New bike project - cost discussion

Equipment
1

hey hey cycling peeps.

So, I’ve been granted permission from the wife to buy a “posh bike” lol.

I’ve been riding for about a year now, and got to a point that it seems I’ll carry on riding so don’t mind investing into the hobby I enjoy.

That being said, I seem to be looking for something that doesn’t exist so i’m intending to make it, and wanted some advice on choices.

Paint: Unless you go with the team bikes (££££££) paint seems damned boring! to me anyway, I want something snazzy, interesting, colourful. Don’t care if it’s tacky or cheesy, I want something fun. So wondered if anyone has gone down the custom paint route and could share costs?

Groupset: I generally ride my 2012 Cube litening on long rides now, whilst it’s not the comfiest of things for my 40 year old rear end, it’s fast, light and seems to make the most of the terrible power I put through its pedals! that being said, I spent 99% of my regular 50 mile ride on the small ring on the crank. Leading me to look toward a 1x groupset. Anyone recommend a good one to aim for? I’d like to go fully integrated, like to go electronic, like to go fast - although that one is the compromise i’m prepared to make due to my aforementioned terrible power lol.. Tbh, I just want a decent range to get up hills and ride, I’ll never be a 20mph average club rider, but sitting at 17mph at a decent cadence would be perfect.

Frame: Now i’ve got a ribble CGR SL that is ripe for playing with. But is it worth using it for this build? the cage mount bolts need repairing so it’ll need work before painting - am I worth spending the money repairing or should I sell it and put that money into the pot? I want a comfy year round bike, but that said, I’m a fair weather cyclist, I don’t like riding in the wet or ice etc. I’d rather sit on the turbo trainer in the winter, so should I be looking for a lighter/faster frame.

I can of course keep riding my Cube, which I do love. But would like something a little less aggressive in the geometry stakes! a comfy cruiser for sunday rides and sportives etc. Good all rounder. Much like my ribble is, just the damage is putting me off a bit…

But yes, keen to end up with a cool bike with an interesting paint job, and spend around £3,000.

2

I’m not sure I understood correctly.

You have two bikes, and you’re wondering if it’s worth upgrading one of them or getting a new frame and maybe used components that you have.

First, the intended use of the bike. Will it be a do-it-all, relaxed geometry, endurance realm bike? A lightweight climber? Aero?

If the main point is the “attractiveness” of the paint job, many brands offer customizations like Trek Project One, MyCanyon, etc. You’ll get a bike - or frame only - the way you want.

3

You might look at some carbon Chinese gravel frame fork options. Some come bare, ripe for painting. $ savings on frame might cover custom paint. They have lots of mounting points and pretty relaxed geometry.

4

yeah pretty much.

It’s a case of, I want a cool looking bike. But I’m not sure it’s worth putting that money into making the Ribble cooler or not.

At the moment, it’s on GRX, which I like, it’s comfy and a pretty decent range. Brakes are crap by comparison to my rim brake SRAM Red though. The wheels are more suited to gravel, which I don’t so they’d get upgraded, likely to Zipp 303s.

The issue is the frame would need some repairs before paint, the lug nuts came out for the bottle cage and if i’m investing, i’d like it to be perfect. So i’m not sure whether to repair this, or sell and get another 2nd hand bike to build off. I think the benefit of the Ribble is I can have 2 wheelsets, one for winter, one for summer and it’ll do most of what I’ll ever need… that being said I can do that with most bikes! so do I get something lighter and work off that.

With regards to use, I ride 50 mile rides on a sunday, and as many sportives as life will allow - which this year is about 8, again, nothing major, 66 miles being the longest. Climbs of around 2000ft max.

TT is something i’ve thought about but i’m a way off being fit enough to really push for that so this is really just my fun all rounder, if I go the TT route, i’ll get a TT bike.

My issue with Project one and Mycanyon etc is that’ll take 99% of the budget (if not more) and will I really get the most out of it? likely not. Rather start 2nd hand and get it painted.

5

Don’t Ribble offer custom paint? No idea on price or lead times though.

7

Do you mean the rivet nuts? That’s a one minute job to put a new one in.

8

Would say worth looking at Handsling since you’re in the UK - Handsling Bikes

The frames are pretty good bang for your buck (stiff, aero, fully integrated, don’t cost the earth), they’ll build it up with whatever you want on it or just sell you a frameset, and they come in a decent range of not boring colours plus have a paint booth if you want to go fully custom. Frames are made in China but they own their own moulds and all the builds and painting are done in UK so you can head down to the workshop for test rides, chat about builds, etc.

9

Maybe still too conservative, but Trek has project1 and Canyon has Mycanyon that allow you to do custom paint (but with design limitations). Allied also offers custom paint and I bet would be more flexible, but I honestly don’t know much about their road bike. Unless you have a connection in the custom paint world, going outside a “factory” path is likely to get very expensive if you are looking for a quality job (likely more than your entire budget). I’ve seen so crazy DIY jobs done with masking tape and spray cans if you are just going for personality and don’t mind it being a little hack-ish.

10

yeah i’ve had new ones installed, but not the best job, the one that came out took a good chunk of carbon with it, so needs a proper (more qualified than my fitters) repair.

11

they do but their paint is awful, so many complaints about it coming off.

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12

Ridley Bikes offer some nice custom options.

13

I’d get your ribble repaired and get a second wheelset (chinese oem like nextie, farsport, lightbicycle etc.) with a fast race tire like a continental 5000 TR or similar. Ride those wheels for the whole summer with your existing bike and groupset, get stronger, get faster, save more money and assess your custom painted dream-frame and electronic groupo next year.

It’s easy to fall into the gear aquisition syndrome (G.A.S.) rabbit hole. I’d only spend money on parts that are compatible with future purchases and wouldn’t sink money into custom-anything one year into the hobby.

14

As you’re in the UK, if you want a nice comfy treat, have a look at the new Fairlight Strael 4.0

Really quite like the new pearlescent blue, my partner has the Secan in this colourway, pairs well with tanwalls. Monochrome is great too but none of these might meet your definition of snazzy.

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Pair a build with some 32c GP5000 S TR or even the AS 35c tyres and you’ll have comfort and speed. I’m fully over full integration but I spanner my own bikes.

As for groupsets, I’m suprisingly happy with GRX unstoppable (40t with a 10-51) on my all rounder bike but for the ‘race’ bike, I’ll be sticking with 2x. You can always look at options outside of the norm, e.g. a crankset with a 46t outer and 32-34t inner ring and larger cassettes, like 11-36 or 11-40t.

Your budget is healthy but will dissapear quickly buying new and things like electronic shifting might have to budge. The CGR SL is also nice; a repair, repaint and new wheelset is also a good idea.

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15

Might be worth looking into getting the Ribble repaired but custom painting it probably not worth it. As above if your set on a new bike most economical thing would be to swap over your GRX over to a new frame as above not much better out there than Fairlight, Mason, Kinesis, Condor, Stayer, Temple cycles, All City, Crust for pracital mile munchers.

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17

From what I’ve heard and seen, I would not buy from Winspace.

Just one of the cases:

Beware of Winspace

So Chinese brand, with almost western prices, but still the lack of customer service. Sounds like loose/loose.

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19

True. I agree.

From the price point it just don’t make sense to me anymore. The resell value is worse from the China brands. I paid close to same price for my Merida Reacto 4000, as a frame cost from Winspace in a physical store.

I know, it’s not a fancy color, but still.

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