This summer I decided to build my own bike for the first time in my life. I have never done this before and also never thought I would do this. So any tips, tricks, advise and comments are appreciated!
As a real Dutchy I owned a lot of bikes in my life already, but this time I wanted something special.
I didn't even know what it was called what I was looking for and I still don't know exactly... cruiser, chopper, bopper...
I found a shop where you could order a custom cruiser build according your wishes. But I thought to myself:" How hard can it be to build your own bike? I'm a technical guy, I studied electrical engineering..."
So after contemplating for several weeks and I finally decided I wanted a Basman Project 346 frame. But of course it was out of stock...
When it was finally available again I ordered one.
First step was to paint it. Neon green was the color to be.
To mitigate the risk of having all kind of parts laying around while failing to mount even the first part I decided to buy parts just 1 at the time, install the part and then on to the next.
So the first part bought was a triple tree fork and the bottom bracket cups and bearings. The bottom bracket bearing cups where easy. The triple tree fork on the other hand... Different rings, spacers, capsand seals and they all had to be placed in the right order, but finally my dad and I got it working.
To make it easy for myself I also order a one piece crank and installed that.
The next parts were ordered: a stem, handle bar and a seat. But before being able to install those I needed to know what the height of the bike would be. See the bike needed wheels.
I searched the internet for wheels. I wanted thick white-wall tires, but without the difficult stuff like gears or disc brakes. Just a single speed with a coaster brake was good enough for me. After looking some videos about building your own wheels I quickly decided to let somebody else do that for me.
I ordered a set of custom made wheels with 80mm rims with black spokes and 26" 3.0 white-wall tires, single speed with a coaster hub in the rear and a disc brake for the front wheel.
When the wheels arrived I installed them and it finally started to look like a real bike
Now the handle bar and the seat could also be mounted.
So this is the current status:
As you can see it is still missing some essential parts like pedals and a chain.
I've ordered these parts now and will be installed somewhere this week. After that the bike would be ready for a test drive.
After that the auxilary items like fenders and lights will be ordered and installed.
Like already said: Any tips, tricks, comments, remarks, recommendations and advise is appreciated!
As a real Dutchy I owned a lot of bikes in my life already, but this time I wanted something special.
I didn't even know what it was called what I was looking for and I still don't know exactly... cruiser, chopper, bopper...
I found a shop where you could order a custom cruiser build according your wishes. But I thought to myself:" How hard can it be to build your own bike? I'm a technical guy, I studied electrical engineering..."
So after contemplating for several weeks and I finally decided I wanted a Basman Project 346 frame. But of course it was out of stock...
When it was finally available again I ordered one.
First step was to paint it. Neon green was the color to be.
To mitigate the risk of having all kind of parts laying around while failing to mount even the first part I decided to buy parts just 1 at the time, install the part and then on to the next.
So the first part bought was a triple tree fork and the bottom bracket cups and bearings. The bottom bracket bearing cups where easy. The triple tree fork on the other hand... Different rings, spacers, capsand seals and they all had to be placed in the right order, but finally my dad and I got it working.
To make it easy for myself I also order a one piece crank and installed that.
The next parts were ordered: a stem, handle bar and a seat. But before being able to install those I needed to know what the height of the bike would be. See the bike needed wheels.
I searched the internet for wheels. I wanted thick white-wall tires, but without the difficult stuff like gears or disc brakes. Just a single speed with a coaster brake was good enough for me. After looking some videos about building your own wheels I quickly decided to let somebody else do that for me.
I ordered a set of custom made wheels with 80mm rims with black spokes and 26" 3.0 white-wall tires, single speed with a coaster hub in the rear and a disc brake for the front wheel.
When the wheels arrived I installed them and it finally started to look like a real bike
Now the handle bar and the seat could also be mounted.
So this is the current status:
As you can see it is still missing some essential parts like pedals and a chain.
I've ordered these parts now and will be installed somewhere this week. After that the bike would be ready for a test drive.
After that the auxilary items like fenders and lights will be ordered and installed.
Like already said: Any tips, tricks, comments, remarks, recommendations and advise is appreciated!
