FixednotBroken

i'm under no illusions that a custom bike will make me a faster rider. cos it won't. and a don walker bike will still probably be kinda slow, if it's between my legs. whaddayagonnado.

Msngr's 'fire breathing horse' is a faster bike than any i own - but that might have something to do with it's cruel, cruel master.

mattface 

Well... He built it, and he put it up n his website, so one might assume he's proud of it. Personally I'm not so into the unicorn detail, but that's just me.

I have to say though, those bikes are ALL beautiful. A couple of them make me want to cty tears of joy. I haven't had time to drool over all of them, but I LOVE commuter #2. If I had a bike like that I would never get off it.

I love all my bikes, no matter how crappy they may seem in comparison to some of the the high zoot stuff others have, but looking at a bike like that, or an ANT or a few of the other customs I've seen. If I had the money I wouldn't be on here asking the unwashed masses if it's worth it. I'd be picking out shoes to match my new frame.How's that for gay (in a good way)

eyefloater

Bike in question:


I'm pretty sure "super gay!" is an appropriate descriptor in this case. I would have also accepted, "Likes to gorf the hog." Carry on.

- eyefloater

jfmckenna

I think a custom frame is worth it for a lot of reasons. I believe you have to look at it as a work of art too. As an analogy, I build guitars. Sure most people can get by perfectly with a Martin, Taylor or even cheaper guitars. But the folks who buy guitars from me want a one of a kind work of art as well as a top quality instrument and that’s what that they get. They just like knowing that one dude built every aspect of this instrument in a little one room shop. Furthermore if anything ever goes wrong with it they are taken care of immediately and with great attention. I see buying a frame in a similar fashion. Probably 95% of the people out there don’t need custom as far as fit and ride quality go but there is a lot of niceness in owning a personalized one of a kind ride imho.

Matthew A Brown

My .02: Have good reasons well before you buy. I have a custom steel touring frame, and justified the expense in that I can now take monstrous 3-4 month vacations and pay for exactly groceries for the rest of my life. I commute about ~90 miles/week and own no car. I plan on living in bike-friendly cities for at least the next seven or eight years.

And while your or anyone's motivations and justifications for dropping 2-3K on a custom machine will be totally different, just make sure you have em.


And try and stay as local as humanly possible. Don't let it stand in the way of getting anything specific or whatnot (Vanilla, drool), but having my builder live a couple miles east has been an amazing experience over the years. Nothing like drinking a Dos Equis with yr soon-to-be new baby all rigged up and scorched....


Guh...

chimblysweep

i knew when i signed on for a custom bike i was getting a work of art, more than anything. in fact, i'm out of bike storage space in my studio, so two of my bikes (the rensho and eventually the jonny) will be stored on the wall as art anyway. very accessible, useful art. then again, i'm nickel and diming myself to death with the flourishes I deem "necessary." (like couplers. huh.)

i would say go for it, but pay attention to the lag time. i mean, it wouldn't have changed my decision about what i wanted and from who, but it really is torturous. know what you're getting into when it comes to waiting months - years is it, Sacha? - for a frame. i'm getting emails from friends who watch Jon's website to see when he moves to next on the list. (he just finished one this week, i'm told). i do a little happydance at news like that. this is how bad it gets.

but i'm looking forward to a frame that's me, that really fits, that fits my specific needs. there's no way i could find a square track frame with couplers and longer wheelbase i like for on street ANYWHERE. so i got it made.

bostontrevor

Gay is the new straight. My conversion is purple and then I have my officially femmed up 80's racer with 80's Gay Cinelli splash tape (I know, they put it right there on the box!). Then I spec'd my ANT with a mint green powder coat. After I showed her the color, Krista told me I have a gay taste in bikes. But I guess so does Mike Flanigan, because he really liked the color and said he'd been wanting to build one that color.

queerpunk

for a complimentary frame, you say? i'll do it!

pitboss

take your time man. it is just stuff.

evanyc

amazing

Sammyboy

I think that has been hashed and rehashed to death now, but the only real reason to buy a custom is because you WANT one. You want one so bad that nothing else will do. Let's face it, that's a large part of why so many people here ride conversions, and swap things out and repaint their rides and diss Pistas. Because they want something that's THEIRS. So yeah, if you want a beautiful, wonderfully made machine that's made specifically for you, and fits you to perfection, it's a good idea. If you want a bike that'll make you faster - probably not.

