Built vs Put together ??

[Donovan]

I see a lot of "Build" threads or "I built this bike" talk about bikes here. What's your opinion on actually building a bike vs putting one together out of parts? I have done all the work on all my bikes including very minor paint work, but some fabbing of small things like brackets and such, but 95% of everything I have bought off the shelf and bolted on or grafted to the bike. It may have been a pain or taken a lot to figure something out but ultimately it was all manufactured stuff.

My opinion is that I put that bike (and my other bikes) together. I didn't "build' the bike as in buy the steel and bend and weld it. I know some of the guys here actually do fabrication and metal working. I'd say they actually build bikes.

Thoughts?

 

[Rockit!]

The last bike I finished was assembled, no fabrication whatsoever. People keep asking me if I "built" it, and I respond that I put it together. Then they say "from a kit or what?"

I can't win :lol:

 

[CCR]

Just depends on how your brain thinks. My buddy told me last week he finally got to "build" up a custom guitar. He ordered all the parts and assembled it (put it together). Ever build something from legos as a kid ? Those were bought at some point. I will quickly say "I'm building this bike" and all I'm doing is bolting stuff together. Even in other examples you have to be more specific, houses get "built" all the time, buy lumber, cut it to size, order/build trusses, shingles, siding, wire, nails .... the guy building it doesnt manufacture the wire, mill the wood, make the nails, etc. There's lots of extremes you could form an opinion around, just depends on how far you want to take it or what you've already decided in your head. I think for me, people have to be more specific in the description for me to assume anything more than a "put together" bike. Pics are great for determining the amount of work that went into something. Like George Barris did the Batmobile right ? How much work did he do ? He customized a concept car. Seeing the batmobile you think he did a ton of work on it, seeing the car he bought that he turned into the batmobile tells a different story though in my mind. Still a lot of work but not what I imagined he did. Still an awesome car no matter what I think, and it is cooler than before :mrgreen:

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I say if you took a bare frame and added parts to your liking you built it, If you fabbed the frame and made everything yourself you can explain all your work. You probably take great pride in it and don't mind showing it off.

 

[Donovan]

The last bike I finished was assembled, no fabrication whatsoever. People keep asking me if I "built" it, and I respond that I put it together. Then they say "from a kit or what?"

I can't win :lol:

I always say I built min too although it's mainly bolts. I didn't just go buy a cool bike kit from the store, I pieced everything together and researched parts and fitted and on and on.... It really is building something at that point I suppose, it is a matter of your perspective however.

 

[raggedjim]

Didn't you just "build" your wheelset yourself? Or was it all a lie and you assembled existing parts?

Just kiddin! Everyone says it, including you.

Actually, if it came in a box and you assembled it, it was put together. If you started with a bunch of mismatched parts that were never meant to work together and make something cool out of them, you built it. Rg

 

[Donovan]

Didn't you just "build" your wheelset yourself? Or was it all a lie and you assembled existing parts?

Just kiddin! Everyone says it, including you.

Actually, if it came in a box and you assembled it, it was put together. If you started with a bunch of mismatched parts that were never meant to work together and make something cool out of them, you built it. Rg

HA, Well... I bought some wheels that I was unhappy with the hub, so I pulled apart my stock Electra wheels and stole the hubs and rebuilt the wheels. Everything cam out of boxes, but none of it was originally meant to go on the same bike.

 

[mikeeebikey]

I say if you took a bare frame and added parts to your liking you built it, If you fabbed the frame and made everything yourself you can explain all your work. You probably take great pride in it and don't mind showing it off.

THIS^^^^^^


Assembled; came out of a box, a complete bicycle, one big box.
Built; bought, stole, acquired and could be "fabricated," assembly to appear or, to be something different than assembled.
Fabricated; fab, fabbed, homemade, handmade, or any other way to say, it is a hand made assembly.
I hate to add confusion but where does modified fit??? At which point is it "fabbed," and not just a spruced up version of assembled?
Like removing all brackets, smoothing welds, ectra?
Is it fabbed if someone uses BB and HT shells from another bike.
In my mind once you start heating metal to change it's form, shape or texture it becomes, fabbed. Years ago I met a guy who'd heated an old frame up after cutting the twin tubes free, he laid back the entire frame, then tacked the tubes back on. IT WAS COOL! and fab.

 

[Bicycle808]

This is a pointless semantics discussion, but here it goes.

