[Closed] Boutique/bespoke frames, if you were to, what and why?

*Checks winning lottery ticket*

*Begins spending*

Ti longish travel hardtail. For big days in the hills, with a focus on smiles AND miles

Ti fast gravel bike. Taking up to a 38ish tyre, nothing more. Full guard mounts, nicely relaxed, but fast handling.

Ti road bike. Discs, sleek and sexy internal cable routing, with some medium depth blingorama crabon fribe rims.

Steel rigid 650b+ as a grab and go local trail basher.

Steel fat tyre hybrid thingy. Probably with an Alfine, definitely with mudguards, and a rack. Proper family ride picnic truck.

Oh, and nice Ti MTB tandem. Nothing to gnar, just a nice thing to ride around.

Builders? Hmm. Would pick and choose. However, having seen his first efforts while we were at uni, Rob Mather would be getting to build some, or all, of the steel.

Top of the pile would probably be a Steve Potts, but a Black Cat and a 44 Bikes would certainly do as well. A new FAT Chance would also need to be figured in somehow too.

I'd get Brant at Pact Bikes to supply a Ti B+/29er hardtail for bikepacking and using round the local forests and hills.

Oh - I already did.

http://www.provacycles.com/bikes/

One of these cos he's a top lad that likes to ride bikes the same way that I do

http://www.provacycles.com/bikes/

Oh my....Those look lovely!

If you mean bespoke......Indy Fab work in steel, ti and carbon, road and offload; if off-road - rigid or front sus, ss or geared, frame only or full build, they will liaise with Enve or Whiskey for forks, paint jobs to die for; the only minor drawback is they've stopped doing their sterling silver head badge.
In the UK, Ricky Feather near York but with his lead time you might have started a family before he starts on your frame! He uses York Cycleworks for fit/ measurements/geometry; they've got a sooper dooper bike fit set-up from Trek.
Field Cycles in Sheffield; their paint partner is great - I'll be using them for an Indy Fab renovation.

Old skool would be Dave Yates.

I guess it depends on your budget, what use you'll get from it, it's resale value - if that time ever comes, will it be just too pretty to ride......

Recumbent, hand cycle, tricycle?

Shand. I saw one on tons touring weekend and it was a thing of beauty

http://www.provacycles.com/bikes/

Aren't they just mmmmmmm.......

For something a bit different John 'Shaggy' Ross in Bristol is now building bikes.

He's a top lad flashy
A proper engineer as well, he came over here worked for land rover I think, raced a bit of enduro with us idiots and nonchalantly went home and started that
Fairly play

Trike, Longstaff stylee.

An 853 disc version of the Spa Tourer, no brake bosses, 50mm tyre clearance.
In green.

Soul 26 geo, in Easton Ultralight alloy, bigger tyre clearance.

A sidecar.

Nice and simple looking ti 29+ with pinion gearbox with option to take rigid carbon or suspension forks and a dropper post. It would look great, that's reason enough for me.

Make your own at the Bike Academy? - Learning from Ted James, Paul Burford (BTR) or Robin Mather.

I muddle through making my own frames which is very satisfying but slightly shonky. The builders / people I [i]really[/i] admire would include:-

Julie Racing Design (unique / innovative / beautifully made / does his own paint)
Chris Herting / 3D Racing (Mr Yeti - his B29er is fab)
Cromaworks for paint (part of the Field collective)
Black Cat (Bi-laminate lugs, curved butted tubes, short stays and amazing paint)
Vertigo Cycles (Ti - also part of the driving force that made 44mm head tubes happen)

I like the look of some of the Shands but for me it would be a painted BTR sans headtube badge. Not sure whether it would be the Ranger or the Chaser though.

Got a deposit down on a Starling...6 month waiting list. Finished frame should coincide with the start of the snow melt in Calgary (moving over in the next month or two).

While final details haven't been firmed up i'm going for 140mm front and back with a 65/66 headangle.

Would love custom Ti 29+ rigid with a gearbox or rolhoff...one day...maybe.

Thanks for the mention Frank. Sadly too busy with my day job at the moment to get much done. Output should improve once I move house.

There are so many good options these days. For a custom bike, you are often buying in to the builders ideas and vision as much as the quality of the build. Just to add more names to the mix, other than the previously mentioned; Rick Hunter and Retrotec would be near the top of my dream list (although I do have one Hunter already).

I'd totally recommend The Bicycle Academy if you would be interested in building the frame yourself. You'll be amazed how much you will learn.

Titchmarsh ss 29er

What's handmade?

