Criterium racing bike – can you afford not to have one?

Okay, so you’ve been training hard and you’ve decided it’s time to start racing and put all of that hard work to the test. For some people that means joining a club and participating in the weekly race meeting on the bike you currently own. If you have already started or know someone who races you’ll be aware that racing can include the occasional crash. If you are racing you have the chance of crashing raised simply due to the nature of the activity you are now participating in. Your own ability and the ability of those around you is highly likely to vary and so it stands to reason that your pride and joy has a good chance of ending up on the ground scratched, or even worse, broken. I have heard this said and read it many times “If you can’t afford to break it, don’t race it”.

This advice has been haunting me for some time. And whilst I was yet to crash, racing that is, I had so many close calls I had lost count. Riding around Sandown and at Casey Fields on my Pinarello has been, at times, a rather nervous proposition. And so I finally decided it was time to build a purpose built crit racer. I could have wandered down to my local bike shop and bought something off the rack, and there are many great bikes that are low cost and would easily fit the purpose, but I wanted to build up something custom and to my specification. Besides I’m a cycling tragic, probably like you if you are reading this, and the idea of creating something a little unique was too hard to resist. So this is my guide to building the “perfect” (for me at least) crit bike. The key principals for the build were - it has to be a solid, reliable and an easy/low cost to fix bike.

The first thing you need to do is choose a frame. If you go with a metal frame there is a good chance you can have it repaired if you do any major damage. You can also repair carbon but it’s a little harder and can be incredibly expensive. I chose to go with an aluminium frame (CAAD9) but titanium and steel are also good choices and steel is surprisingly light with the latest tube manufacturing technologies. Carbon is still the lightest material but the aluminium, titanium and steel frames aren’t too far behind. The bike I bought came complete with everything except pedals and I had the bike shop strip it back to just the frame. I plan to sell the parts I don’t want on ebay and anything that I want to keep for spares like the chain and cassette will go into my ever growing parts bin.

The next thing to decide on is a groupset. Now this is certainly an area of divided opinions and not one that I want to step into so for me the 3 critical factors were cost, reliability and weight. I chose a SRAM Force groupset for this build. It’s weight and price point are nearly, if not, impossible to beat. I have been using SRAM Red on the Pina so I know it’s reliable and I am used to the shift and feel so that probably also helped. Having said that if Shimano or Campagnolo had a groupset that was close in price and weight I would have looked at those as well.

Wheels were the next consideration. The bike came with a set of cheap Shimano wheels which could be good for training on but they will be sold as well. I train and race with power and already have a set of strong wheels that whilst a little on the heavy side are good for the final requirement. If I were looking to buy a new set though I’d have gone with something like the Shimano RS80 or Dura Ace C24 clincher wheels. They are a great bang for your buck option in terms of weight and strength. I know and race with guys who use them and weigh in at 90 - 100Kg and swear by them. But really there are lots of options out there. Of course your budget will determine exactly what you could end up with.

Finally you’ll need to choose the control parts. Pedals, saddle, stem, post, bar tape, etc. Being a crit bike comfort was not at the top of the list for a saddle and a bit of hunting around and I found a new Selle Italia Kit Carbonio saddle for a very good price, and as it turns out it’s also pretty comfortable for such a thin saddle. For a bit of extra bling I bought 3T matching Bar, Stem and Seat post. Matching the components is obviously not necessary and again budget and quality will play a major role in what you end up with. For pedals I went with a set of Look Sprint that I had lying around.

The final cost was around $3000 (after selling off the other parts). And whilst I am certain you could buy off the shelf for less and do the job just as well, the satisfaction you get from building your own bike is hard to beat. As an added bonus I also travel with my race bike as it’s less likely to be damaged in transit than a carbon bike. It’s been to the US with me and soon off to France and Italy to sample some of those famous climbs. So if you, like me, are worried about breaking your ‘baby’ why not get out there and start building your perfect crit bike. Can you afford not to?