Assembling bikes in general is, in the bicycle industry, often referred to as "building" a bike. This includes the most basic stuff, such as my days as a shop-monkey, when the guy that owned the shop would ask me to "build" a bunch of Nirve cruisers (ie, put on fenders, front wheel, make sure everything is adjusted/in-tune---basically, it was 90% assembled out-the-box); to intermediate things where you get a hodge-podge of parts, many of which will need mods or light fab work, and hang 'em on a frame; all the way up to advanced stuff where you're putting together a full custom bike, up to and including a frame you'd brazed/welded yourself or parts you'd fabbed yourself.

ALL of that is building. Now, unless you were holding a torch and mitering tubes, then you ain't never built a FRAME, but that's different. You ain't ever built a hub unless you're a machinist and you took a hunk of metal, turned it on a lathe, precisely drilled out the spoke holes, etc. But, you've probably repacked a hub, laced it into a rim, mounted a tire to the wheel, and bolted it onto your frame during a build...

It's all just a linguistics discussion, and it's barely worth having with other folks who build bikes. Cagers and walkers won't EVER understand, nor will the guys on stock bikes who take it into the shop for a flat tube. But if you put the thing together, be proud: you've built it.

 

[Dorian]

People often have a combination of hand made parts and off the shelf parts on their bikes, especially ratrods and other custom bikes, the ratio depends on the owner. All I know is that nobody makes their own tires, so no complete bike is completely home made.

This bike has a lot of fabbed parts for sure! How come we don't see more mag wheels? Is it mostly the cost?

 

[outskirtscustoms]

People often have a combination of hand made parts and off the shelf parts on their bikes, especially ratrods and other custom bikes, the ratio depends on the owner. All I know is that nobody makes their own tires, so no complete bike is completely home made.

This bike has a lot of fabbed parts for sure! How come we don't see more mag wheels? Is it mostly the cost?

Who needs tires?

 

[oldfart36]

I say if you took a bare frame and added parts to your liking you built it, If you fabbed the frame and made everything yourself you can explain all your work. You probably take great pride in it and don't mind showing it off.

Well said!

I would add this! we all have piles of parts. Sometimes it's just plain fun just to see what you can come up with!! Let someone else worry about labeling the effort.

 

[honestherman]

I see a lot of "Build" threads or "I built this bike" talk about bikes here. What's your opinion on actually building a bike vs putting one together out of parts? I have done all the work on all my bikes including very minor paint work, but some fabbing of small things like brackets and such, but 95% of everything I have bought off the shelf and bolted on or grafted to the bike. It may have been a pain or taken a lot to figure something out but ultimately it was all manufactured stuff.

My opinion is that I put that bike (and my other bikes) together. I didn't "build' the bike as in buy the steel and bend and weld it. I know some of the guys here actually do fabrication and metal working. I'd say they actually build bikes.

Thoughts?

I feel that
BUILT = a Bike you did a Complete Redesign of a bike or build one by scratch.
ASSEMBLE = if you took all stock parts and bolted them together.
CUSTOM ASSEMBLE. if they never came that way from factory.

Many other people on here like to use the word BUILT for ASSEMBLE
I dont think anyone can change THEIR OPINION

 

[honestherman]

"I would add this! we all have piles of parts. Sometimes it's just plain fun just to see what you can come up with!! Let someone else worry about labeling the effort.It's All In How Ya Hold Your Tongue."


Kinda Like. "Please come in young lady and take off your clothing, I must inspect. Dont worry about a thing, I AM A DOCTOR! :roll:

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I don't think anyone is misusing any words or misrepresenting themselves here on RRB if the actual definitions of the words are considered, and not the perceived meanings:

build definition:

build
/bild/
Verb
Construct (something, typically something large) by putting parts or material together over a period of time.

fabricate definition:

fab·ri·cate
/ˈfabriˌkāt/
Verb

Construct or manufacture (something, esp. an industrial product), esp. from prepared components.

 

[kingfish254]

If "BUILD" only counts when you weld tubes together to make your own frame, then I guess we only had "PUT TOGETHER" OFFs for the past 7 years. And I guess that most of us are in the "PUT TOGETHER" Class this year. Just look at the bikes in the current and past Build Offs. How can anyone say with a straight face that those bikes weren't "BUILT"????!!!!! :mrgreen:
My bikes are BUILT not BOUGHT - nuff said 8)

 

[Bicycle808]

IIFIFM makes a good point regarding the standard definitions of the terms involved here....

I still feel like we, as bicyclists/hobbyists/(dare I say it?)builders, need to respect common usage of terms as the appear among the bike mechanics' jargon. As I'd mentioned up-thread, I used to work at a bike shop. If the owner asked me to "build those Nirves", and I said "whatever, dude; I'm just gonna assemble them, b/c I didn't fab the frame!!!!", that would make me more of a tool than the wrenches I'd use for those "builds".

