This is my third bike, second road bike, first carbon road bike I built by myself. After I started doing triathlon, I was thinking to know more about bike. To know more detail, I feel I should build one from scratch so I can know better about each component. I started doing google search and YouTube and took few months to finish my first one ever carbon road bike. I totally spent around $1000.
Here was my plan. I tired to save my money as mush as possible so I tried my best to find the cheapest parts. Although may not be a perfect one, hope it will give you some ideas to start with.
- Frame Size. I assume you might already know your size, so you can pick easily online. I picked one with 52cm from China and it only cost less than $200.
- Fork, Seatpost. The Frame I purchased included these so I didn’t need to worry about them, otherwise, you need to make sure the size in order to fit your frame. Try to find the frame with these so it will be easier for you.
- Bottom Bracket. Same thing here, try to find a frame coming with this, mine didn’t so I needed to make sure the size to fit my frame.
- Group set. I was thinking to get Ultegra, but it did cost lots of money, so I downgraded to 105 R7000 since it was my first time to build and it’s much cheaper than Ultegra.
- Crankset. This will depend on your setup. I found there are 3 types which are 53/39 which is my Triathlon bike setup, 52/36, and 50/34 which is my road bike setup. I picked 52/36 to have the totally different than my other bikes. If you do climbing a lot, you might need to have 50/34.
- Cassette. First, you need to know the speed of your group set. Shimano 105 is 11 speeds and I might use this bike for both flat and climbing so I pick 11-32 so I can do climbing when I need it. This will also affect the rear derailleur you pick.
- Handle bar. The one I have is 42cm and I feel little bit wide, so this time I picked 40 cm.
- Stem. This is the one connect your fork and handle bar. There are different couple different sizes you can choose. If the frame you pick is little bit big, you can buy shorter stem to make you comfortable.
- Shifters. Once you decide your group set, you just need to buy the one with your group set.
- Front Derailleur. There are two type of them. I picked Braze On since it’s same as my the other road bike.
- Rear Derailleur. Be careful about this. There is Short and long one. I believe they are SS and GS. The different is SS only support your cassette up to 28. If you buy bigger than 28, you have to use GS which is longer one.
- Chain. Make sure you buy the right size. I actually don’t know that detail about this. I picked Quick Link which is easier to install.
- Brake Calipers. There are front and rear ones. I think you can probably use Ultegra with 105, but just be consistent, I picked everything is Shimano 105 R7000.
- Shift Cable, Brake Cable. The Shifter I purchased came with shift cable, but I still needed to buy brake cable. I picked the universal one.
- Saddle, Wheels, Pedals. You can pick based on what you like.
Here are couple YouTube that helped me.
Checked these series
Shimano 105 R7000
The crankset is 52/36
The cassette is 11/32
The list of the components for my road bike –
Saddle – $10.76 –
Shimano 105 BR-R7000 front brake calipers – $42.01 –
Shimano 11-Speed 105 CS-R7000 Cassette 11/32- $45.20
Bundle – $243.52
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Shimano 105 Front Derailleur FD-R7000 Braze On
Shimano 105 Rear Derailleur RD-R7000
Dual Control Shifters Set Left&Right 105 ST-R7000 ————————————————————- –
Shimano HG-X 11-speed Chain CN-HG601 – $26.94
Shimano 105 BR-R7000 rear brake calipers – $19.34
Headset with compression plug – $16.91
Headset spacer – $10.73
Shimano 105 FC-R7000 2×11 speed 52-36T
Crankset – $120.8
Shimano SM-BBR60 R7000 / R8000 Road Bike 68mm English Bottom Bracket BB – (OE) – $19.87
Full Carbon Fiber Bicycle Stems 6 Degree UD Black – $25.58
Bicycle Handlebar Carbon Drop Bars UD Matte 400mm – $38.66
Carbon matt road Bike 52cm frame fork seatpost seat clamp – BICYCLE FRAME BSA – $257.25
