On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 07:45:46 -0800, mariaqadeer4 wrote:

Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.

Did this myself - about 40 years ago. With my GF at the time (who is
short - couldn't find a stock frame to fit her). These were steel frames;
aluminum takes a higher level of skills and equipment. Long ago married
her, and she still rides the bike we made for her. My frame died its final
death last year, head tube cracked probably as a result of car incident
after many tens of thousands of miles.

General thoughts:
*Don't do it to save money.
*Components are expensive, and require much thought as to how they
and the frame fit together.
*You have good basic tool skills, right? You'll need more but you need
some minimal aptitude/base to start with.
*You need either someone else's well-thought-out plans or the math skills
to devise your own (I did the latter).
*I mostly used Talbot's book. A class, particularly if they had decent
tools, would have been great. At least half our effort was jigs, fixturing,
and just plain figuring out how we'd do things.

**Have fun! If your kid is old enough - is s/he interested in building her/his
own bike? That would be fantastic!