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Please note i have changed the thread title, as i have now ordered the Demon but i have left the thought process as to why i chose what i chose, maybe it might help someone in their quest for a custom frame
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this is something i have been thinking about for a while. lets face it we all would have a custom frame if we could afford it. but i might beable to stretch to a frame in a few months.
what started it with me recently was Gus (wu-tangled), we were on the IOW around xmas last year, me, him and makster, we got talking about it coz Gus had recently got his litespeed and a merlin and felt they were all the bikes he needed and suggested that i might have too many bikes and if i sold a few i could afford the unicorn of a custom build.
it made sense . . . . but the custom frame i was thinking of was a Lynskey, built to my chosen geometry, nothing super weird just different to what they do off the peg, basically a Ti version of my 07 clockwork but with a slightly longer toptube. i enquired, got a message back via a familiar face (a member here who worked for the UK importer), was looking at £3500ish for the frame alone!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
no way could i justify that!!
so i started re-thinking about it, do i need titanium? realistic answer is no.
i don't race (seriously) anymore so why go that far financially? so the obvious choice then became steel. started looking at various frame builders in the US, the usual suspects Independent fabrications for example, but the frame price is about $1895 so over here that would likely be almost the same in pounds. i am not suggesting it's overpriced but the taxes and vat make it seem that way.
then i thought to myself why does it have to be a US builder? what's wrong with the guys we have over here? the answer is nothing, nothing at all. not to mention not having import taxes etc to worry about.
so i have decided to look at the UK builders.
i have to say this re-ignition of my interest in a custom frame was brought back on by the recent article in Privateer magazine (DAMN YOU!!!)
the people i am thinking of going to see are:-
www.hammooncycles.com
www.robertscycles.com
www.demonframeworks.com
i have read up on their websites about who they are and what they do, roberts need no introduction and have the history, hammoon i think just look cool, demon i like the traditionalist style and the "dirt frame" though not my style looks beautiful.
are there any other framebuilders new or old you think i should look at?
i have to say though i have looked into these 3 partly because of their location, demon are in southampton 20 minutes away, hammoon are in shaftesbury so not too far and roberts are in croyden so about 2 hours away.
who would you use and why? links to websites for info would be cool aswel
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this is something i have been thinking about for a while. lets face it we all would have a custom frame if we could afford it. but i might beable to stretch to a frame in a few months.
what started it with me recently was Gus (wu-tangled), we were on the IOW around xmas last year, me, him and makster, we got talking about it coz Gus had recently got his litespeed and a merlin and felt they were all the bikes he needed and suggested that i might have too many bikes and if i sold a few i could afford the unicorn of a custom build.
it made sense . . . . but the custom frame i was thinking of was a Lynskey, built to my chosen geometry, nothing super weird just different to what they do off the peg, basically a Ti version of my 07 clockwork but with a slightly longer toptube. i enquired, got a message back via a familiar face (a member here who worked for the UK importer), was looking at £3500ish for the frame alone!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
no way could i justify that!!
so i started re-thinking about it, do i need titanium? realistic answer is no.
i don't race (seriously) anymore so why go that far financially? so the obvious choice then became steel. started looking at various frame builders in the US, the usual suspects Independent fabrications for example, but the frame price is about $1895 so over here that would likely be almost the same in pounds. i am not suggesting it's overpriced but the taxes and vat make it seem that way.
then i thought to myself why does it have to be a US builder? what's wrong with the guys we have over here? the answer is nothing, nothing at all. not to mention not having import taxes etc to worry about.
so i have decided to look at the UK builders.
i have to say this re-ignition of my interest in a custom frame was brought back on by the recent article in Privateer magazine (DAMN YOU!!!)
the people i am thinking of going to see are:-
www.hammooncycles.com
www.robertscycles.com
www.demonframeworks.com
i have read up on their websites about who they are and what they do, roberts need no introduction and have the history, hammoon i think just look cool, demon i like the traditionalist style and the "dirt frame" though not my style looks beautiful.
are there any other framebuilders new or old you think i should look at?
i have to say though i have looked into these 3 partly because of their location, demon are in southampton 20 minutes away, hammoon are in shaftesbury so not too far and roberts are in croyden so about 2 hours away.
who would you use and why? links to websites for info would be cool aswel
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