‘Built not Bought’ is a tag line and sticker now currently popular on the modified car scene. Displaying one on the back window or bumper of ones ‘ride’ proclaims to the world at large (or at least the tiny proportion of it that actually cares) that those ill-advised styling touches and that badly installed exhaust muffler are all your own work. Not for you the easy route of giving somebody else who’s probably far better qualified and equipped than you large amounts of money to produce an automotive masterpiece. No – the ‘Built not Bought’ aficionado would rather lie on his back in a puddle on his driveway risking his life under a car propped up on half a brick and a cheap trolley jack wondering how to graft the rotary engine from Mazda into a VW Polo than pay somebody with access to a CAD machine, a workshop, a four post lift and air-tools to do it for them in a fraction of the time.

I understand this disease. I also suffer from it, but not just in the automotive sense. I have the cycle related symptoms too. Big bike manufactures like Specialized and Giant spend millions every year developing their products. Design, testing, manufacture….. nothing is left to chance. The choice of components gracing the new Cannonade Synapse range will have been agonised over by many smart young people in offices and conference rooms for months before Joe Public gets to throw their leg over the cross bar.

Still both I and many others think we can do better. Hours are spent searching eBay for bargains or just the right obscure or obsolete component. Internet forums and review sights are obsessively scanned for opinions and specifications. Questions such as ‘are the weight of Hope Hubs offset by their replaceable bearings?’ or ‘can you get Suzuki Green spoke nipples?’ haunt our waking moments and stalk our dreams. It has to be right and nothing as common as an off the peg bike straight out of a manufactures catalogue will do.

Sometimes of course building your own bike is a financial necessity, or a route to a much higher spec machine that you could possibly afford to buy new. The picture at the top shows the Ti Sabbath frame I searched on and off for over more than two years before I found one at the right price, size and spec. The excitement I felt after finally winning the internet auction and collecting the frame was intense. This was a bike that I’d thought would be forever beyond my budget, but now thanks to the joy of the internet and my meagre skills with a hex wrench I was a long session in the garage away from riding my personal dream bike.

At other times however, there is no go reason other than the hopeless urge to acquire more bikes than I can possibly ride. Case point shown to the left. I have a perfectly good full suspension MTB. It works well, comes from a reputable brand, has been lightly upgraded over the years as bit have dropped off / worn out and is still a but better bike than I am a rider. I never get anywhere near its performances limits as I’m just not good eneough.

So why did I build this loverly Cotic 29er hardtail? I don’t need it and didn’t need it when I ordered the frame. I sold it to myself as a low maintenance all weather bike perfect for the UK winter. I told myself a 29er might be just the shot in the arm my riding needed. I told myself lots of things, but basically the colour was cool, the frame was on special offer and I clicked ‘checkout’ on Cotic’s website before common sense got the better of me. And besides its a cool looking bike and as such gets me kudos points at the trail head and post ride cafe. And as all serious cyclists know style is everything.

So bikers of the world carry on building your home-brewed specials and personal vanity projects, life would be boring if we all rode box stock Treks, Giants and the like. And besides we are keeping a vital economic cog turning by supporting the legion of small component and bike manufactures such as Hope and Cotic who are happy to fulfil our multi-coloured anodising needs.

I’ll see you out on the trails and roads, but if you haven’t go a colour coordinated headset and chain ring bolts I may shake my head after you’ve passed me.