Buildng a Bike

i've never priced out parts to build a complete bike, but i'm not sure you will save any money by doing it separate. Those manufacturers use economies of scale to bring prices down to very competitive levels and i doubt you will be able to match them spec for spec and get a much better deal; maybe a little but that may not be worth it.

Building your own WILL be worth it if you know your way around what parts you want specifically, because when you buy a trek, not all parts will make you happy. When you build your own, you will be happy with each and every part you get.

In the end if you're not familiar with the specs and levels and performance of each part, i dont suggest you try to build a bike from the ground up for money savings; do it if you're willing to spend just as much as or more to get the parts you want.

keep in mind you won't get the warranty that trek offers

"1. Is it more economical to build a bike and choose each component separately rather than buying a bike. If there's a 2k Trek for example and I choose to build a bike using 2k worth of components I'll be getting a far superior bike right? "

No not at all. It is ALWAYS more expensive to build a bike from frame up than it is to buy a complete bike. This is assuming new parts, no flea bay second hand junk, and also assuming current model year parts. But even with last years model stuff, you still can't touch a comparably speced complete bike for price. The reason being is that bike manufacturers buy in bulk, and usually directly from the component manufacturers. So they get HUGE discounts on components that even the online retailers don't get. Do a spec out sometime and see for yourself. Take the spec of that 2k Trek and price out the exact same components online as a build kit. You'll likely find that you'll end up with 2k+ just in components for the exact same spec! And you haven't even speced the frame yet. The key here is to compare apples to apples. When you compare a comparable frame (quality wise) and then the same parts spec you will almost never be able to build a bike cheaper than a complete bike unless you seriously downgrade the frame or the components.

"2. When building the bike how do you put the percentage in parts. (Just for the bike, I'm not including any accessories)"

There's no way to do this because what you think is important some one else won't. And people tend to spend more on things that they think are more important. There isn't even an "average" between the frame and component cost. It's different for each build. As an example a Full Suspension build I am considering, the frame is going to be right at 50% of the cost of the build, frame: $2200, components" $2350. I'm working on a Touring Bike build currently that the frame is only 25% of the build cost, frame: $400, components: $1200. I've got a hard tail that I built up a couple of years ago that the frame wasn't even 10% of the build. I got the frame from a shop that had it hanging around. It was a warranty replacement that the customer decided he didn't want, he went for a new FS bike, rather than the hardtail replacement frame so they were stuck with it. I got it for $80! I then proceeded to hang $1400 worth of components on it. That is the ONLY time I've ever built a bike from the ground up with new current year frame and parts that was cheaper than the complete bike. The complete bike in question retailed for $1500 so it wasn't cheaper by much, but it was cheaper!

Anyway, the bottom line is. Building a ground up bike is very rarely cheaper than than buying a complete bike. If it is, the bike is usually inferior as far as component level goes. But it is vastly more rewarding! You get experience in doing things yourself, derailleur setup, installation of the components etc. And there is a great deal of satisfaction in knowing you did it yourself. So if you are looking to get a better bike cheaper than a comparable complete bike by building your own , forget it. Ain't likely to happen. The idea behind a frame up build isn't to save money, it's to get a bike that is speced exactly the way you want it, no compromises. That's what makes the bike superior to a complete bike, it's your idea of what the bike should be, not someone elses.

You can certainly build a bike for 2k easliy. But it won't be comparable or superiour to a complete bike at 2k.

Good Dirt

building a computer isn't the same as a bike. Similar, but with building a computer you can often get high end parts and assemble them together than buying a high end computer. The same probably can be had with the very high end bikes that are $5000+, which would be similar to a $2000 computer.

With lower cost computers such as <$500, its very hard to build your own that can beat out those from Dell and HP. The same goes for bikes that i'd guess are from $500-$5000.

Again, there is more much testing from computers about which parts perform the best. With bike parts there is no comparison tests between which derailleur shifts faster or which crank is more efficient etc. Its the opposite with computers, we know exactly which CPU performs which tasks better @ power consumption.

I guess if you're really set on building a bike start with a good name brand frame thats rather lightweight (1600g or less) and work from there. The next part would be to get a good fork that works with your budget. then wheels would be my next priority. Then brakes, then drivetrain then bar/stem/post