Good idea but Dura-Ace Crank seem to be over kill. A good 105 would have been great ! Difference between a old Sora and a claris is incredible. So for the difference (maybe 50$cad) you would be able to purchase a new derailleur instead of new pulley. Oh and the Giant frame. Love Giant. But the OCR ... was laking of stiffness. The OCR was also more heavy than the TCR. My suggestion. Put the bike in order but don't over kill it. It won't affect the quality of the drive. I always say. Yes you can put a Mercedes engine in a Honda. It will work. But the frame of the car was not design for it. Invest in a smart way. Investing doesnt mean it will bring the bike in a new condition. From a Shimano T.E.C since 2011 Cheers from Montreal
Oh yeah and fk off with the saddle, its a personal thing and if a 30,- saddle fits you than you don’t need that expensive model and a budget stem with same function coups be 10,- so i think for that money you should buy a 105 groupset
I've reused pedals many times. There's no way I'm replacing a perfectly good set every time I get a new bike. And yes, that means I have more bikes than sets of pedals. Like switching them is a big deal...
The point was to build/upgrade a complete bike within a budget as though you were starting out and couldn’t afford a top-spec bike. To fit top-spec parts ‘you have lying around’ defeats the object and someone starting out doesn’t have spare pedals. People aren’t saying to never reuse spare parts
This bike deserves a used 105 11 speed drivetrain. About 200 over budget and this is a super bike. And let's be honest, we all end up 10 to 20 percent over budget. 😉 I really like the result.
Love the series, great idea. Rather than a forfeit, redress the balance in a way we all have done; race on food and drink you can get from ‘home’ rather than spending money on sports nutrition.
I think on this episode the budget was looked at with much more clarity. It's good to reuse parts you already have, better to use them than let them just sit or worse, be thrown away. That being said, thinking a FC-R9100 was worth only £100 was a certified goofy moment and we all forgive you :) great series, looking forward to future videos in this series!
The shop owner saw you coming with that bar tape. He‘d been thinking for weeks how am I going to get ride of this roll of leopard skin bar tape. Then the GCN grew walks in with a bike with bare handle bars 💡🥳😂😂
This has just set in stone what a bargain I got recently. I bought a very lightly used Giant Defy Pro advanced 3 for £700. Full carbon frame, carbon wheels, 105 groupset, hydraulic disc brakes. 7.5kg in XL.
I think I would try and find a full second hand 105 group set in place of the Dura Ace cranks, much better upgrade and the components will work properly.
It might even be a better idea to have Ollie spend whatever amount of money he wants to buy something even more ridiculous. For instance, something that matches the bartape.
Pedals are fair play because every bike you buy comes without pedals so they are outside of the budget really. Reusing your own pedals is perfectly fine! However I am doubtful of the performance of that 8speed Sora with 11speed components - will it shift smoothly?
@@dan_lazaro I just bought a 2015 Supersix Evo Himod with Dura Ace 9000 11 speed for $680 USD. And it came with pedals XD. Just over 15 pounds and rides like a dream. 5 years ago I bought a CAAD10 for 750 with C24 wheels and carbon bars. Still have it and it's 18.5 pounds with 105 ten speed, clincher and heavy tubes and tires Compared to this 8 speed build...
@@Shadowboost that's a really good deal! I payed almost twice that for a 2014 TCR Advanced with an empire groupset and sagmit wheels so mostly chinese except the cockpit
Personal opinion. I would rather have the new £900 bike than what Alex has built for just over that. What he has done is impressive, but I remember trying those shifters and really not liking them and I think the new bike would be in a lot better shape, with less needing to be spent on it in the coming year. I am impressed at how well he has got the weight down and upgraded it though. I think this would be a good way to go if you were buying and upgrading a bike over time so wouldn't have the money to spend all in one go. Having said that if you are working in the UK, the cycle to work scheme could cut the price more and still spreads the cost.
Cables and outer casing is a really good way to help your shimano ! :) OPTISLICK cable for Sora, Tiagra & 105. POLYMER for Ultegra & Dura-Ace with the SP-41 outer casing with Shimano cable grease. Plus OT-RS900 for the derailleur. Don't forget your Sealed Cap ! :)) OH and cable will stretch for the first week. Put your speed barrel to the minimum at the beginning to be able to put some tension later. From a Shimano Tech ! Cheers from Montreal.
Love this series… good on you for revisiting this… loads of people interested in this want to upgrade their entry bike, but can’t spend a fortune on it.
I've shifted pedals over & over...why buy new. pedals when you have them from the old bike. You see bikes for sale all the time as "pedals not included". No issue. Crack on!
