I'd say ALWAYS worth buying a complete bike for budget builds. Sell off unused parts keeps the cost down. My most expensive builds have always been frame only starts :(
😂 love the replies here. Yep I’d agree with Mark. Buying complete is the way. I have the luxury/curse of big parts bins but to my own point around keeping cost down completes are the way!!
Those Nukeproof nylon pedals get terrible customer reviews because the end bolts loosen. I...tighten...them...up! Bad reviews keeps the price down; loads of colours. I've never had a pedal loosen and I have 3 sets on 3 bikes. There...vented! Great vlog. I learned some stuff.
I've returned to building bikes after a long time away and I've struggled to find reliable suppliers for parts, especially at the low cost end. All my local bike shops look at me like I'm crazy for wanting things like Aheadset ball bearings (in their retainers), freewheel bearings and half-links. If it wasn't for chaps like you I'd be stuffed. Appreciate your work 😊
love your channel love how you save the old bikes nice job look forward to seeing more builds and thank you for all the great tips building a commuter as we speak got rid of the crappy heavy ebike👍
Great video, and some sound tips for us bike building nerds. Just wanted to add that, depending where you live, local bike recycling charities can be a great source of parts. We have a place called Recyk Y Bike up in Newcastle that refurb donated bikes and sell them for accessible prices to those who need them, but they also part things out and sell off frames, wheels, tires and components for very reasonable prices. Obviously if you’re planning to build up a 100% NOS period piece it might not be your spot, but if you want some functional 90s mtb bits they’re worth trawling through.
Besides the wealth of very useful information for retro bike lovers on a budget, the soundtrack in the background is so chill. Perhaps list the musical choices?
well today I picked up another old 26" mostly because I needed the MRX gripshift and the crankset.. otherwise I liked the tires and the brake levers which are two finger and switch between V and C. as well as came with proper AVID V brakes. and a riser stem I immediately swapped onto my Rocky Moutain. bought it for the Michelin Country & Rock tires. future builds in mind will love the RD and wheels. current bike needed the front shifter and the crank looks like a better range. garbage bike for the Commuter. oh yes I fought for hours with one bolt to take off the rack.. the frame is rusted so it's going in the bin fork and all but you've seen my Surly fork that's been on a Norco indie 4 and now a Trek 7300fxdisc.. came from a giant iguana with all Deore and no wheels.. BB7 calipers.. $30 canadian.. saved a broke bike and upgraded 3 of my group... hardware.. yeah spend the money at a local shop and just take your bolts in and find new ones. a couple months later and the "parts bike" trek 930 is now all 1998 XT 750 and riding on a Manitou sx.. 720 35 rise and riding on a 27.5 disc wheelset... so disc swapped.. the Rocky Mountain is sold off and there's $170 profit there paying for the upgrades. my CBBO bike is still stuck BB but we gonna try that today
No offense, I live up here in the Pacific Northwest and I know we love our bikes up here. Bike thievery is rampant up herr that's why you find old frames laying around everywhere I found an trek 900 frame just the other day. Tweakers are steal bikes just so they have something to disassemble while they're high. What really gets me mad is all these guys riding around on little bmx bikes you know they stole them from a kid.
I have cheap taste for grips: the Aliexpress Oury knock offs have turned into some of my faves. It's like, $4CAD for the lock on sets. I wouldn't trust a lot of the other components on there tho.
Great tips. I've bought several wheelsets off eBay, but the cones on all of them were toast. Do you have a source for replacement cones? The eBay ones I found were some bizarre dimension. Also most of the retro cracks I find are 175mm is there a reason they're so long?
i tried out charge spoon because so many people said they good iv had seats that 125 quid a charge spoon under 30 and way more combatable there my go to seat now
Hi 2LB I’m curious to know why you call the used bikes that you rebuild ‘retro’? Retro is generally used to describe new model bikes that are modern reproductions or throwbacks to classic models often with updated technology, materials or parts where needed.
