The rules were simple: build a complete, rideable bicycle for as little money as possible. The result had to actually function — it had to shift, brake, roll, and survive a real ride. That’s it.
We named ours the Bad Banana before we even started wrenching.
Finding the Frame
The frame arrived at a garage sale alongside a rusted lawn mower and a broken treadmill. The seller wanted five dollars. We paid seven because the derailleur hanger was still straight and that felt like a sign.
The yellow was not our choice. The yellow was fate.
The Component Hunt
Every part on the Bad Banana came from one of four places: the parts bin, the thrift store, Facebook Marketplace, and one very specific dumpster behind a bike co-op in Capitol Hill that we are not going to name.
The complete cost breakdown is photographed and posted in the listing. We documented everything. The total will either impress you or make you feel like you’ve been overpaying for bikes your entire life. Probably both.
The Ride
The Bad Banana rides. That is the claim and that is the truth. It shifts through all gears with only mild protest in the lowest two. It brakes with conviction. It rolls on 26-inch wheels that are approximately round.
We rode it to the Tacoma Dome and back. We locked it to a lamp post outside a coffee shop in Belltown and it was still there when we came out. It has been photographed in at least six locations around the city without any planning.
The Point
The Cheap Bike Build-Off is not about building bad bikes. It’s about demonstrating that quality of ride is not exclusively a function of money spent. The Bad Banana is proof. It’s for sale in the shop right now at $125 — the exact cost of its parts — because that felt right.
Take it. Ride it everywhere. Don’t worry about it.