I appreciate the mid-video clarification! I’m all for re-using parts, particularly pedals and the saddle. However, I think the reason people, including me, want them on the budget list is because the people who are legitimately planing a truly budget build, don’t have parts lying around. Having spare cranks, stems, and saddles is something people only collect after being cyclists for years and years-people like that, likely already have a higher end bike.
I love upgrading and tinkering with bikes as much as the next person (probably more so!) and it is so satisfying seeing a really good bike 'rise from the ashes'. In this case though, I'm sorry, but I would have taken that Cannondale all day long and upgraded the wheels at a later date when I'd saved up! I have been guilty myself of starting a 'bargain' spares-box project and getting a bit carried away with the spec, but the main thing is that at the end of the day you have exactly the spec you want and you know there won't be another one like it!
I believe it is fair that pedals are not counted. But I would sell expensive parts like those you mentioned second hand. I wouldn't have them just laying around my garage, so they should counted for sure.
The pedals that came on the bike were fictional, the only difference between the pedals that came on it and the ones you put on it is prooooobably weight, but come on be for real and the seat same sort of thing, if you've got something nicer and more comfortable the only competitive advantages it'd offer again is potentially weight, airo maybe and comfortability, so I mean you can sit down for longer? Big woop really, love your content mate, it's truely inspiring and as someone that's been working on bikes and riding for at least 10 years plus, I'm still learning loads from your videos! The amount of effort you put into your videos is really appreciated! Thank you for your time. And don't worry about those people complaining about you having parts laying around, I myself have between 20 and 30 maybe more bikes on my property right now, mostly second hand, fixer uppers or parts bikes that may have things wrong with them, but there's nice parts there if you know what you're looking for.
Kudos for not only paying attention to the comments and voice of the community, but also addressing the issue raised. I reckon it wasn't the easiest path to take.
I did something like this last December. The difference is that my starting bike was a 2013 Giant defy. I even had a 3x10 4600 tiagra to begin with. The changes I made were 1. carbon wheels (around 300 euro used from marketplace) 2. 4700 tiagra groupset (around 180 from marketplace) complete with crankset and new cables included. 3. my old saddle and pedals (Is my opinion also that you can use yours without adding to the budget). I have not change my haddlebars (perhaps instead of 42mm a 40 or 38mm will be better) since I am happy with the way the bike feels. Coming to your build the only thing I was going to do different is that instead of the ultegra or Dura ace crankset I would spend the money for a 2x10 groupset (better feel for race, better gears for race).
Great series on the value that can be found in used bikes. Further shopping and patience can produce amazing used bike buys. I recently purchased a 2012 trek madone for $150.00 US. It came with upgraded wheels, saddle, and crank set. Only draw back is that the chain and seat stays had been damaged. The stays had been repaired by an experienced carbon fiber shop, and the local trek shop confirmed that the repair is solid. Best $150.00 I've ever spent.
I'm on board with keeping the used pedals. My first two pairs of pedals were KEO Classics from a friend that got me into cycling, and some KEO Sprints from my brother. Cycling can be a community (despite some vicious gatekeeping), and those that want you to ride won't cry about giving you a spare set of pedals after they've upgraded, all for the chance to have another friend to ride with!
It's all good Alex, it anyone is taking any of the videos on GCN as the end-all, be-all scientific anything, they go issues.. you all make some great content and I get a LOT of enjoyment out of it and quite a bit of knowledge.. I appreciate your tech stuff, it's fantastic! And yes, reusing pedals and saddles from other bikes is 100% acceptable! Keep on and don't let the bastards get you down! ;)
I’ve watched this video & since I have a OCR-2, I’ve upgraded it very similarly to this bike except I went with a new Tiagra 4700 groupset with an ultegra 6600 12-23 cassette. I did the stem & handlebars exact same as this video. I also had a set of Mavic aluminum cosmic wheels laying around that were hardly used & put those on. It completely transformed the bike.
I empathise with you, Alex. I don't disagree that people can and should use the parts lying around available to them. As I've upgraded my bike, it's amazing the stuff that I've gotten from friends/for dirt cheap from Randos online. But, Im also on the side of those comments that were annoyed with the use of your premium parts. It's one thing to make a vlog about a bike build out of your eclectic parts, but it's entirely a different thing when you're making videos as a 'tutorial' or a 'guide'.
I honestly think the end result looks great! Very nice light bike and it looks modern. More of these cheap bike upgrades instead of bikes made out of unobtanium.
I'm loving this series! I've got my first serious bike (a Cube Cyclocross) well ever a few weeks ago, and I've been wondering what would be the best way to go about planning upgrades. This series has given me a good idea as to how to go about it. Thanks!
