I got a quick reply from Della Santa. Not the man himself, but the organization. The thoughtful and well-worded email came from an individual named Coot --

‘Roland usually deals with the racing market and actually doesn’t ‘size’ people for frames and most racers already have their preferred dimensions. If you don’t know what size you’d like, you can always get fitted by a trusted local shop and then send us your measurements. If there isn’t a shop that can do that, we can help you determine a frame size based on your inseam plus a few other measurements. All we need is your seat tube dimension, top tube dimension and your seat tube angle and Roland can calculate the rest.

For reference, most people don’t ‘need’ a custom frame, but you’ll definitely benefit from a made-to-order frameset. Not only will it fit well, Roland’s bikes ride very well and can offer performance and comfort that an off-the-rack frame could never provide. It really does make a big difference. If you ever talk to someone who owns a DS, you’ll discover just how much they love their frame. It is often their favorite bike to ride.

I’m including a price sheet which will give you a good rundown of costs. Turn-around time for a frame is roughly 16 weeks right now. A $1,000 deposit gets you on the build list and you can send that any time before or after you’ve talked with Roland and nailed your specifics.

Roland is one of the few builders to still have old tubesets around, so he can still construct a frame out of older Columbus or Reynolds stock if you’re looking for a retro bike. For modern bikes he prefers to use Dedacciai Zero or Zero Uno tubing, which is both lighter and stronger than the old stuff and builds into a really nice bike.

Thanks, Coot’

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/le...steel-frameset