I've just sold my hybrid and gotten a good amount of cash towards my goal of building a solid touring bike on my grad student budget. I found a guy online selling this really good looking 57 cm touring frame. It's Ishiwata triple butted with all the good brazeons, 126 mm dropout spacing, includes seatpost, headset, and fork. I was thinking I'd spread it to 130 mm if I buy it.
It seems like a good deal at $100. What do you guys think? It's either that or pay $180 for the Nashbar touring frame which might be lighter but is aluminum. Anyone know of the cheapest way to ship a frame from Cincinnati to Maryland? USPS parcel post would be something like $50, which seems pretty expensive to me...
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Fedex is pretty cheap to ship. Not express or air fedex, but the ground service fedex. I once got a frame shipped from CA to MA, and it cost the seller about $25.
It also depends on what size box the seller uses.. If you go over a certain size- then shipping becomes astronomically high.. Also, this was almost 2 years ago, so the rates may have increased since then...
(锕侊箒)~~~~---------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally Posted by moxfyre
I've just sold my hybrid and gotten a good amount of cash towards my goal of building a solid touring bike on my grad student budget. I found a guy online selling this really good looking 57 cm touring frame. It's Ishiwata triple butted with all the good brazeons, 126 mm dropout spacing, includes seatpost, headset, and fork. I was thinking I'd spread it to 130 mm if I buy it.
It seems like a good deal at $100. What do you guys think? It's either that or pay $180 for the Nashbar touring frame which might be lighter but is aluminum. Anyone know of the cheapest way to ship a frame from Cincinnati to Maryland? USPS parcel post would be something like $50, which seems pretty expensive to me...
Ishiwata was quite good in its time. I don't recognize the make or model, but it looks all set for touring and probably much nicer than the Nashbar tourer. I'm kind of obsessed with geometry so I'd want to know more about that. Angles, BB drop, that kind of thing.
Spread it to 132.5 instead of 130 and it'll easily fit both MTB and road hubs.
I think FedEx has some cheap rates for bike boxes. I think my last ebay purchase cost about $30 to ship.
(锕侊箒)~~~~---------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally Posted by halfspeed
Ishiwata was quite good in its time. I don't recognize the make or model, but it looks all set for touring and probably much nicer than the Nashbar tourer. I'm kind of obsessed with geometry so I'd want to know more about that. Angles, BB drop, that kind of thing.
Spread it to 132.5 instead of 130 and it'll easily fit both MTB and road hubs.
I think FedEx has some cheap rates for bike boxes. I think my last ebay purchase cost about $30 to ship.
Wowee! $15 for a 40x28x10 inch box (I measured my 58 cm road bike and added a few inches), from fedex.com. That certainly seems like a good deal. Thanks for the tip, halfspeed.
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Thanks for your help. I'm getting ready to buy this thing... just a couple more questions:
The dropouts are currently spaced at 127 mm, would it be easier just to use 130 mm hubs rather than spread them to 132.5 mm?
Does $100 seem reasonable for this frame, fork, headset, seatpost? It's a made-in-Taiwan frame with Ishiwata Feather Si235 3-butted tubing.
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Sounds like a good deal to me. I'm also looking for a frame set for my graduate student budget!
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Ah, one more question: 32H Shimano 105 hubs with Mavic MA3 rims, is that a decent touring wheelset. I've been offered it for $100, which seems like a good deal. Only thing is most people seem to prefer 36H for touring.
Funbun, good luck finding that frame, and post it when you get it (锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ive got 32's they lasted me fine for a long time. 105 hubs are good.
I think that as long as you arent carrying 200 lbs or something excessive like that, and as long as you keep the aggression under control when riding with a fulll load, youll be fine with 32's 100 for a decent set of wheels with 105 hubs is a good price.