Originally Posted by Red Riding Hood
The builder said he was busier than expected because of the handmade bike show, so I'm curious... Did you get that behind because of it? He ordered it last November and the builder said it should be done by April, claiming it was his slow season. The builder ALSO runs a bike shop with someone, so that could be it too. Still, I can't believe that he was so off.
He decided that other things were more important to him then building your bike in a timely fashion. It's cool if he wants to create show peices for a show or whatever but while he was shifting his priorities away from building your bike yours shifted away from buying it. If you don't want the bike anymore tell him asap and see what he can do with reconfiguring it or canceling it. You should not feel obligated to let him keep anything more then the deposit and probably demand at least some of it back.
When did you order it? Did it change from like a two month wait to nine or was this like a 9 month wait originally?
Incidentally this is why I think custom bikes are illsuited to the vast majority of cyclist. If you haven't been riding long enough to know what fits you and how you feel about different geometries a custom bike won't be that much better then an off the rack one.