Unpopular opinion, but Billy Bonkers are overrated. I might even say that they kind of suck. They do look really nice though. Edit: Saddles are objective to the individual as you've mentioned, but Charge saddles are pretty great. They really are worth a try considering how cheap they are.
I'd say ALWAYS worth buying a complete bike for budget builds. Sell off unused parts keeps the cost down. My most expensive builds have always been frame only starts :(
Frame only builds are the best though I think, a blank canvas, no need to keep it period correct etc
Has to be a very special frame for me to do a frame only build .. all the random parts needed will kill your budget in no time
Shhh don't tell everyone
Absolutely agree. It seems so innocent at the start though..
😂 love the replies here. Yep I’d agree with Mark. Buying complete is the way. I have the luxury/curse of big parts bins but to my own point around keeping cost down completes are the way!!
Those Nukeproof nylon pedals get terrible customer reviews because the end bolts loosen. I...tighten...them...up! Bad reviews keeps the price down; loads of colours. I've never had a pedal loosen and I have 3 sets on 3 bikes.
There...vented!
Great vlog. I learned some stuff.
Yeah I’ve had the same! Good point though, hadn’t thought of it in that way.
I've returned to building bikes after a long time away and I've struggled to find reliable suppliers for parts, especially at the low cost end. All my local bike shops look at me like I'm crazy for wanting things like Aheadset ball bearings (in their retainers), freewheel bearings and half-links. If it wasn't for chaps like you I'd be stuffed. Appreciate your work 😊
Oh man,what a great video! Thanx for all the info love it!!!😉👌
love your channel love how you save the old bikes nice job look forward to seeing more builds and thank you for all the great tips building a commuter as we speak got rid of the crappy heavy ebike👍
Very informative. Thanks for posting
No worries! Thanks for commenting!
Great video, and some sound tips for us bike building nerds. Just wanted to add that, depending where you live, local bike recycling charities can be a great source of parts. We have a place called Recyk Y Bike up in Newcastle that refurb donated bikes and sell them for accessible prices to those who need them, but they also part things out and sell off frames, wheels, tires and components for very reasonable prices. Obviously if you’re planning to build up a 100% NOS period piece it might not be your spot, but if you want some functional 90s mtb bits they’re worth trawling through.
Cst is a sister brand of Maxxis so if you look close some of the tire are very similar in tread and quality.
Chen shin tyres. Been making OE tyres forever.
Rubber compound is key.
No way! Had no idea.
I brought my NSR giant bike of face bay for £20 an man iv been watching a load of your videos lately. Keep up the good work my man
Excellent video, dude! What to buy is great, but I'm so glad you talked about HOW to buy. That's wisdom right there. You're a real champ.
Cheers mate!! Really appreciate it!
Extra effort ... er .. you polish the hell out of these things
Great video and since I'm more team single speed I'd love to see that version of this video. Pretty please 🤩
I’ll see what I can do!
Liked and subscribed 👍
Great tips
Glad you like them!
Another tip is having some friction shifters on hand. If you have friction shifters you can basically run any groupset
Besides the wealth of very useful information for retro bike lovers on a budget, the soundtrack in the background is so chill. Perhaps list the musical choices?
Great shout!! I’ll try and add the tracks in the description. 🙌🏼
well today I picked up another old 26" mostly because I needed the MRX gripshift and the crankset.. otherwise I liked the tires and the brake levers which are two finger and switch between V and C. as well as came with proper AVID V brakes. and a riser stem I immediately swapped onto my Rocky Moutain.
bought it for the Michelin Country & Rock tires. future builds in mind will love the RD and wheels. current bike needed the front shifter and the crank looks like a better range. garbage bike for the Commuter. oh yes I fought for hours with one bolt to take off the rack.. the frame is rusted so it's going in the bin fork and all
but you've seen my Surly fork that's been on a Norco indie 4 and now a Trek 7300fxdisc.. came from a giant iguana with all Deore and no wheels.. BB7 calipers.. $30 canadian.. saved a broke bike and upgraded 3 of my group...
hardware.. yeah spend the money at a local shop and just take your bolts in and find new ones.
