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I've been searching around to get a rough price for a home-built carbon fibre bike. I'm almost sure I've left something out though as my bike looks like it will be weighing a mere 5.8kg for only €1230! The parts I've found so far are the following:

There's hardly only 4 parts I need so could someone point me towards what I'm missing.

Note: I have left out the saddle, brakes, pedals, cables, seat post, water bottle cages, stem, tire and tubes as I plan on buying that at my local bike shop

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    Brakes, pedals, cables, seat post, water bottle cages, stem, tires, tubes, ...
    – Gary E
    Oct 15, 2017 at 17:00
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    When buying cheap (especially Carbon) parts off the internet, you have two things to consider. The moral issue of potential fakes, and the unknown quality of the product. Its one thing to buy a fake or cheap bike computer, another to buy fake or cheap carbon handlebars or stem. If the latter breaks, you could die.
    – mattnz
    Oct 15, 2017 at 20:41
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    Personally I would not go anywhere near that frame. You have no idea of the quality, not just robustness and safety, but also the fit of BB, dropouts etc. I also highly doubt it would live up to the weight claim.I would not trust the geometry claims either. You would be better off looking for a used bike that you can test ride and inspect for damage.Even a used standalone carbon frame from a known manufacturer would be preferable. Oct 16, 2017 at 18:26
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    Also, every time I have priced out a bike build, the total is always end up much greater than a bike I could just go out and buy. Oct 16, 2017 at 18:34
  • Highly unlikely your bike will weigh 5.8Kg with the equipment you have listed. The frame and forks aren't exceptionally lightweight and the wheels are definitely not considered lightweight. Also a full Ultegra groupset weighs 2.5Kg alone. And yet to factor in tyres, tubes, pedals, all other contact points and sundry items - cable inners / outers and bar tape.
    – OraNob
    Oct 17, 2017 at 10:51

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I'd be careful with a random carbon fiber frame from the internet, since you don't know how well its built (and frame failure can lead to serious injury). We've discussed this at length multiple times on this stack exchange, so you can search it. There are also a lot of fakes of major manufacturer bikes online, so you should be wary of those too, especially high end carbon fiber ones. It's very easy to make two bikes that look identical from carbon fiber, but one is much less safe than the other. Read this article for an example of the horrors (including for other fake bicycle products).

Personally, I'd rather buy a bike from a major manufacturer which I know was built correctly at the same price point even if its components aren't Ultegra and it isn't carbon fiber.

Also, its hard to know how well the bike will fit, versus just trying a bike out at the shop and getting a better idea of fit. This takes quite a bit of experience (and is pretty inexact too; you may hate something that fits on paper).

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I'll assume the groupset follows what Chain Reaction Cycles is selling at the moment: Front and Rear rim brakes, front and rear derailleur, brifters, crankset, cassette, bottom bracket and a chain.

It's not clear from the product page that your wheelset has a 11 speed compatible freehub, so if it doesn't have a 11 speed compatible freehub, you need a different wheelset.

You're still missing tires, tubes, seatpost, saddle, headset, pedals, stem, cables + cable housing, drop bar tape.

You'll also need some tools to work on the bike (a torque wrench is critical on carbon fiber), some of which you may want to leave to a shop (e.g. a headset press). And other ancillaries like appropriate greases and stuff for working with carbon fiber, of course.

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  • The stuff I'm missing there is what I'd be buying from my local bike shop except for the seatpost and headset, which were both included in the frame which I planned on buying but now I'm having second thoughts on it. Would it be a good idea to buy a light frame and transfer everything off my old bike onto it? By old, I mean a GT Force. Some stuff wouldn't swap over but could I swap over the wheels, groupset and saddle? It's in pretty good condition as it was out of use for about 10 years or possibly more Oct 15, 2017 at 17:03
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    Your best bet is just to buy a complete bike with what you want or near what you want and do minor tweaks.
    – Batman
    Oct 15, 2017 at 18:02

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