Hmm, Peter, doesn't that make the 2nd hand custom frame exactly the same as the factory frame? Neither one will fit me perfectly. It's just that one was made for someone else's measurements, and the other was made for the shop's "standard-off the peg" specs. Either way, I'll have to shop judiciously to get a frame that's "close enough" to allow me to achieve a good riding position.
Of course with the 2nd hand custom frame it is possible that the original owner was an orangutan or a tree stump, so the TT or seat angle may be way out of proportion with the frame size for a "normal" person, but my experience is that custom frames that are radically odd in their geometry are fairly rare.
So mindful of that one caveat, which is the "better frame"? Of course we'll all disagree, but somehow I have a warm fuzzy feeling for a frame that a builder made for a specific individual as opposed to one a factory cranked out for retail stock. Why? No sensible reason at all, but I feel that the builder "meant it" more while making the custom frame. Logical? Or course not. But hey, what about life is logical?
Tom (Liked my MKM and Pike better than my Raleigh Pro) Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
>From: "kohl57@starpower.net" <kohl57@starpower.net>
>Reply-To: kohl57@starpower.net
>To: rodk3d@comcast.net, kohl57@starpower.net,wickedsky@sbcglobal.net, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: RE: [CR]Vintage bicycles and tiers
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 15:37:47 -0500
>
>
>
>Original Message:
>-----------------
>From: rodk3d@comcast.net
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:03:36 +0000
>To: kohl57@starpower.net, wickedsky@sbcglobal.net,
>classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: RE: [CR]Vintage bicycles and tiers
>
>
>
>Hi Peter,
>I disagree with your analogy of bikes to suits. No one (normally) buys used
>suits or shoes.
>
>Hmmm... I thought the swish thing to do when you bought a custom made frame
>was to be "fitted".. the measurements and the questions sure make a
>framemaker sound an awful lot like a tailor to me! They seemed to take all
>this very, very seriously indeed. As well they should for I thought a
>custom made frame would, more than any aspect of finish or workmanship, fit
>like the proverbial glove.
>
>If you had a bespoke frame maker make say 20 frames in standard sizes,
>would the workmanship be less than if he made each one to your
>measurements? I wouldn't think so. Then again, I think the point is that
>most of the really exceptional frame makers did indeed make frames
>specifically to order to suit the individual. Or is this a false assumption
>by moi, as usual? I am, of course, basing this on reading the catalogues of
>the better British framemakers. It was very much a "menu" rather than a
>bill of fare and I don't think many offered an "off the peg" frame let
>alone a complete machine.
>
>Peter Kohler
>Washington DC USA
>
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