Choosing A Bike
Should I Go Custom?
To a certain extent, all bike purchases involve some customization. You might change out the stock saddle for one that you know fits you well, or maybe add some special carbon fiber bottle cages, or a different stem/handlebar. I think most of us have made such changes to a new bike. Another way to customize is to purchase a bare frame, or frame + fork, either new or second-hand, and then purchase all the components separately. This is almost never cheaper than buying the frame with all the parts installed from the manufacturer, but it does allow you to really customize the bike according to your needs and/or budget. There are some very highend frames from the major manufacturers that are intended to be built up this way, such as the Specialized Aethos. In this price range, the cost can run well into 5 figures. Buying a used frame and installing parts you already have is a great way to build up a foul-weather bike or a starter gravel gravel bike on a budget.
Above: With custom bikes, anything is possible…. The top panels are a stainless steel all-road bike by Robert English, a frame builder based in Oregon. Rob used stainless steel tubing from KVA, an American manufacturer of ultra-strong steel alloy tubing for a variety of industries. The tubes are joined by filet brazing. I asked Rob for a paint job that was a homage to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by the British author Douglas Adams. Definitely met expectations! Bottom panel shows a carbon fiber Pursuit Supple All-Road, made by Carl Strong's Pursuit Cycles based in Bozeman, MT. Pursuit makes every bike to order, by hand, with custom geometry. They offer innumerable paint schemes. This bike was painted by specially bike painter, Dark Matter, in Colorado. Carl's custom titanium bike building business is called Strong Frames, Inc and is also based in Bozeman.
Purchasing a custom bike is great if you are looking for a "dream" bike - something really special. However there are also a lot of practical reasons one might chose to go this route. Pursuing a full-custom option is great when you have special requirements. A rider might be particularly tall or short, or have short legs and a long torso - situations in which stock frame sizes don't produce a good fit. Or perhaps you want a special paint job, or a gravel bike that is made from titanium instead of either carbon or aluminum. Custom is a great option when looking for a travel bike. Custom builders can add S&S couplers, Paragon Z-couplers, or the Ritchey Break-away system to the frame. These systems enable the bike frame itself to split into two pieces, and can be packed - including wheels - into a small, travel-friendly bike box as opposed to a huge conventional bike travel box. Some local bike shops might have a relationship with certain frame builders. Such brands might include Moots, Calfee, No 22, Seven, Parlee, Dean, and the like (just to name a few). These small-to-medium-sized companies make their bikes to order, one at a time, offering them in stock geometry, modified stock geometry, or full-custom. One could simply order their size and pick the components. Pricing can be on-par with mid-range to high-end factory bikes. So if you are already looking at these price-points, one could consider going this route. At the tip off the spear, bespoke builders offer full-customization of the frame geometry, sizing, and finishing with no stock sizes available. This might involve having a lot of knowledge of your own bike fit or going through a professional bike fitting session to get the frame measurements down to the mm. The experience of purchasing a one-off bike like this is a lot of fun. One works directly one-on-one with the frame builder during the whole process. All frames are made to measure and the choices of tubing brand (frame builders purchase the tubes from suppliers like KVA, Reynolds, Enve, Columbus, etc…), material, shape, diameter, and wall-thickness are determined by the builder for each specific rider. The final finish on a frame, like a fancy or themed paint job, is of course entirely up to the customer. Some paint jobs are so detailed it becomes like an entirely separate project. Some builders specialize in certain materials, others offer a choice. Some have particular expertise in certain niche areas like tandems, travel bikes, lugged frames, or filet brazing. You, the customer, talks directly to the frame builder who is welding or gluing your frame. It is a process that starts with an idea and culminates in delivery of a machine tuned to whatever your specific needs might be. As mentioned, costs range from about the same as a mid-level bike from a major manufacturer to stratospheric. Full custom carbon fiber bikes, such as Calfee or Argonaut, tend to be the most expensive especially with custom paint jobs. For most of us, such bikes are aspirational. Exotic metals, like stainless steel or labor intensive joinery methods like filet brazing can add cost as well. A relatively simple steel or titanium TIG welded frame can be quite affordable, even with full-custom geometry. In other words, one should not immediately eliminate the possibility of a custom bike due to cost alone. It might be just the ticket!