To be fair, this isn't the type of situation where I'd swell up like a toad with pride and say "yep, I built ten bikes today!", because let's face it: it's no big deal. But, still, if someone asked me if I'd built those Nirves, I wouldn't be like "NO!!! I just assembled them!!! And I didn't build the bike I rode in on, either; I custom assembled it!"

If you're in construction, did you not build the house, b/c you didn't mill the lumber, or fire the clay to make the bricks?

This discussion is absurd, and it exists only to stoke egos and cut other folks down. If you wanna take pride in the frames you've built, that's awesome. I can't wait til I have the time, skill, and tools to braze my own frames. But I see no sense in making a distinction between whether or not you've built the frame itself when deciding whether or not you've built the bike. It's pedantic, it's snobby, and it doesn't reflect well on those who do it.

 

[honestherman]

Guys, When anyone does not agree with me. I'm ok with it. I do not mean to cut anyone down for what they believe, Nor do I give false buildups to Myself or anyone in my family or my friends.
I use the Built and Assemble statement to anything I do also.
A question was asked and I answered it as to what I believe, and of my own work also.

I think there are a lot of talented people here on this site. I have learned a lot from some people on here. They have shown me what they can do by pictures of their work.
Dont anyone get bent out of shape with my belief please. I just answered a question.

 

[raggedjim]

Guys, When anyone does not agree with me. I'm ok with it.

Good, because I don't agree. To tell someone who has spent as much time as I have in the garage sweating out details to build something no one else has that they didn't build it borders on rudeness, and my mama don't allow it.

Good luck to all, and remember, bikes are supposed to be fun. Rg

 

[honestherman]

I see a lot of "Build" threads or "I built this bike" talk about bikes here. What's your opinion on actually building a bike vs putting one together out of parts? I have done all the work on all my bikes including very minor paint work, but some fabbing of small things like brackets and such, but 95% of everything I have bought off the shelf and bolted on or grafted to the bike. It may have been a pain or taken a lot to figure something out but ultimately it was all manufactured stuff.

My opinion is that I put that bike (and my other bikes) together. I didn't "build' the bike as in buy the steel and bend and weld it. I know some of the guys here actually do fabrication and metal working. I'd say they actually build bikes.

Thoughts?

The Original question was here by Donovan.
Asked for Thoughts. I gave my thoughts.I never expected thoughts to get people so upset. I also think there should be different classes of how your favorite bike got to what many of you call "Built " Today.
Even Age classes. When my son was 5 years old, I gave him a basic tool box and three parts bikes. Told him to go ahead and play. He assembled them to make one that was different and I said wow pretty good. "You Built One". But that was when he was 5 years old. I would expect more from him today. A Growing process.
There are so many talented people and then there are many not so talented people. I really respect their talent.
I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN "BUILD" A BIKE. I accept that and Assemble to get what I want in style. I really respect the ones who can build a bike.
This may not be popular thinking but....
The prevalence of the acceptance of mediocre standards in society has become overwhelming. Educators continue to pass on students who cannot read Basic English, compose simple sentences or perform the simplest of mathematical calculations. Employers, fearful of possible litigation, hang on to employees whose performance is merely average or their behavior even worse. It often seems that the general populace will endure deplorable levels of service rather than take the time to report it to management. How often have you personally tolerated substandard service and failed to take any action to report or correct it?
Success requires more than a mediocre effort. Mediocrity will not encourage people to think beyond the commonplace, it will not encourage creativity to develop unique solutions to obstacles. In a volatile economy, companies that condone mediocre performance will at best plateau, stagnate or, even worse, fold. The time has come to end the mediocrity that exterminates businesses, creates apathetic cultures and is creating a populace that accepts the ordinary, the average and second-rate performance as an optimum outcome
It is up to each citizen, each employee, every educator and all parents to set new standards, to raise the bar of what is an acceptable outcome. Consumers must voice their disapproval of inferior products and poor customer service by abstaining from purchases, returning faulty products and demanding improved service standards to retain them as buyers. They must utilize their right to vote to eliminate politicians who don't get the job done. Parents must discipline inappropriate behavior in their children and foster a loving environment that promotes respect and personal responsibility. Educators must not only teach our young, they must do so with fervor and passion, instilling a greater desire for attaining knowledge in youngsters. Teachers who are not passionate about their occupation will never generate that passion in others. Employers must reward the exceptional efforts made by their exceptional employees and rid their companies of dead weight. If an employee consistently fails to attain set goals, has behavioral issues, disrupts team focus or lacks the ability to be motivated beyond a mediocre standard, then it's time to replace that worker.
Only when the majority of the members of our society determine that mediocre standards are no longer acceptable, will we see the elimination of this apathetic approach to life, business and education.