Originally Posted by
USAZorro
Kurt,
Beautiful bike for sure. Very nicely conceived, executed and finished. One difference that I do see between this bike, and some of the most famous of the current frame-makers' work however is that the lugs have been minimally thinned. I am not a frame-maker to be certain, but I do understand that thinning lugs is very laborious and time consuming. Obviously, as they have almost no bearing on how the bike rides, it could be seen as a waste of time/money - but for lugs that were as rare as those, I am a bit surprised they weren't thinned more. Still earns an A+ in my book though.
You don't have to be a frame-maker to decide whether these details are correct or not. People buy custom bikes for a wide variety of reasons. One is certainly fit. Another determiner would be certain "specific" ride qualities. While yet another might pay very close attention to details such as laboriously thinned lugs. There are custom builders springing up everywhere, and not all of these craftspeople will survive the long haul and reach a Sacha White, Carl Strong, David Kirk, Richard Sachs, Dario Pegoretti, or a Chris Kvale status. It is the combination of many qualities that gets me excited about a custom builder. Just because I don't happen to like a white band around a down tube doesn't diminish that this Mike Terraferma built frame is obviously well built and engineered for the new owner. I happen to go ga-ga over different details, and that's really ok. Like a beautiful thin tapered lug on a Chris Kvale frame, or on the Curt Goodrich I provided a link to above. I can place "my" order for a frame with a builder and have it built just the way I want it. I'm sure others may have some criticisms after it is complete, and I will take them with a big ol' grain of salt.