anyone had experience of buying a made to measure frame
im looking a rourke frame or a mercian frame but waiting times can be a problem.
if you know of any other bike frame builders can you post them
cheeers
daz
anyone had experience of buying a made to measure frame
im looking a rourke frame or a mercian frame but waiting times can be a problem.
if you know of any other bike frame builders can you post them
cheeers
daz
http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/
they are meant to be good?
Dolan do made to measure Daz....as is mine....Spray it any colour you want too!!
If you can get chance to ge to their workshop in Ormskirk it's well worth the trip....
Condor Cycles in London do a huge range with different materials, carbon this and that etc - might be worth a look, their prices are pretty good and they have years and years of experience.
Dave Yates - the "daddy" to many. He did a lot of the developement brazing for Reynolds before they released 953 to other frame builders. He will even teach you how to build your own frame on one of his one week courses. His website is brill - will take you a week to look at everything. He's down in Lincolnshire.
Woodrup - Leeds
Ellis Briggs - Leeds
Neil Orrell - Manchester
Malc Cowell - Withington Cycles - Manchester
Chas. Roberts - Surrey or Sussex - another very comprehensive web-site that is well worth looking at, just to form some ideas of what you really want, but you will pay London prices.
Google will get you to any of the above - they are all disciples of "steel is real" and it is well worth reading some of the reasons they give for sticking with steel. 953 is now on par with titanium for weight, but still with the resilient ride of and strength of steel - actually 'umpteen' times stronger than 531, see Reynolds website. As it is an alloy of stainless, it's a 'bike for life' - pricey mind!
Last edited by wheezing donkey; 07-04-2008 at 11:26 AM.
WRT some of the names ( I'm definitely NOT refering to Mercian, Bob Jackson or Rourke ) listed by other posters, above, they might be "made to measure", but many are not built on the premises by the guy you talk to; a lot of the work is contracted out to factories in Italy & Taiwan - particularly the aluminium, titanium & carbon models - that's why the prices appear to be 'good'.
Last edited by wheezing donkey; 07-04-2008 at 11:17 AM.
What about a Planet X built to spec? (And now in pink!)
http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/...Roadbikes.html
I got my frame built by Lee Cooper in Coventry, although he doesn't seem to have a website anymore. I'm not sure I'd go down the custom frame build route again.