Originally Posted by
Bob Ross
Having spent a lot of time reading articles (blogs, white papers, and websites) by carbon builders Nic Crumpton, Carl Strong, and Bob Parlee, I'm not sure I'd agree...or at least, I'm not sure any of the engineering that the Big Companies are developing is so proprietary that it's not also (eventually) available to Nic and Carl and Bob. (Windtunnels notwithstanding.)
But the fact remains, no matter how advanced the engineering behind a Specialized bike, you're still getting a compromise on the design; any given frame is designed for the Average Of All Possible Riders In This Size. If I had a bunch of very specific goals that a hypothetical new bike needed to achieve, I'd rather bring that specific list to a builder who can build a frame designed from the ground up to check off all those boxes.
Of course, I also appreciate having a personal relationship with the builder, and I recognize that's an extrinsic appeal that has very little directly to do with how well the bike performs. And the high end carbon Trek and Giant bikes I've ridden were excellent performers, so I'm not dismissing the notion that they build excellent product. At a certain pricepoint anyone who's managed to stay in business has already passed the bar.
Originally Posted by
PeteHski
As an engineer myself I would tend to agree with this. The USP of boutique individual builders is really in the special bespoke customer experience and after sales support. So it comes down to what you value the most. The latest and greatest tech and engineering prowess or being treated like a King during the sales and after-sales service. In many ways the latter is more appealing given that the resultant bike will likely ride pretty much as well as anything from the big name brands and fit perfectly. Also be more unique if that matters to you. But personally I simply wouldn't want to go through all the fuss (and additional expense) of a bespoke frame build. I do like the idea of something a bit more unique than a Specialized or Trek, but doesn't have to be totally obscure either. Factor is the brand that keeps coming into my head and a factory fit and build would tick some of the custom build boxes too. Obviously a factory fit is only an option in the UK.
I think we can all agree - there wont be a meaningful difference in the performance of the bike. It all boils down to small differences in ride feel and also perceptions - and here, I reckon that placebo and confirmation bias also play a big role. In the end, I find the manufacturing prowess of the big brands to have more appeal than the custom/unique part. I freely admit this isnt rational in any way shape or form but here we are.
Factor also definitely fits the bill. In fact, that's one of the reasons i picked the Factor LS as my all-road/2nd bike and it's been a very solid and sensible purchase. A fairly reasonably priced frame - as far as these things go these days - and it does everything really well, with no weaknesses. I did consider the O2 VAM, but it's about $1700 more for the frameset than the Aethos, and i am not convinced there is much of a meaningful difference between the two.