Tatty frame, good components - what's the point?

[Tangled Metal]

I was on tour last two weeks and saw a fully loaded touring bike leant against the campsite reception building. What caught my eye was the brightly coloured anodised aluminum alloy on the trick bits. Then I looked at the frame for make and model. It was black, scuffed and obviously made up to look like a hack bike of no value.

So I looked closely at it. Almost every component put on that frame looked good quality and towards the high end as far as I could tell. Which made me assume the frame is a high end touring frame.

So why do that to the frame? Will it really reduce risk of theft when everything put on the frame looks expensive or looks good (worthy of nicking)?

From memory seatpost was Thompson, saddle Brooks, I think there was a sprinkling of cane creek parts and thumbies type of gear levers pointing out from the stem on the front of the bars. The stem, brakes, pedals, headset, hubs, etc were all bright blue anodised = very distinctive. The bar tape was immaculate. I can't remember the gearing but I doubt it was budget if he owner took the effort to take the shifting away from the brake levers, downtube or bar ends. If you added up the cost of components put onto the frame I would not be surprised if it was more than my whole bike!

So why? If your bike parts look good and expensive but you make your frame look like a skip bike then it's a very contrary thing to do.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I have heard of others doing this.
But I am not sure that it will vastly reduce the chances of theft.
Maybe it will catch on.
Just build a bike of not so good looking bits but functional and save the good stuff for a sunday ride bike.

[Tangled Metal]

Rough the frame up, over paint with black paint and put average spec but functional on it I can understand.

This bike had real pimped up parts. These parts you'd put on a Sunday ride sheet of bike for posing. I'm not sure what the frame was but small diameter and I'd expect steel. Classic touring frame I think too. I reckon it was a expensive bike to put together.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
You ever seen a motorbike sprayed over all black...........every part painted?
This was stolen bikes to hide ID easily.

Though not sure in your case it was that....

[Brucey]

folk do all kinds of odd things. A common route to building a bike is to buy one bike for its frameset ('cause it fits you) and another for its bits. Then sell the left-overs. Or you just buy a different frame because the old one broke. The end result can be a fairly mixed up looking bike, but if it works, it works.

cheers

[shobo]

I myself have no style and my bikes are a dogs breakfast. If the current mrs would not be funny about me spending 2k on a new bike every year perhaps i could buy some style. As it is, things break, i do a repair, it works, im happy. Frankenstein bikes, thats the expression im looking for

[francovendee]

If bike thieves know the value of the high end components then it'd still be a target, tatty frame or not.
I think most bike thieves aren't looking for good components when they choose a bike to steel, their eye would be caught by the nice shiny frame.

[hamster]

Hmm, sounds like my winter / light tourer. 1979 Witcomb frame with lots of *cough* patina. But it has 1999 Campag chorus bits on it.
Why?
Because I like the patina of the frame and can't be bothered to post it to Bob Jackson for a costly respray.

[Tangled Metal]

Oh this isn't patina. This is deliberate attempt to distress a frame. The paint job is all thin brush strokes with the underlying colours peeping through in parallel lines where the brush had missed. The surface was rough indicating something was on the original frame that had been painted into the frame.

Basically this distressed look I'd expect on a hack bike used for commuting that's locked up outside for long periods of time. However the distressed frame is then put with expensive components. The owner obviously likes kit that works well and lasts but is likely light too.

The components are for a nice bike but the frame is like a rat bike frame.

[yutkoxpo]

Well, to state the obvious.... you could have waited for them to come out and ask them

I have a "tatty" frame, some simple componets and some top of the range.

The frame is the way it is to deter theft.
The more basic components are consumables and the more basic they are the more available they are, in my experience.
The top of the range are wheels, son dynohub, light and racks because I don't want them to fail prematurely and they were the best at doing what I want them to do.

Due to a limited budget I had to pick and choose carefully based on what I learned and what I read. I often had to save for a few months to get what I wanted.

Should I ever want to upgrade my frame, most, if not all, of my components will swap over.