Do you mean custom?

I'd have a rigid Ti 29er from Steve Potts with a Type 2 fork and a hardtail Curtis of some description just for the raw finish with the brazing on show.

I went with Ted James as he's very local to me which meant I could pop in with my doodles and talk things through, plus he knows the trails I like to ride. His range of builds is vast. I stared writing a thread about it, I should get it posted.

What's handmade?

At a guess, the design and then machining of parts like: headtubes, BB shell, dropouts, cable routing etc, one off parts for custom builds. Creating new designs and building them into bike parts / component s. See TJD, Demon etc

Shand, Varu, Donhou....just for starters

I've always dreamt of a Vanilla Speedvagen SSCX 😈

I'd like Demon Frameworks to make me a modern ti road frame based roughly around my Allez as that seems to fit me nicely.

Not lots of lugs, clean lines, disks, wireless groupset, etc.

And a nice Baum? Not sure why, I really don't enjoy road riding 🙂

At a guess, the design and then machining of parts like: headtubes, BB shell, dropouts, cable routing etc, one off parts for custom builds.

Not many framebuilders machine their own dropouts - I get them laser cut for specific jobs like Bromptons, but the range from Ceeway, Paragon etc is so good there's no need usually. Same with BB shells, head tubes etc.

Ti - Firefly are top of my list with Potts, Vertigo and Mosaic runners up. They're all US so to bring it Euro; Mawis.
Steel - saffron, TJD, Field and Titchmarsh just for starters. Demon, for the obsessive detail.
Carbon - Filament/Craddock

I work for Bespoked so get up close with lots of bikes and the builders, I suggest getting along and meet the makers, that's a big deal I think.
I do have a Ted James 853 cx/monster, why? Well he's my friend and he machines all the parts. That and he's a handsome rider. I do have a fancy paint job too, but it's under the paint that counts in my book. The bike is ace and at the time you couldn't find many drop bar frames to take a 2.0 tyre.
Here's mine
[IMG] [/IMG]

Ben - no I guess not, but seeing via Instagram the work TJD put into an ESB for Billy @ Armourtex, there are people out there doing it.

Here's just one piece of the bicycle jigsaw:

View this post on Instagram

There are, but often I think it's so they say they do, rather than for any engineering reason 😉

And that's the whole conundrum of custom, why? = just because.... 🙂

Yup, and I guess this is the difference with my framebuilding, everything I do has an engineering purpose. Which I guess is why I don't get invited to Bespoked 😀

I think you should just gate crash it 😉

I think you apply for bespoked Ben, No one gets an invite! There is a lot of 'art' on custom bikes out there for sure. And I know paint can hide things...

Pact bikes for a gnarr light backpacking do it all with chubbedlite wheels.

Tang - I'm working on a pair of [i]bespoke[/i] boards for LoveCrossed, I think you'll like 'em.

I remember there was a thread on mtbr about a guy getting his Potts rigid 29er (think it went on to win a prize at the US hand built bike thingy) and if money and time were no object I'd want a Potts.

I did have fleeting discussions with Pact about a B+ build but found that the Stanton Sherpa was pretty much the size and geo I would've gone for so chickened out and got one of those, as it was <1/2 the cost.

I'd not rule out that option in the future as my recent bikepacking adventure has played havoc with the Solaris paint job.... I can wait until the pound exchange rate is more favourable though 😆

A black sheep fat bike, an oddity 29+ with squid fork and a mone klunker

I would put the money towards a decent guy welder and build my own.

Barty p should be in the running?

I've got plans for a custom drop-bar off-road bike. But they're secret 😉

Taz did you see Ted James' ti four leg fork with in house thru axle? Sweet. Oddity are bonkers!

Another person in the starling build queue. Getting him to bulld me a really slack 29er fs. Why? Because I can get exactly what I want

+1 for Starling 🙂

I would get a 29+ hardtail built for me by Sam at Naked Bicycles. He's a top bloke and the bikes are just lovely.

www.nakedbicycles.com

If I were flush I'd consider a custom full sus mid travel 29er, as there literally isn't a production bike with the geometry I'd like.

Ideally it'd be carbon and 4-bar, though something like a Starling is probably more realistic.

Wouldn't say no to a 29in ti hardtail with a long front centre and low seat tube, but I could just buy a honzo ti instead.

Wouldn't say no to a 29in ti hardtail with a long front centre and low seat tube, but I could just buy a honzo ti instead.

pact Battlecat full custom £1500.

https://mobile.twitter.com/pactbikes/status/659127822921936896