Chuck's Tech Opinion: List of parts to build a bike - record all bicycle components

Total geek-out posting today, but I hope you find it useful! When I build a bike, in my opinion it's best practice to keep a full list of all the parts used. I've found that it becomes an incredibly useful reference guide for later on. It's also quite satisfying to do while you go about actually building the bike.

How to do that?

Well, this is what I use. Here's my list of components that are needed for building a bike (note that some of them may not be required for a particular type of machine):

FRAME & MAIN BEARINGS

Frame

Forks

Headset

Cable hanger for front brake,steerer-mounted or fork mounted up-hanger

Bottom Bracket

Protective sleeve for lining BB frame shell
Chainstay protector

STEERING

Stem

Shim for stem

Spacers

Star nut or expanding bolt for carbon steerer

Stem top cap and bolt

Handlebars

Gel cushioning for bars

Handlebar tape or hand grips and finishing tape

Handlebar end plugs

TT extensions, clips and all bolts

SITTING

Seatpost

Saddle clamp

Seatpost frame clamp or bolt

Seatpost shim

Saddle

DRIVETRAIN & GEARS

Front mech

Front mech mounting bracket

Rear mech

Rear mech hanger

Chain catcher or dog fang

Chainset

Chain

Chain connecting link

Pedals

Cassette or freewheel

Rear hub spacers

Gear shifters

Gear cables inner

Gear cables outer sleeves

Inline cable barrel adjusters

Downtube cable barrel adjusters / stops

Bottom bracket mounted cable guide and bolt, washer(s)

BRAKES

Brake levers

Brake cables inner

Brake cables outer sleeve

Front brake mechanism

Front brake shoes and pads

Rear brake mechanism

Rear brake shoes and pads

Barrel adjusters

Rear brake cable hanger, seat tube clamp mounted

CABLE RELATED

Cable end caps, crimp on

End ferrules for cable outer sleeve

Cable grommets (anti-scratch)

Tape for fixing outer sleeves to bars, etc

WHEELS

Wheels

Rim tape

Inner tubes
Valve extenders (for deep rims)

Tyres

QR skewers or axle & track nuts or anti-theft bolted skewers

ACCESSORIES

Bottle cages and bolts

Computer, sensors and mountings

Light fittings

Mudguards

Luggage mountings

So what I do is list these in a spreadsheet, e.g. on Google Drive so as to be able to access it from anywhere. Then I note details next to each, such as cost, supplier, brand and model/type, frame number, and anything notable, etc. As I said, total geek-out, but well worth it when three years later, you're trying to remember the specs of something or where you bought a part from. The spreadsheet can also be used calculate how much the bike cost to put it together, and more importantly, whether resources are being spent wisely on important stuff, or not!