Originally Posted by
trelhak
I think you hit the nail on the head with Grant's need to champion the 650B to set his stuff apart from the others. The surging popularity of the NAHBS has reminded legions of steel-connoisseurs than extremely fine, completely custom, handmade bikes can be had for reasonable prices; thus, why buy a Riv, which is pretty close to what you want, when you can get a hand-made which is exactly what you want?
Nothing wrong with trying to be different to make a buck...
As far as a custom being "exactly" what you want....I guess if the builder has enough experiance to know exactly what you want by talking to you or even sizing you up. Unless you're talking about the guys that have been doing this forever like Sachs, Serotta, Waterford then I'm not so sure you're getting anything more special or custom that an "off the shelf" that fits you. Heck, there is a reason Serotta has both options...
I was pretty happy that when I bought my Bleriot I was able to ride one down here in SD in the size that GP recommened, had that not been the case I don't think I would have bought one.
But, that's why there are hundreds of different builders... so we can all have our cake and eat it too! (and then go for a ride to burn it off)