To the guitar builder. People "get by" with Martin or Taylor or "even cheaper guitars"!?? Even cheaper than guitars that routinely cost $3000? I'm a good acoustic guitarist. I can get paid for what I do. But I play a Washburn, a D14M that I got for £50! I aspire to a Lowden. The world where Froggy Bottom could build me a guitar requires a lottery win, or several number ones. At the level I'm at, I'm "getting by" with my guitar, and would do better on a Lowden or a Taylor, but I'm probably in the 95th centile of all acoustic guitar players. No-one out there with a Taylor is just "getting by".

jfmckenna

ok "get by" was a bad choice of words. But I was speaking more towards MSNGR's comment about using any old cheapo frame vs custom. Some of my favorite recordings are of the old blues guitarists like Leadbelly, Arthur Blake, Blind Johnson ect... Those guys showed up to the studio with broken beat up guitars with year old strings on them. Give the cheapest guitar to some one who can play and they will out shine anyone on a <insert custom name here> guitar. Give someone(msngr a cheap frame and he will ride circles around me on a <insert bling frame>. That is my point. Beleive me I don't dis on cheap guitars nor cheap frames everything has it's purpose and place.

Sammyboy

Ah, right. Fair enough then.

2manybikes

Just remember the "Bike Style Police" will be watching you !!
One mistake and you're busted.


Seriously, I like that color.

sacha white

Would I build a bike and post it on my site and call it super gay if I didn't mean it in a good way? I can see where you are coming from though.

sacha white

Ok, I guess a couple of people said exactly what I said...I'll have to read further forward next time.

Chimay

Good morning Sacha. Good to see you here.

Judah

Don't get butt-hurt dude, see DW's response, it explains my statement pretty well. Some people want a beautiful bike with hand carved, chromed lugs, cool seatpost, etc. and some people want a hardcore racing machine. Not saying that the two are mutually exclusive, but for them to exist in the same frame takes a lot more money than most of us mortals are able to spend. You and Don sell to different markets, no? I mean, most of Don's customers are people who use their bikes primarily to race. Most of the Vanilla bikes I've seen out there are very very pretty, but not neccesarily racers...

Not trying to offend you, you're an artist man, and a great one at that. I'm just commenting on a trend I've noticed. I'd love to own one of your bikes, same way I'd love to own a VanGogh, but I can't justify the price.

chimblysweep

mmm... a Vanilla came into my shop for repairs. It was this lovely tiny touring frame, light blue, with matching two-tone fenders and couplers that had somehow been filed to have a more lug-like look. wow. it was hot.

how you did that to the couplers i'll never know, Sacha, but wow... just, wow.

Jose R

I all things custom.

I've custom built furniture from scratch which is better than anything I can buy retail.

I've custom built a vacuum tube stereo amplifier from scratch which is better than any stereo I can buy at Circuit City.

I've had people build me custom parts for my projects which are better than anything I could buy out of a catalog.

My bike frames are custom. Not for the speed factor, but for the control of production. I make the decisions on geo, tubing (to a degree), joindery, any extras and paint.

Sacha builds lovely frames for recreational enjoyment. Don builds frames to be raced on. Johnny Coast, Rich Adams, Jonny Cycles, Troy Courtney and many more, all build beautiful frames.

I know someone in Montreal who built a carbon fiber turntable from scratch. He painstakingly layered the CF sheets over molds to make the tonearm, plith and platter. one of the most beautiful pieces of audio equipment I've seen and heard. Will a cheap plastic Denon or Technics play the same record? Yes. Will you hear a difference, maybe, maybe not.

Will you go faster on a custom frame? Maybe, maybe not.

In most cases, it won't really matter.

baxtefer

Wait a second. I distinctly remember reading something somewhere about some female pro/semi-pro (whatever, apparently she's damn good) cyclocross rider, racing a Vanilla.
Fast can be hot. Why not have both?

Jose R

Rhonda Mazza.

baxtefer

^ thanks.

doesn't sacha sponsor a whole local 'cross team too?

Judah

Anyway, the point is that it wasn't an attack on anyone. I wasn't saying that Don's bikes weren't pretty, or that Sacha's bikes weren't fast, but that custom builders specialize in, and sell to, different niches. Sorry if anyone was offended, but that's how I see it. I was trying to help the OP in his/her quest for a custom bike, maybe he/she wants fast, maybe pretty, maybe both. I was just saying that you better know what you want before you get into it.

BostonFixed

Welcome back don! I told yas he would be back.