Agree with the others, if you feel like it's something you'd like to try, then it's not a bad investment to get the tools and a stand. I did that for my Sam Hillborne. Spent a day in the garage putting things together.
Now, the end product did not look as nice and neat as what comes out of Rivendell. So that is a downgrade. But as it was my first full build, it was fun. Besides the Rivendell videos other places like Park Tools also have repair/building videos. I also invested in the Park Tool Blue Book which comes in handy from time to time. Personally, would love to be able to spend the extra money and buy a bike built up from the good folks in Walnut Creek. Not sure it will ever happen. However, it is a nice wish. Eric Platt St. Paul, MN On Aug 7, 5:33 pm, Thomas Lynn Skean <thomaslynnsk...@comcast.net> wrote: > I rode a Trek 7300 for a year or so (and over several eras of a couple years > each, a few other Treks) and had never done *any* work on a bike ever. I > bought a Samuel Hillborne and wheels over a year ago and, after spraying the > frame's insides with rust-protectant and letting that "steep" a couple days, > built it up over a weekend. I am *marginally* mechanically inclined. I made > several mistakes that required me to re-do things along the way. But nothing > meaningly harmful. I was riding my new bike a week after I got the frameset > (two days of actual building up). In my case (and probably in yours; ask RBW > to confirm) my frameset came with the headset installed (not adjusted). > Already-installed headset is good; I think installing a headset would be a > little tricky for a layman without specialized tools that cost scores of > dollars. But *everything else* is *very* doable by a layman. Some things will > require special tools (at least: housing cutters, bottom bracket tool). And a > set of Allen wrenches will be essential. But nothing that costs oodles of > money or takes particular skill to use > > If you are mechanically inclined, are generally engineer-y, are willing to > spend *some* money on tools and supplies, and are *interested*, then you will > greatly benefit from putting it together yourself. > > I've put >5,000 miles on my Hillborne and have not discovered *anything* I've > done wrong except that I misadjusted the derailer before the first time I > rode it and as a result the chain came off; temporarily disappointing but I > was able to fix it in >30 minutes and continued my ride. Nothing since. > Putting together a quality bike like a Rivendell production frameset is > indeed easy. > > If you *aren't* interested in how your bike goes together and fully intend to > have your local bike shop fix anything that goes wrong that's more serious > than a flat tire... then RBW's $200-ish assembly fee (maybe somewhat higher > now; check!) is a *great* deal. Given their expertise and care and interest, > it'd be worth $400 in my book. (Disclosure: my local bike shops have all > disappointed me; perhaps I'm bitter.) And it's fine if that's how you view > your bike; you own it, it doesn't own you. > > Enjoy! > > Yours, > Thomas Lynn Skean > who is getting a second Sam frameset and will build it up himself -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
