Build me a bike - Christmas 2024

This is a bit of fantasy shopping, to build up a road bike from brand new parts.  I’ve set a standard of “decent entry level” for this.  I know I could go a lot cheaper still on things like wheels and other bits of the finishing kit - I didn’t want to spec crappy items that would be in the bin in 6 months to meet a price point (I’m looking at you, bike industry).

I alighted on the Hinde site looking for something else - looks an interesting place for custom frames.  It seems you have to enquire about a headset (I’ve picked a likely one at £25) and seatpost collar (and seatpost size), assuming they’re non-compris.  We’ve got the option of adding mudguards with this one. 

The 9s Sora Groupset is an extravagance - could we do cheaper? 8s Claris seemed to be a disc brake/gravel set-up in my research.  I thought I’d done OK on the wheels (Shimano fit, obvs). I guess if we were the bike industry, we might do a non-series crankset, e.g. FSA. 

I’ve turned to Bankrupt Bike Parts and Planet X for finishing kit items. You can get a 26mm ø stem for less, but the 26mm ø handlebars are more, so here we are with a 31.8mm ø oversize combo.

The lime detailing on the saddle is probably pretty horrid, but Vavert is a brand I trust.  Prices for wheels and contact-points soar into the £hundreds - I can understand it for saddles up to a point, and I do have 2 pairs of Brand X CF handlebars, but I was reminded that there’s some eye-watering stuff out there.  

Could we shave a few £££ off with some even better bargains, without turning it into Frankenbike or ditching too much quality? 

here's my initial set of links - I need to go away and add it all up. 

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/condor-strada-road-wheels

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/shimano-sora-r3000-9-speed-groupset

https://hinderacing.co.uk/hinde-letape-sport-frame--fork-272-p.asp

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/pair-fdp-dual-function-race-tra...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/gel-racing-bike-mtb-sports-bike...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/fixie-road-powerplay-race-pro-d...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/quality-threaded-cnc-alloy-bike...

https://planetx.co.uk/products/cinelli-cork-tape-black

https://planetx.co.uk/products/schwalbe-lugano-ii-folding-tyre-700c-25mm...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/road-racing-bike-hollow-a-head-...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/pair-2-27-5-700c-wide-bicycle-w...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/collections/tubes/products/pair-road-bik...

https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/products/31-8-mm-lightweight-alloy-black...