, so thanks for your thoughts. Your ebay bike looks nice, to say the least.