Custom made frame for life: How often does it work out that way?
 

This is an offshoot of the Titanium frame thread.

I don't personally know many people who have had custom frames built. Only two. The interesting thing about both of them is that they rarely ride their custom built bikes. They've since bought production models and ride those instead.

In one guy's case, he had a custom frame built 10 or 15 years ago. He treats it like a museum piece. The other guy does still ride his, but mostly for special occasions. He has other bikes he uses for commuting, racing, group rides, etc. The custom bike is like his Sunday ride.

So, it's lead me to wonder. How many people who've had bikes custom made 10 or more years ago with the idea that that would be their bike for life still ride it regularly?

I think it just depends on the situation.

My bike isn't fully custom, but it ain't off the rack either.
It's a boutique frame, I had it custom painted, and then I built it up myself part by part.
I bought it to ride, and that's what I do with it.
It's built to last a lifetime, but who knows if I will have it anywhere near that long. I might, I might not.

I know at least a dozen people riding custom frames (Steve Rex, Boxer, Pereira, Serrotta and Seven mostly) who put in big miles on their customs. Not as commuter bikes, though. These people had them built up as rando frames to use on their long-distance rides. They may not use them as their daily ride, but the customs are far from being a Sunday Best dress bike.

I've got a custom commuter ... a really nice ride, but I have no intention of turning it into a precious artifact or museum piece.

I'm riding that puppy until it won't ride no more. I do hope to outlive it, however.

My road bike is not custom, but I customized it -- paint job, new parts -- after about 9 years of use. Riding the fire out of that one, too!

I have two custom frames: I ride the p*** out of both of them.

My Davidson has 7,000 miles, is starting to accumulate a robust collection of scratches. It gets ridden in all kinds of weather.

My Boedie is my daily commuter - rain or shine, 52 weeks a year. It's also my winter rain bike. Occasionally I send the builder photos of the bike covered in dirt and grime, just to see if I can get his goat. However, he makes mountain bike frames, too, so nothing seems to bother him. Last time I sent him a picture of my bike after I'd had it on some mild dirt paths, he sent back an email: "Road bikes ridden in the dirt -- I like that."

My Tommasini, on the other hand -- only ridden on dry roads, stored in a velvet-lined bike bag, sprinkled with rose petals each morning, only washed with holy water straight from the Vatican. I bought it off Craigslist for $600 and I treat it much nicer than my other bikes. Go figure.

I have a custom made 1978 Shogun touring bike(531 triple butted triangle,double butted everything else) that I've ridden everyday for 32 years,still going strong.It only has a few hundred thousand mile on it....LOL!

It cost $500 in 1978 money,worth every penny.It's been just about everywhere west of the Mississippi,never let me down.A grown man is going to cry if/when I have to part with it.

That's awesome!

I have two custom made frames (both done by Peter Mooney). One is a commuter and it is ridden every day, the other is a road bike and I use it for all of my recreational rides. The commuter is still pretty new, but the road bike has several years and many thousands of miles on it.

Mark

On the other side of that coin, I bought a custom-made, lugged steel, disk brake, multi-surface touring frame earlier this year and rode it exactly twice before returning it for a refund, due to failure of the fork.

I had hoped it would be the last bike I bought for a long, long time, if not my life, but sometimes things don't work out the way you plan.

I'm having a custom made fixed gear Bike Friday built. I'll let you know in ten years how often I'm still riding it. But, I plan on that being my daily commuter & also rotating it with my Litespeed for fast group rides. My wife has a custom built Bob Jackson. She hasn't been riding that since she's been riding her lighter titanium Motobecane. I think I'll make a decoration of the Bob Jackson & place it in our pub room/bike shop!

Hehehe. My brevet ride is far from being a custom frame, but aside from the handlebars/levers/shifters, there's nothing left stock about the bike so it's a personalized build on a factory frame. It does not get babied like your Tommasini (nor should it be). I've ridden my brevet bike on muddy equestrian/hiking trails and unpaved gravel service roads. I store it clamped in my workstand and use it to drape my wet clothes on to dry them in front of a fan. The only thing it has been sprinkled with is sweat and Accelerade drool. It will get "washed" if it rains on the drive to Packwood this weekend while the bike is on my hitch rack. :lol:

I had a custom Seven Ti built about six years ago. The fitting experience was amazing and I even spec'd out the ride I wanted (they used different diameter tubesets). I also had a custom paint job. I got a CF bike three years ago and now ride it most of the time. The two have almost identical geometries and the rides are close. The CF is lighter, feels snapier on sprints, and seems to climb easier. This is when I used the same wheels on boats.

It made me realize how most people don't need custom, unless your body dimensions are unusual. Custom sounds nice but the reality is it's not necessary. Plus technology keeps changing. I know I wouldn't want by best bike to be 10-20 years old considering what has happened with cucling over the last 10-20 years.

