You’ll learn something
You’ll learn something
No, we’re not being patronising, because building your own bike – especially doing it for the first time – is a great learning experience.
You might know how it all works in theory, but you’ll only really appreciate how a bike works after you’ve sat there swearing for 20mins trying to route a cable into shifters.
In all seriousness, though, once you’ve learned how to install and adjust your derailleurs, route the cables, fit a bottom bracket and make it all work correctly, you’ll have taken the first step on the way to mastering bike maintenance, which will make like a lot easier in the long run. Plus, after you’ve done it once, the fear is gone and you’ll be turning bikes around like a World Tour mechanic in no time.
And it doesn’t matter if it all doesn’t work 100 per cent perfectly first time, in a way it’s almost better that it doesn’t. You might have nailed that front derailleur installation first time, but can you do it again? There’s no harm in going back and having to fine-tune a little to rid yourself of that pesky chain rub, or tweak the rear mech get the chain running smoothly in the biggest sprocket at the back.
Building your own bike for the first time requires patience and can seem intimidating at first (though it needn’t be), but there are lots of good tutorials out there on how to fit every component on the bike. Putting together your own bike means you really get to understand how it all works and you’ll have a much greater appreciation of your machine, and how to maintain it long after that first ride.