Toying with the idea of building my next bike

[Last Child]

Hey folks. This is my first post here so let me start off by saying hi. My name is Jeff and I live up in Cache Valley. This is my third year mountain biking. I also love to ski and fish. I'm 44 years old and a self employed Land Surveyor.

Lately I have been riding the single track up Perry Canyon. This is a fairly new trail. In fact it is still under construction. There is a 73 year old Perry man that has spent the last 7 years building several trails in the Mantua, Brigham, and Perry area. Quite fun.

Anyways this area thaws out a little earlier than the stuff up Logan Canyon so I have spent the last 2 months riding here. I have been riding it on a GT Idrive. Last weekend I broke the dog bone on this bike and had to go get my back up bike. It's a hard tail that I have not spent much time at all. Honestly I have felt a little intimidated by this bike so I never took it out.

Long story even longer...I was able to ride a portion of this trail much faster and with a confidence level that I had yet to experience. It was one of the best biking days that I have ever had. I am sure that I will find myself riding this bike more and more often now.

I have always wondered about the Idrive. It is a pretty good bike but it is heavy and slow. I just never realized how much so until last Sunday. I have been thinking about getting a new lighter weight full suspension bike for about a year now. After Sundays ride I am sure of it. The only thing is that I am wondering if I would be better off buying a tool kit and building up a bike instead of buying one already built.

Just looking for some advice from those in the know on bike building. I can't imagine its all that hard but I have no idea. What kind of things should I look for? What, where, and how much can I get a good tool kit for? I am fairly mechanically capable but a tad low on patience at times. Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[ogdmfg]

are you planning on building a bike from the frame up or are you looking at building the frame, I just read your post- I build frames, sounds like you want to assemble a bike from the frame up, If you want I can build you a replacement dogbone link

[Last Child]

are you planning on building a bike from the frame up or are you looking at building the frame, I just read your post- I build frames, sounds like you want to assemble a bike from the frame up, If you want I can build you a replacement dogbone link

Oh yeah, I didn't even think about that. No frame building for me. Just buying a good light weight full suspension frame and all the goodies to go with it. One reason is that I think I need to learn how to fix and repair my own stuff. Another reason would be getting a better bike with better parts for the $$$$. I'm thinking of spending around $2500 but that could change.

And thanks for the offer of a replacement dog bone! That's way cool of you! Do you have or can you get the specs for one? And how much would you charge? The factory ones are only like $10 so no big deal. I ordered one but they say maybe two weeks. It wouldn't be bad to have a spare. Something I didn't think about until after I ordered it.

[Sombeech]

Welcome to the site!