Very cool, Alex. I just updated my 1982 Centurion Le Mans I used to ride in high school from a 2x6 friction shift to a 2x8 indexed shift. Changed it to a new Claris crank too (instead of the old square taper open roller set up). Gave the bike a whole new life.
The £900 price tag doesn't take into account all the labour Alex put into the build, the experience needed to do it, and waiting around for parts to arrive. I'd just buy a new bike and be done with it.
don't forget the asphalt on the road - also costs money... the water he drinks... also costs money! HELL the house he stores the bike in ALSO COSTS MONEY... def. over budget.@@marcgtsr
Felix!!!!! Don't listen to the haters!!!The concept is not to consume, but recycle and upgrade. Loved this seris but yeah, Czech the local bike shop for deals, right?
I think people seem to forget that when people first start out in cycling, they have to use a bike like this and they do perform modern upgrades to try and improve their bike. It is only when you get a little bit more seasoned in the saddle, you realise you could’ve bought something equivalent in a shop however on that initial purchase you are not fully committed to cycling so you’re hesitant in pulling the trigger. Also just to reiterate, some people might get bikes that are free or a hand me down so doing stuff like this and working and upgrading within the bikes parameters is normally done. Great series and I love stuff like this I wonder if they could do this with a cheap gravel bike or cyclocross bike.
I upgraded my old 2004 trek 3700 MTB into a gravel bike for less than $400. However I kept the square bottom brackets, bought shimano Altus components, micronew shifters, a cheap drop handle bar, and tape. It was actually around 250 but I decided to buy new wheels for 130. All from Amazon. Works great. I’ve taken it on several 30-50 miler gravel rides and it is awesome to have the suspension from the MTB. It is heavier for sure; but handles very well on lose gravel.
Alex - I've just played catchup on this series but amazingly I did something similar over the winter with this exact same model Giant OCR-3, same colour too, which I really like. I picked the bike up completely by accident, we were buying some second hand sofas and the bloke asked if I was interested in buying his bike too. I only paid £100 for it. Over the winter I fitted a hollowtech II bottom bracket, complete brand new Shimano 105 rim brake groupset, brakes, shifters, derailleurs, crank, cassette, chain and cables, which I got for only £299! I forget how much the Fizik saddle and Specialized bars and stem cost but the biggest expense was a set of Hunt Race Aero wheels and Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres which cost just over £560. I guess the total cost would be very similar to your build, no idea if the performance would be similar, mine certainly wouldn't be 🤣
I’ve had the same pair of Dura Ace 9000 pedals and a Fizik Arione Tri2 carbon saddle carried over several bikes. Same with some Fulcrum Quattro carbon wheels. So totally with you on the parts bin mentality. Maybe if you are running 8 speed cassette and 11 speed chainrings, using a 10 speed chain will be smoother, sort of halfway the width of 8-11. Bike looks totally rideable. Love the 7.9kg “same as high end disc bike” comparison.
Don´t be to harsh with Alex. He´s such a nice humble guy. I really love to see him give this bike new life and prove its capabillity. Most people nowerdays wouldn´t even look at a bike like this. I´ve ridden a compareble bike with 9 Speed Tiagra and AliExpress carbon wheels yesterday and was able to keep up at over 40k per hour for a little over an hour. The reason I had to go slower and end up with 35k/h after 125km was not the bike... ;)
I really like the idea. Specially since you dont need to do these upgrades as a beginner. You can just, every few mounts, upgrade another part of your bike. But that needs knowledge whilst buying the bike and knowledge and tools to upgrade the bike. If you bought an defect drive-train by accident ... the calculation might be off. And if you decide you dont like that hobby ... you can just sell it without a problem. But I somehow, for most of the people, like the idea of buying a new entry level bike. And then maybe spend another 400£ on wheels and tires in your second year of biking.
For chain cleaning, I'm convinced the jar agitation method is as good as anything short of full sonic cleaning from ZFC. Even Josh Poertner condones this method and that's good with me. However, agitation in degeaser should be followed by agitation in ethanol, which we call denatured alcohol in the US. Dereasers commonly leave residue on the chain, which potentially interferes with adhesion of chain lube. An ethanol agitation will clean the chain down to pure metal, removing residue left from the degreaser.
