Custom Build Question

Thanks for the advice Corny, and I'm interested to hear what you make of Cyclefit James - it's not money I'd planned on spending (and contrary to the impression given upthread, I don't have all that much!), but if you reckon it's really really worthwhile, I'll start thinking about it.

is this for a fixed road/track bike to do lots of miles on the road? or a polo/street/HHSB?
if for the former personally wouldn't go to an unknown builder without experience of using the majority of tubesets available. builders like yates or roberts have years of building experience behind them and will often mix reynolds and columbus tubesets because they know exactly what to use to create the ride you want.
if it's for the latter then get anyone to build it as ride quality isn't going to be that important.

if i was in your situation i would probably go for mercian or for something racey a jf wilson, chas roberts does some nice fillet brazed frames but i prefer traditional. (roberts is local too)

I think Roberts will probably be my first stop - they're just down the road from me! I'm planning this as a road (rather than a street) bike. I'll be doing big distances on it (some racey, some toury) and probably a few really silly things like crossing America or the Karakoram Highway. So it needs to be a very comfortable ride (and have rack mounts...). In fact, given my lofty ambitions, shelling out for Cyclefit is beginning to look more and more sensible.

Don't the framebuilders measure you themselves then? Or is it best to have a second opinion?