Vanilla makes beautiful bicycles - real artistry in steel. I am not sure of their ride quality, but they sure look like top machines, and I'd bet they ride accordingly. I've always wanted to get a better look at one of these, so I'm interested what people have to say about them too. There's an interview with one of Vanilla's frame builders on the CBQ:

http://istanbultea.typepad.com/large...cha_white.html

Rivendells are also lovely, lovely bikes. I do have a little problem with their pricing on those frames, though. For example, the Atlantis just went up to, I believe, $1500. It's a wonderful frame, and I've seen them up close, but for that money you could get a custom frame instead of one built by Toyo in Japan and post-fitted to you with the Rivendell moniker on it. Nevertheless, I'll reserve judgment until I deal directly with them.

I'll probably keep on going back to Mercian for custom lugged bicycles until the day I die. Same high quality and pedigree, but much less expensive frames. They're UK-based, but I've had no problems dealing with them from over here in America via email. They'll do anything you ask, and you get to really make the bike YOU want for a relatively affordable price.