I am very disappointed in STW.
This thread is full of ridiculous advice about functional choices on buying a boutique brand.
You’ve all got it wrong. Function is irrelevant (unless accompanied by dubious pseudo-scientific ‘data’ to back it up and ideally several TLAs)
1. Decide what group of niche cyclist you want to fit into, be it the fatbikers, the beards, the eye-wateringly expensive bike group or whatever. If you don’t fit into one then there’s no point having a boutique bike after all…
2. Do lots of research to make sure you understand the niche and then start narrowing down the choice of bike accordingly. Make sure that you’re likely to be able to look down on more common brands and ideally even the cheaper/more common end of the boutique spectrum.
3. Make sure you tell everyone on fb/twitter/instagram/here/everywhere what you’re doing. Ideally leave it a little crypic so that people feel compelled to ask for more about it so that you can tell them.
4. Finally, order the product. Ignore the end price being more than you expected becuase, well, you just have to have a matching platinum headbadge/etc, don’t you? Don’t forget to let everyone know that you’ve completed this step.
5. Get the bike, build it as though it was an F1 car with precision and tools that cost more than most peoples’ bikes because, well you know, there’s no point scrimping. Again, post plenty of pics of fb,etc.
6. Finally get the bike to the car park, photograph, admire (post on fb) and if all’s well, ride the thing.
7. Wax lyrical about how great/fast/interesting/etc it is, how it’s the best bike you’ve ever even heard of let alone ridden and how it makes you at least x times as fast for y fraction of effort and is z times more fun.
8. Choose a new niche and start again at 1.
Hope that helps.
🙂