Grant Petersen at Rivendell, who designs both custom and off-the-rack bikes, says his standard bikes will give 95 percent of the performance of the customs for half the money. I have two of them, an Atlantis and Rambouillet, and I literally can't imagine what could be better. For me and the kind of riding I do, the Atlantis is perfect.

Well, there are two schools of thought about that. You could also say that anybody who frets about what other people think he looks like is taking himself MUCH too seriously.

That could be because none of his bikes give very much performance.

Tongue in cheek sweetie. But the climbing thing is undeniable. And should be unacceptable to anyone who is not too handicapped to ride a real bicycle.

Hilarious, this guy says his atlantis is perfect. Not just alright, but perfect, and you come back with no rivendell gives much performance. I would say anybody who finds a "perfect" bike has found all the performance they want.




Toddles, check out the Trek Domane too. I took a test ride on a 4 series one a few weeks ago and thought it would make a great long distance machine.

Maybe perfect for him is ridiculously overweight and sluggish.

Depends on what you mean by performance. To me, it means the bike does exactly what I want and what I bought it for. Don't know how anybody who's not me can argue with that.

On balance, though, I think this statement is crap. Could you explain, using things like facts, geometry, whatever helped you form your opinion, why you made it? I own half a dozen bikes, from as close to a racer as a 240-pound guy dares to get to a fat-tire single speed, and the Riv-built bikes hold all my personal records on all my usual routes over about 10 miles, because I can stay on them longer and ride more efficiently. A racer could certainly go faster on a race bike, but only 0.01 percent of cyclists race. The rest just suffer on bikes that are uncomfortable for the average person and geared wrong besides.

How bout overbuilt? Could you live with that? I mean I am just breaking your chops a bit, but it is fair to say that Grant believes in building a, um, sturdy bicycle.

I can answer this question with a solid and resounding YES.

The issue when ordering custom is this: do you know exactly what you want as far as ride quality and handling? You don't need the geometry numbers, or know how the CF should be laid up, or what tubes you need. You do need to be able to explain to the builder what you are after. Do you want super quick handling? Laid back cadillac type ride? Stiff back end for power transfer? Stiff front end for cornering? Soft seat stays for comfort? etc.

When I ordered mine, I knew exactly what I *thought* I wanted. But was that going to be what I was after when I finally got on the bike or was I going to be very unhappy that they built what I told them I wanted? Turned out I got it exactly right. My bike is phenomenal. It's exactly what I wanted. I've since ordered another custom frameset and will probably never buy another off-the-shelf again.

Why? Because it exactly what I wanted and I know theres not another one like it

Back to the OP, there are some valid reasons for going for a custom geometry besides just wanting one in a pretty colour.

If you are very tall (>6'3") or very short (<5'2") the stock bikes which "fit" are badly proportioned in many ways.
If you are very light and skinny, stock bikes are over-built.
If you are very heavy, stock bikes may be underbuilt (but usually the frames are fine).
If you have odd body proportions beyond the bounds of stem/post adjustments, eg odd ratio of torso/leg, odd ratio of upper/lower leg
If you want to attach something to your bike you may want custom braze-ons.
If you want to do something unusual eg extra wide tyre clearance, disc brakes with skinny tyres.

You can also buy stock framesets to build up with your choice of components.

Well,,,, no. But anyway. (also, some of the penny-farthing guys want to talk to you about those pneumatic tires you think you need...)

Back to the OP--he suggests that maybe paying a lot more money for a frame that has tiny changes in it, is going to make drastic differences. And it isn't going to. The reason he's asking is probably because he thinks it isn't going to.
Tiny changes make tiny differences, usually.

I've still got the custom frame i built in the 70's, I went outside the lines,
58/60, 'over-square',
I added 2cm to the top tube, to get room for Mudguards
without Toe Clip Overlap.

I noted I also made the front end feel lighter,
because the CofG remains in one place, my butt, but wheel moves away from it.

So, recently , I put a Porteur rack on it to carry stuff up there on the front..