Here in the second installment of “Budget Build” we will take a look a closer look at some of the parts chosen to get the rig together with some reasons as to why each part made the cut. First off, lets examine the wheels.

WTB Speed Disc rims mated to Joy Tech hubs

The wheels can be one of the most expensive parts of a build, but they don’t have to be. Here I opted for a well known quantity for me: Joy Tech hubs laced to WTB Speed Disc rims in a 32 spoke, three cross pattern. Nothing spectacular here. Just a great working man’s set of wheels that hold up just fine to general trail riding. I took these wheels off another bike, and they have been ridden a fair amount already, (as you can tell by the “dirty pics”), but you can score these same wheels for around a $150.00 a set from several sources. That’s cheap fun right there and my set have performed really well over the last year. Yes, they are heavy, but the price is right, and you can always upgrade them later.

The Shimano UN-54 model bottom bracket cartridge.

Now on to the heart of the drive train: The lowly bottom bracket. In my experience, there hasn’t been a longer lasting, more reliable bottom bracket than Shimano’s cartridge, sqaure taper spindle bottom brackets. The UN series, in particular, is a great bottom bracket that should last for years. Plus, it is cheap! I know local shops that sell these for around $30.00. That isn’t bad when you consider that this bottom bracket might last through several builds and lots of miles before you will need to replace it. The square taper thing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but properly installed and torqued crank arms shouldn’t give you any trouble at all.

Speaking of crank arms, I chose these square taper compatible 110 BCD arms from J&B Importers, a distributor that sells through independant bike shops nationwide. They are forged aluminum and retail for about $50.00. The 110 BCD makes chain ring choices easy and there are lots of sizes to choose from. Plus, I wanted black arms to match the build. (Hey! You have to give a little nod to fashion, right?)

Speaking of that chain ring, I chose a “take off” ring from the local bike shop. A vintage Sugino 110 BCD ring in silver that was barely used. Older chainrings that were meant for the now extinct six and seven speed drive trains usually are not ramped and pinned for shifting and make great single speed rings. My “take off” ring, which looks nearly brand new, cost me all of $5.00.

I mated that ring to the crank arms using steel chain ring bolts that were brand new. Cost- about $10.00. Although alloy chain ring bolts are cool looking, steel will never let you down in a critical single speeding situation. I like that about them!

That’s it for this time. We’ll get into the parts for the rest of the build next time around.