how many of you are riding a custom frame, built for someone else?

My Jack Taylor Super Tourer is a '99, and has some weird dimensions. The head tube is small, but the tt is LONNGG so it works for me.



it was made for this guy:



What sloppy seconds are you riding?

My Fothergill is definitely such a beast, but that might be the only one.

I own 3 custom bikes none of which were built for me.

One is a Melton touring bike that dates I believe from the late 70s:



The other is a Roe racing bike; Roe was a small builder from the north of England. I had the bike repainted by Paris Sport in the 80s. I used to race the bike and the original paint job was shot

:

I also have a Davidson racing bike from, I believe, 1979. I need to rebuilt this bike (or sell it, :

Custom Moulden...



Ron Cooper...

I have a few, and I always check the tube lengths beforehand to make sure nothing is too odd or non-standard. I think you're more likely to have issues because you are so tall and tall dudes are probably more likely to have more customized geometry.

I find most of my custom framesets from guys that just like to try lots of bicycles.

I guess I am in the same group of riders.

My John Hollands might be my favorite from this bunch.

Really a fantastic bicycle to ride distances.

[IMG]Untitled by gomango1849, on Flickr[/IMG]

Nice! I bought a beautiful John Hollands in British racing green, all Campy, for my sister--same as the OP's Jack Taylor, had a really long top tube but relatively short seat and head tube. Stupid me, I thought it would fit her but the top tube was too long, and the bike was sadly far too small for me. Ended up having to sell it and taking a hit. It was tough to let it go (picture below):

Yes. My Ed Litton and Hujsak are both customs for others. The Litton is a favorite, the Hujsak is a project for this winter-dimensions seem good.

Holy smokes, yours' is a beauty.

Sorry it didn't fit.

There aren't that many JHs floating around.

Yeah, even more crazy that it ended up in Houston of all places. The guy I bought it from said his brother raced it years ago--makes sense considering the set up and the fact that it was superlight 531c tubing.

Jack Taylor, 55cm seat tube, 57 cm top tube - perfect for a tall sitter like me me


Ron Cooper, 57 seat tube, 56 top tube - its a little tall and a little too compact. Compensating with a silly long 140mm stem. I may shorten back to a 120.

Yeah, my Colian was made for a guy whose name is still on the top tube. The size (55x57) works very well for me. I built it up with a 2012 10 speed Campagnolo Veloce group. I have since changed the saddle to Regal with TI rails. Sorry for the crummy pic, it's hard to photograph a satin black bike.

My 1974 Norman Fay tourer, a very small builder in South Shields, northern England, was a custom for someone else:



Also, my 1987 Ron Blanton, an even smaller builder in CA, was built for another out of Reynolds 531P very lightweight tubing. It has an unusually short top tube (55cm) relative to the seat tube (59cm), which actually fits me really well.

Stan Built these two frame for each of his brothers. Excuse the poor photo quality.

1989 size: 64x58



1988 size:63x57



FWIW, Stan's brother didn't like the battleship grey paint(below picture) that was the original color. He had a friend repaint it when it was still relatively new with the white(above picture)



Joe built this tandem for another couple back in 1984.

My Jack Holland but it's nearly perfect

I guess technically my Jack Taylor tandem and my Tour of Britain are also customs.

1995 Hot Tubes by Toby Stanton (Stanton Cycles / Hot Tubes).
Built to spec for an individual racer/rider. I'm the third owner/second rider.

I need to take a new photo, as the components have been upgraded quite a bit.

There are very few things cuter than photos of tandems and children. It would take a puppy in the basket to make this photo more wonderful.

McLean was a custom builder, but this one was probably not custom built. The original owner bought it at the trade show, so McLean probably built it as a demo.

Charles Roberts "Super" frame, 56.5 square. Perfect. I had the great fortune to have someone that thought of me when they came upon it. I have firm plans for it as my rando style bike, and am slowly working on the build. It's been spread and straightened by my go to local framebuilder. He was impressed with it. Nice lug work. More later.

Oh my.

I feel blessed to find a custom collector that rides the same size as I do, and is about as heavy.

When I say same size, I mean it. When we compared cad drawings it was so close, as in very, very close. I thought I was looking at my own drawing from a different builder.

So yes I ride and enjoy 3 customs that were not built for me. One of those is my fav ride, and one is one I don't care for to much. don't ask, I don't get it either.

Nice!

Do you have any close ups of the seat cluster?

I don't know if Ben Serotta will ever get back in to the bike business but I sure hope he does, he made some pretty nice bikes. This is a custom built 2003 Colorado III that fits me great (68x62). The head tube is a bit ugly, but achieves it's purpose.

Here you go.

Every picture of the bike fails miserably at capturing the color. It is purple, exactly in the middle of blue and red. Most pictures make it look blue.