Long Haul Trucker (frame vs complete build)

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F

Ferdie

Active Member
You guys have been really helpful in my other thread seeking advice on my planned ride to Barcelona.

I'm planning to do this ride on a new bike as I don't trust my Whyte hybrid which in only one year has had to have a new wheelset, bottom bracket and headset. God knows what will fail next, so I'm not trusting this bike for a full tour.

I limited my choice to two bikes:

The Condor Heritage and the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

I was initially attracted to the Condor as I thought it's sleekness would be good on hills and will be more fun to ride as my commuter, but as I am in a position where I can only buy my bike 1 month before I set off it looks like the build time might be cutting it fine, so I'll have to pass on this one.

I read nothing but good things about the LHT except for reservations about its weight but people have ridden harder and higher than I intend to on this bike so all things considered it seems like an ideal bike.

My dilemna now is to decide whether to go for a complete bike either from Brixton Cycles in London or Bicycle Doctor in Manchester who have the 2012 model in, or to just buy a frameset and get my lbs to build it up.

I have no idea if it would be more cost effective to build up a bike from a frame with the following:

44-20 crankset and 11-34 cassette.
STI shifters instead of bar end shifters
Front wheel SON dyno hub


or to buy the complete bike and swap to the components above.

That's all I want to change really but I don't have a clue if bike shops swap out with a discount or just add the swapped components to the price of a stock build.

Thanks for any advice!
 
style over speed

style over speed

riding a f**king bike
Cheapest to buy the complete bike, get a crank and son wheel from Spa, shifters from say ribble and sell the unwanted parts as new through the forums.

Highly recommend brixton bikes btw. And the LHT, get really fat tyres for it! 2" Schwalbe big apples on 26" wheels are good... I've just gone 650b on grand bois hetres, ride is like floating :-)
 
Alberto

Alberto

Active Member
Location
London
I was in a similar situation a few months ago. I eventually decided to build it myself, sourcing all the components from various websites/local bike shops to my specifications.

I am still in the process of building it, but the total bill should not amount more than £1000 including:

- LX/XM719 hand-built wheels (not SON for now...)
- Bar end shifters
- Avid V-brakes
- Tubus rack
- Probably a brooks/leather saddle

The rest should be normal components, nothing too fancy, but durable and cheap. I can email you the spreadsheet with more detailed info I've got if you like.

As for the weight issue, I doubt the heritage frameset is any lighter than the LHT. It's all down to the components I reckon.

PS: it helps that I managed to get a brand new LHT frameset for under £270...but still!
 
rollinstok

rollinstok

Well-Known Member
Location
morecambe
+1 for buying the standard bike and replacing parts to your spec

Sell the standard parts privately, the LBS will probably offer less than he can normally purchase through his suppliers...unless its a normal stock item ( for him ) in which case he might give you the same price/credit that he usually pays... either way, you will get more money through ebay or other sites.

Why not swap components yourself ? save on components by getting the best deals online and spend a little of the savings on tools.
 
OP
OP
F

Ferdie

Active Member
Thanks for the advice.

I think I'll buy complete and then swap components.

The last time I swapped comonents on a stock bike the lbs charged me for the new parts on top of the complete bike but did not give me the swapped out components for me to sell. They just gave me the new bike and kept the old bits/threw them away.
II never bothered to ask for them! So I will this time and hopefully make a few quid ;)
 
P

P.H

Über Member
Worth a chat with Brixton Cycles, I'm not sure if they're buying in the complete bikes or building them up themselves. The couple I've seen from them are not the same as on the Surly website.
 
Muddyfox

Muddyfox

Guru
Location
Blackdown Hills Devon
I'm about to buy a long haul trucker frame and swap all of the components from my Ridgeback Panorama onto the Surly frame .. and then sell the Panorama frame
 
TheDon94

TheDon94

Regular
Location
Hampshire
Alberto said:
I was in a similar situation a few months ago. I eventually decided to build it myself, sourcing all the components from various websites/local bike shops to my specifications.

I am still in the process of building it, but the total bill should not amount more than £1000 including:

- LX/XM719 hand-built wheels (not SON for now...)
- Bar end shifters
- Avid V-brakes
- Tubus rack
- Probably a brooks/leather saddle

The rest should be normal components, nothing too fancy, but durable and cheap. I can email you the spreadsheet with more detailed info I've got if you like.

As for the weight issue, I doubt the heritage frameset is any lighter than the LHT. It's all down to the components I reckon.

PS: it helps that I managed to get a brand new LHT frameset for under £270...but still!
Click to expand...

Could i have the spread sheet please? Im trying to build one. Thanks.
 
Blue Hills

Blue Hills

^
Location
London
Ferdie said:
The last time I swapped comonents on a stock bike the lbs charged me for the new parts on top of the complete bike but did not give me the swapped out components for me to sell. They just gave me the new bike and kept the old bits/threw them away.
Click to expand...
Who the hell was that?

I almost deleted "threw them away" from your quote for they sure as hell didn't throw them away.
 
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