Anyone have any experience or knowledge of Rich Adams frames? In my quest for a beater frame, I have been offered a Rich Adams. It meets all my requirements, race geometry, 2 sets of water cage bosses, cheap and I have been looking for an american builders frame. No matter what I am getting this and repainting it, I was just looking for some info. Thanks.

Rich is one of the owners of my favorite LBS here in the Wilkes-Barre area, and I drool over his frames when I see them. His work is very nice, and as a former engineer, knows his stuff.

You could always contact him for information on his frames, I don't know what info he maintains about specific frames he builds, but he is definitely approachable.

Here is the site he maintains for his frame building endeavors: Rich Adams | Custom Bicycles & Frames

Also forgot to mention, and the info is on his page, but he only builds with quality tubing...

It is a little hard to believe you can get a good price on one of his frames as a beater, since I think he has only been making frames for the past 10-15 years. Someone who spends the sort of money needed for a custom or semi-custom frame shouldn't get to beater status that soon.

I'm getting it off a paceline forum member. He told me he bought it cheap because the rattle can paint job and a small ding in the top tube. He contacted Rich and asked about restoring it for him and the price quote was more than he wanted to pay. I'm doing all the work myself and have paint left over from other jobs. I have contacted Rich about decals and he told me no problem.

I have a bike that Rich custom-built for me starting in 2009 and delivering in 2012. I won't go into the myriad problems I had dealing with Rich during the build, because the frame you're looking at is finished. But when I finally got the bike it didn't ride well---of all my bikes I had to push it the hardest to go the slowest. It felt like riding through shallow sand. I took it to a local builder to replace the steerer tube that Rich had cut too short against my specific instructions, and he determined that some aspect of the front part of the frame---I can't remember the details---was out of alignment, as was the rear derailleur hanger, which was off by an inch (which explained the frequent ghost-shifting). He aligned the frame and the derailleur hanger, replaced the steerer tube, and I had the fork repainted. Four hundred dollars later it now rides very well, and I'm happy with it even if I'm not happy with the experience it took to get it that way.

I would never consider commissioning another bike from Rich, but if one is already built, and is aligned, and fits and is the kind you want, then the problems I had dealing with him are irrelevant. On the plus side, with the paint off the fork before I had it repainted, I could see that the workmanship of the fillet brazing was excellent, so you could probably rest assured that the quality of the construction is good.