I was one of the critics in the last vid and thanks for addressing this, I'm all for reusing pedals and seats. When I find a seat I really like, I tend to hang onto it. The bike is looking awesome 🤙
I love these build series were it’s more about the average Joe bike 😊 Keep it up Alex 🤗 I’ve done my own build with a old KLEIN frame which I paid 200 GBP for… I then got a pair of VISION team30 wheels for 220 GBP, a Shimano 105 2x10 speed group set for 120 GBP (5700 series) and tyres, breaks, saddle, seat post, stem, handlebars, bar tape etc. at around 350 GBP… So now I have a ca. 9 Kg road bike at a total cost of just under 900 GBP… And I love it 😊
I bought a brand new Costo Northrock SR1 road bike (made by Giant) and sold some parts of it to buy new parts at a bargain price. SMP saddle, Shimano WH-R501 tough wheels, Sora R3000 crankset for my Sora R3000 groupset, Shimano BB-RS500, Continental tires, new brake shoes and changed my Tektro for Shimano R3000 brakes (mostly for the look). After all these upgrades, my bike costs me less than 1000$ canadian. It is not as fast as my premium bike, but it runs pretty well and it was fun building it.
Absolutely loved this! Thanks for all the effort and time you have put into this project. I have no issue with you using "old" parts that you had lying around, we all have those right? The whole proscess of "revamping" an old bike is about creativity and sourcing the best parts from, well, wherever. Keep at it and thanks for genuine great content!
Except no one who is buying a £200 aluminium frame to upgrade has a £200 saddle, 11s dura ace chainset and a set of brand new speedplay pedals lying around.
I agree on re-use of stem, saddle, and pedals. I don't feel forfeit is required. It's an honest effort and the 10K is arbitrary. Who's to say when you went to buy the superbike it won't come in at 10,689 dollars or some other number. Most of us working on bikes have spare parts or friends with spare parts for older bikes, which is what you did. Fair play and let the racing begin.
Forfeit: Si's viking outfit he rode through the city years ago... On the pedals: although it's fair we all re-used our pedals, I feel in this series you're not the experienced rider but someone new to the sport who probably either didn't have an old bike to steal them from, had flats or maybe SPDs. So, let's bring on the red pants❤
I’ve worked in bicycle shops for forty years, and it’s always been common for performance minded cyclists to move their current pedals AND saddle from their old bike to the new one. In my opinion, you can leave both items off the budget. AND by subtracting the pedals and saddle from your total, you can afford a used 2X Front Derailleur and maybe even a used 2X front STI lever or lever set. Also, there no need for any “forfeit”. You have not deliberately misled anybody. Adjust your numbers, fix the front shifting, and enjoy racing your sub 1k bike. Cheers!
HUGE props for acknowledging and addressing the controversies! I felt like the saddle was kinda "cheating", but not the pedals, as it is more common than not seeing used bikes for sales with no pedals.
@@gcntech Even better, a bike jumble build from parts from there, they're way cheaper than even Marketplace, there's one in Bristol on the first Saturday of every month
Regarding the Dura Ace crank…I cleaned out my parts bin, which included a 10spd DA Crank I sold for $100 + shipping, and an 11spd DA Crank for $120 + shipping. They were used, had some scratches, and I just wanted to get rid of them, so yes, you can find deals even on DA of you look. Building a budget bike is about reusing parts from the bin, buying cheap bits from your friends, ebay, anywhere. Our local bike shop just had a huge clearance sale on old parts, and components…super cheap…
There's a lot of places you can buy cheap components! I bought Dura Ace 9000 pedals for $25 at a local bike co-op. They spin perfectly and clip in / out great after I serviced them. Co-ops tend to have a bunch of high end but older spec used components for sale. The sales help them provide bikes and service for people who cant afford it.
Alex, did you remember to change the brake pads from aluminum to carbon? (as to not destroy the braking surface with aluminum fibers that exist in the old brake pads?)
I think it's pretty normal re-using the saddle and the pedals as contact points are so critical that if you already know what's working for you, you'll just use them. It's nonsense to re-buy what you already have and it's working. If you are builing it from scratch it's of course different, as saddle and pedals should be added to the budget. So I think Alex can work out a component list within the budget for those two options. Anyway, my advice will be not to be cheap on the contact points as you will keep them longer than the bike and are what makes your ride comfortable
Thanks - I was a sceptic but this was a realistic build. And honestly I would have given it a thumbs up as there is something incredibly soothing about watching the bike build 😊
I don't see any problem with reusing pedals (or the saddle for that matter). I have one pair of road pedals that I switch between my tri bike and my road bike as needed. If you are just starting out in cycling, you would probably just use whatever flat pedals the bike comes with until you can justify upgrading to a clipless pedal system, but that upgrade you're looking at needing to buy not just the pedals but also some shoes to go with them. At the end of the day, those upgrades are mostly to do with comfort, not speed.
I really, really appreciated this video. I liked the concept of the original video, missed video 2 but saw the shitstorm about it on multiple sites, so am really glad you guys addressed it so honestly. Reusing pedals and saddle is totally fair.
