Which custom (road) framebuilders and why?

Possibly idle thoughts, but, if you put yourself in the following shoes…

– you have a racy-ish road bike (ie light, stiff, nippy handling) that you love everything about…
– …except it won’t take mudguards or a rack or disc brakes or larger tyres, all of which you want (primarily the guards and discs – not a common combination on light road frames)
– so you’re certain of your fit/position and can state precisely what geometry you want (albeit there needing to be slight compromises, mainly chainstay length) and what fittings etc you need
– you’re also a big chap, so can rule out skinny steel completely and would need a lot of convincing on steel generally; plus you might want an oversized head tube, ovalisations etc…

…whose doors would you be knocking on and why?

Are you anywhere near Bristol? If you are it would definitely be worth popping down to the Bespoked show next weekend.

http://www.bespokedbristol.co.uk/

I should have my custom 18 Bikes road bike there and it sounds like I built mine for similar requisites. I’m also a big lad at 6’4″ and 18 stone.

ah, you’ll just be wanting some smaller wheels for your racer Bez – they’re all the rage right now

I would love to make it to Bespoked but sadly I don’t think it’s going to happen. And even if I did I’d have a 3-year-old with zero attention span preventing me having any useful conversations 🙂

That’s a shame about not making the show.

We’d (18 Bikes) would be very happy to discuss things with you if you want some more advice. Feel free to email the shop on info@18bikes.co.uk

I would get a Shand- http://www.shandcycles.com/
I’ve used Steve in the past and it has been a real pleasure. Steve is very professional and really quick to work with. Fast pinging emails back and forth with lots of information. Very honest chap. I loved it!

What about Lynskey Sportive Disc? Lovely looking Ti frame, designed to be a proper road bike that takes discs? Fatbirds Cycles had them with free fork/ headset.

I think the usual suspects have been covered – plus, erm, me 😉

The last frame I built was very like that – customer came with dimensions he’d taken himself for a steel touring bike.

“What about Lynskey Sportive Disc?“

It’s one of the two off-the-peg frames I’ve found that might work. Ideally it’d be a little larger and have better tyre clearance, but it’s certainly a possibility. I would need to be assured that the “Sportive” stickers would peel off cleanly, though 🙂

Go to Bespoked next week for the real high quality builders ,I’m also going to attend as I found it the best way of speaking to a framebuilder and guaging their proces.

Might be up at Bespoked first thing on the Saturday. Woop!

Shand.
Feather.
Feather.
Feather.
Him up there (Ben Copper)
Enigma (if you don’t mind waiting…..and waiting and waiting)

I’m going to talk to this lot when it’s time for a custom road frame.

http://www.noblecycles.be/

Not convenient for most but I can ride to their workshop from here in under an hour

Ricky Feater will be making mine for my 40th..

Spot on bloke, makes beautiful frames, who just happens to live about half a mile from me mum, so can combine fittings with catching up with the old dear.

Hm, several recommendations (hadn’t heard of Noble – cheers) leading to skinny steel; only one Ti builder mentioned, though, and I suspect that’s the better material for me. Even the Genesis Volare – the equivalent of which, I assume, would be well into Ti money anyway – is a pound heavier than my CAAD9 frame…

Shand. If it’s not clear why, it never will be.

IF simples

Really, Raoul? 😉

Just right, you could ask Cris Northwave or Steve M for an even more impartial opinion ;0)

Aye, Raoul’s sprout looks amazing Bez…
Gotta be said!!