My local bike shop has an old Scott Solace 15 Disc frameset that's been on the shelf since 2015. The asking price is $350. Brand new.
I have never built a bike before and therefore I am wondering if it's worth buying all the parts separately and building it into a finished bike.
I am mechanically inclined and have replaced many parts on my bike. I'm just unsure if it's going to get too expensive in the long run.
Apart from the reason that it's an older frame, it still has thru axle and is super light due to the fact that it's a carbon frame and fork. When finished it can easily weigh as low as 7.5kg (16.5 lbs) with the correct parts.
I am curious to hear your opinions as this could either be a great deal of a really bad economic desicion.
by mrazdeda
4 Comments
Yes, that’s a good deal. Good frames from known brands are going to be $1000 plus.
The only things I’d look at are 1) tire clearance (back in ’15 people weren’t fully bought into the giant tires on roadbikes yet) and 2) bottom bracket (again, almost everything was press-fit back then which turned out to be a bigger hassle than it was worth)
Building a frame is always more expensive up front but if you buy all the right parts the first time its not. Personally, I like buying a complete and riding it as is and then changing out a few things as I don’t like it.
It will cost more than a buying a complete bike if you build to the same spec. And as someone else pointed out…. it might max out at 28c tires.
Thinking of doing same with a $50 Trek 7.4 fx frame. Found a bike thown away that will give me various hardware items like head stem, handle bars and so on, used wheels, FB marketplace, groupset, as I’m cheap, aliexpress for some Ultegra knockoffs or electronic, like Wheeltop.