Originally Posted by
Bunyanderman
Clearly we have different definitions; I doubt there is any with the same bike as me. Same frame/group set/handlebars/wheels/pedals as my bike would be very rare. This is why I would call my bike custom.
I think that's the difference between customized (upgraded or modified) and custom made. Most bikes are customized to some extent, and it sounds like your bike is highly customized. But it always was and still is an R3. Custom bikes, on the other hand, do not have model names except the customer's own.
To this point, I'd argue that bianchi10's definition is inadequate. A made-to-measure bike with a one-of-a-kind paint job isn't custom, either. Generally speaking in such cases, the design was already determined. For a bike to be truly custom, it would have to be assembled in a unique fashion - substantially designed from scratch. Although there are
bona fide custom road bikes, what one finds here are mostly customized and occasionally custom-finished and made-to-measure bikes. Custom bikes are more likely to be found on the Alt Bike forum:
Alt Bike Culture
Originally Posted by
Raiden
So IS there a fair and brief phrase for an off-the-shelf frame assembled with parts selected specifically for its user? Custom-assembled, perhaps? Or will 'custom' forever be associated with the frame?
Yes: customized. 'Custom' will be associated with the frame as long as the frame is the source of model names.