Thanks for the replies. The two guys I know with custom bikes are bike junkies. As much as they may have thought that getting a custom made bike would represent the ultimate bike purchase, they are junkies after all will probably be buying new bikes every few years as long as they can ride.

They still value their custom bikes but like StanSven said, technology moves on and they've moved with it. For them I think a custom bike was on their bucket list and there's no need to go that route again. It's good to know that for others the custom bike has been a more enduring thing.

Bikes are for riding (IMO). I could see if I managed to get my hands on an old pro racer's bike (thinking someone like Eddy Merckx) and the bike was actually used in a race, something like that could become a museum piece, but if you have a bike built to your specs; ride the damn thing.

In the museum guy's defense, he did ride it a lot when he first got it but after awhile the newer frames became more appealing to him. He still values the custom bike and I don't know that he would ever part with it, but he now has better bikes for riding.

I would be more than happy with his leftovers but I sort of understand. I had an old Peugeot that I really loved (not custom in any way) but I never rode it anymore because the other two bikes I had were better for their respective purposes.

I guess if I had a stable full of bikes (not sure 4 qualifies), I could see some of them sitting for a while. But I have a 2002 Litespeed Vortex with 9 speed Dura Ace, and I haven't found another bike yet that I like riding as much as this one. I've got a 2007 carbon Trek Madone 5.9 with 10 speed DA, and it's just not nearly as lively as the Litespeed. It's lighter, but not as much fun to ride.

The guys I know with custom bikes have lots of money to throw around and consequently have a lot of bikes. Thus they don't ride any one of their bikes a whole lot. Two of my friends have custom Richard Sachs bikes that they treat like museum pieces and rarely every ride. That's a crying shame, IMHO.

I'm fairly tall with a long torso, short arms and legs. Struggled for a years with steerer tube extenders, odd angle/size stems, handlebars types etc to get a comfortable fit. Finally went with a custom build - very comfortable. Ride 5000-6000 km per year, this bike probably gets about 4000 km of that. Most of the other bikes I have. ride them every now and then - just cannot seem to get rid of them.

I had a custom frame built for me around 5 years ago i built it up rode it maybe 15 times and ever since its been in a box in my closet dont get me wrong its comfortable and fits perfect, i think i just love it too much to see it damaged or stolen.

I was thinking about this thread last night and realized that in the used-bike classifieds one often tends to see several kinds of custom bikes with low, low miles:

- Folding bikes (Bike Fridays) or S&S bikes. Owners say something like, "I used to travel a lot, now I don't."

- Touring bikes ("Bought it to get into touring, used it on one big trip, haven't ridden it since").

- Tandems. I'm sure there is a story behind why couples buy tandems and then put almost no miles on them, but the details are rarely in the ads!

- Finally, go-fast bikes that appear to be owned by people with lots of bikes. "New frame incoming from builder x, I want to sell this two-year-old frame."

Clearly, these kinds of bikes are often not "forever." But lots of people ride custom frames for many, many years. Likely there are also lots hidden away in garages and basements, waiting to see the light of day (or Craigslist). Worth watching for.

I just retired my 30 year old steel racing frame. The Italian paint job just wasn't up to that much sweat. I build my commuter for myself 30 years ago, and under commuting usage I would guess it will last longer than I will.


People I know that have tandems say that tandems are a real test of the relationship. Couples either really click on a tandem, or they just can't take the stress. And a lot of bikes are purchased with good intentions and never used. This is doubly true of tandems.

It does seem like there is a production diamond frame, new or used, available somewhere to fit 99.9999% of humans, and you can get that last perfection of customization of some set of those frames from how you paint it and/or what components you hang off it to get the bike you're looking for.

Or, you can get the frame personalized to a fraction of a millimeter in all dimensions so that a XXX gruppo-in-a-box plus a saddle and seatpost finish the job and there you go.

I bought a "custom" Bike Friday--meaning I told them all my measurements (inseam and such) and they cut the tubes to fit. I've never had anything approaching a custom bike. I tell you it really feels awesome. I get on the bike and go and practically forget I'm on a bike. It helps that the shifting is particularly good on this bike and adds to the flying carpet illusion.

Still have the DIY frameset I built in the 70's, I did make it myself from tube set upward, so Its a keeper..

though the components are different on the ones I use, most now .

It has Derailleurs, and I seem to use my 2 internal gear bikes more:
a Rohloff hub trekking bike, groceries in the panniers.. fussing over the fit does sort of make it custom..though a factory bike.
and a Sturmey AW3 and Schlumpf MD crank . in my Brompton folder,Its a one size only bike folds up small ,
got the both of those Used.