Originally Posted by
MassiveD
When one sets out to make a perfect custom frame on looks at the bike and the racks and bags as a whole, and designs every single part to be perfect for it's use and to suit the rider perfectly, there are hundreds of possible improvements and upgrades, no compromises, or kludges.
People are certainly free to spend their money on what they want, and vanity is not necessarily a bad thing as it also has an element of pride and doing a good job, but I don't believe that a custom bike necessarily fits better than an off the shelf bike. When it comes to quality obviously a Walmart bike will not compare to a custom, but there are numerous manufacturers that sell high quality bikes at a fraction of the cost of a custom. Basically, I don't believe a custom bike is worth the extra cost over a good quality off the shelf bike if all you are interested in is performance. But riding a shinny custom bike is fun and if people what to do that that's just fine.