For anyone wanting to build something like this but not having a great used parts market around them: Microshift, Sensah, or Ltwoo, all produce great components for pretty cheap - the mechanical 10/11 speed stuff is pretty rock solid. 12 speed mechanical is also available and I'm a happy user of the Sensah option, but indexing is more sensitive to cable routing, cassette quality, hanger alignment, etc.
i just added up mine, which was all bought new/used on ebay/shops for new wear parts. shocked people complaining about your budget i'm thinking how did you spend so much. my road bike that lives on my trainer is a trek alpha 2.3 that came with 105 2x10. i'm using an slx cassette 11-36 cassette with an 970 XTR rear derailler, i put new tyres on the wheels including the wheel i don't use as it lives on the trainer, new chain and new sram rival cranks (shorter) with a new dub BB from uberbike. that totals in at £350. my main bike is a voodoo maresa that i made into a gravel bike. its running fulcrum wheels, sram apex 1x12 (ratio conversion) hydraulics, 11-50T cassette, sram GX rear mech, hope M4 brake calipers with sram 180/160mm rotors. sram XO DH 165mm carbon cranks with AB 46T oval cx direct mount chainring, sram nx chain. pro vibe bars and pro 55mm stem. pro bar tape, spesh romin pro evo saddle, the seat post from the trek and shimano saint pedals that i got used parts only (badly tightened bearings) for £10, that totals in at £680
if people get too sticky with your usage of pedals, just toss on an old pair of SPD pedals that you got laying around. you can definitely find SPD pedals for that price range. and they'll perform just as well, albeit heavier, unless you can find something single sided like the ES600/A600 from shimano, or maybe one of the crankbrother's egg beaters for example.
Fair play for responding to the comments and readdressing a few things. I think for me, the point of the original concept was get a race ready bike on a budget and my assumption would be that this was from the position of someone new to the game, so might have a set of pedals (fine) but wouldn’t have other race ready gear to swap onto a budget bike… they’d likely be coming from a non race bike with no nice kit to put on a new build. So really every component should be accounted for… but second hand is totally the way to go, so kudos for looking at that.
As a student, I find this video series very interesting and appreciate the concept. Hope to see a similar gravel build soon!!! Kudos to you for acknowledging the critics!
Great series, thanks. I was looking at buying an old Cannondale and doing it up as I mainly ride offload at the moment but would like to do a bit of road riding... very helpful
it can be done. I built a J.Pinsello for my daughter just a few years ago with full Campy Titanium/Carbon Record Groupset (10 speed X2) and it is the exact set-up I did on my Sancineto with Neuron Tubing , but her bike is actually lighter than mine since smaller size. All for HALF of what I paid for just my Sacineto frame! Ollie & John covered it in an upgrade challenge.
I mean... It's just fair that you addressed those critique points. Was also kind of shocked to see a DuraAce Crankset on there... But honestly? You could have gone with a used semi-modern 105 crankset, which get's you almost all the way there, for a fraction of the price. Or also some used pedals that are more mid-range... I think that's kind of the most exciting part about this build, at least to me... To proof how capable an inexpansive bike actually can be! And mostly you are doing fine, thanks for that. Have been enjoying the videos so far a lot 🙂. Also... Love the bartape...
Great video! It would also be nice if you guys could do a video on buying brand-new entry level road bikes and upgrading its parts to a mid level or top spec bike. Just love to see what you would do on the bike.
I think you're allowed the pedals, as other commentators have said most bikes dont come with pedals. However, strictly you could split hairs and argue that they should've been in the budget.🙂🙂
So just as an example: currently I build a bike and I reuse stem, handlebar, wheelset, saddle, (maybe) seat post, tires and innertubes. All from old bikes. The parts I needed to buy are: frame, fork, Headset, bb, group set, cables and housing, handlebar tape, a freehub for to make the wheels compatible with the new group set. Currently I'm at around 850€. All this to say, it's quite possible to have a lot of stuff around if you're up to build a bike by yourself. Admitted, the Dura Ace cranks are a bit overkill 😂
I really like this style of video and I hope you get to keep making them. Like a lot of people probably, I have a big pile of greasy bike bits that I have future plans for. Personally I'm not fussed what the cranks cost or whatever, I mean if you don't have a set of ultegra cranks lying around, I'm sure you can find some fsa cranks or whatever.... although I always liked 3x. It's more about the process of getting the machine together and getting it back out there. :-)
Hey you are doing a great job and I Love the concept ! I've done a similar build and only $450 in my build. More people should do this, we don't all need several thousand dollar bikes !!!