a couple months later and the "parts bike" trek 930 is now all 1998 XT 750 and riding on a Manitou sx.. 720 35 rise and riding on a 27.5 disc wheelset... so disc swapped..
the Rocky Mountain is sold off and there's $170 profit there paying for the upgrades.
my CBBO bike is still stuck BB but we gonna try that today
In the Pacific Northwest we have whole bile shop you can build what ever you want tons of bone yards around here
No offense, I live up here in the Pacific Northwest and I know we love our bikes up here. Bike thievery is rampant up herr that's why you find old frames laying around everywhere I found an trek 900 frame just the other day. Tweakers are steal bikes just so they have something to disassemble while they're high. What really gets me mad is all these guys riding around on little bmx bikes you know they stole them from a kid.
I have cheap taste for grips: the Aliexpress Oury knock offs have turned into some of my faves. It's like, $4CAD for the lock on sets. I wouldn't trust a lot of the other components on there tho.
Great tips. I've bought several wheelsets off eBay, but the cones on all of them were toast. Do you have a source for replacement cones? The eBay ones I found were some bizarre dimension.
Also most of the retro cracks I find are 175mm is there a reason they're so long?
Great vid as always, but wished you talked about handlebars too!
Can’t believe I missed it but I did record a section about bars. It goes live at 12pm GMT today 🙌🏼
🙌
Do you have any suggestions for wheel sets available in the United States?
Mavic CROSSRIDE are awesome wheelset !
Nice! I haven’t tried them yet but I’ll add them to the list.
check out Vittoria Tattoo Light 26 x 2.3 - seem to be some good budget tyres that still look decent
Nice I’ll check them out. Haven’t tried them before.
Any tips for inexpensive stem clamps?
I’m judging the sparkling water more! 😂😉
i tried out charge spoon because so many people said they good iv had seats that 125 quid a charge spoon under 30 and way more combatable there my go to seat now
Hey bud, what do you do with all your builds? Is there a market for those, once they are build?
Cheers! Thanks for doing this. The Julian Assange of bike resto mods
Yeah maybe I should have kept some of my secrets!
CST tires is the parent company of Maxxis…
Chen Shin Tyres, I think they used to be owned by raleigh
i got tan billys on bikeinn about a five weeks ago. took a month for them to arrive (bikeinn is slow to ship to the us), but they were cheap af.
They take some time getting to the UK so I’m not surprised!! Great website!
The longer the video went on the less it was about not breaking the bank haha but good content nonetheless mate
Love Charge Spoons. After trying many saddles, wouldn't use anything else now.
Preach!!
Have the charge spoon saddles been discontinued? I've seen shortages from a lot of retailers.
I think they have been for a long time but there was a lot of stock until now. Won’t be long before they are gone I reckon.
Ugh. I loved the crazy colours that used to be available, I can't seem to find an alternative brand. Got any other favourites yourself? @@2NDLIFEBIKES
Are you actually drinking Sarikiz Soda? The main manufacturing facility for those is just a couple hours away from where I live in Turkey.
Haha yes I was!
How did you even find Sarikiz (Turkish sparkling water) in there?
There’s a Turkish delivery app called Getir and n London. I use it all the time!!
@@2NDLIFEBIKES Awesome :) Greetings from New York
I'm glad i'm not the only person wasting their life scrolling through 15k "bikes" 😂
Oh you’re not hahahahah! 😂
Hi 2LB I’m
curious to know why you call the used bikes that you rebuild ‘retro’?
Retro is generally used to describe new model bikes that are modern reproductions or throwbacks to classic models often with updated technology, materials or parts where needed.
He's building new bikes using old and new components, in an old style. I think calling it retro is fair, feels more appropriate than vintage.
CRUSTY BIKES ARE THE BEST BIKES
LONG LIVE THE CRUST!!
too late, already sleeping on the streets
Unpopular opinion, but Billy Bonkers are overrated. I might even say that they kind of suck. They do look really nice though.
Edit: Saddles are objective to the individual as you've mentioned, but Charge saddles are pretty great. They really are worth a try considering how cheap they are.