Chas Roberts, pre-fitting thoughts

PM Scherrit. He and Mrs Scherrit run The Bike Whisperer. Not personally had the pleasure, but there's a thread and he's well-respected.

and Roberts isn't?

why go to a respected frame builder if you don't trust his judgement? fair enough if it's one of the newer builders that have sprung up recently but somebody whose built more frames that you have had hot dinners? you will be telling him what mix of tubesets you want next.

reminds me of this:
substitute pegoretti for roberts (or rourke or shrubb etc)

*"Our decision is rooted in a few things, but the primary reason is the trend we've seen in our Pegoretti frame sales: The proportion of stock to custom has tipped heavily (shall we say completely?) over to custom. That's not a problem in itself, except that it seems we subscribe to an old-fashioned notion of custom where it's a blessed opportunity in life to surrender the need for critical decision-making, and instead you can go in silence and confidence as you hand yourself over to a master. How many times in life do you get to do that? The best custom Pegorettis have always been made of 4 ingredients: Dario's vast experience, his tape measure, the 3 questions he'll ask you, and your silence. **Custom seems to mean something different now, where personal urges get veto power over the very thing you're paying for: The know-how of the gifted builder. It's a recipe for unhappiness for everyone involved. You don't give instruction to the master tailor, the pilot, or the Michelin-starred chef. From whence does the license come to do so with the framemaker? *
If you'd like a custom frame and you feel the need to be actively involved, there are companies built to accommodate that and we all know who they are and they'll provide you lovely conversation and empathy. But if you have your eye on a Peg, then do one of two things:
*(1) Buy a stock size frame. There's a reason why stock geometry exists -- it works for almost everyone. In terms of buying, waiting for delivery, riding, and owning -- the best Pegorettis are stock Pegorettis. *
(2) If you must go custom, first take a vow of silence, then track down Dario in person (at Interbike, at the NAHBS, in Trento -- he's accessible) and let him do his thing. Don't expect a religious experience. Start to finish it'll take <2 minutes. When Dario is done measuring he'll hand you a piece of paper with his notes to himself and you can take it to your dealer and they can fax the paper in. [I]They even get to be silent. That sort of focused interaction has a purity to it that's missing from the retail Pegoretti experience as it's most often had, where the customer expresses curiosity & predispositions about Pegoretti to the bike shop; the bike shop (eager to make the sale) validates those predispositions then transmits them to Gita; Gita translates these wishes and in what we're told is timely communication passes them along to Dario. It's a long and arduous chain of communication for a product whose success, ironically, all too often isn't measured by its actual ride. The more customized the frame order is, the greater the extent to which success gets measured by whether the geometry is accurate down to the last mm, and whether the paint is correct down to the exact hue. It becomes a kitchen remodel, not a bike order."[/I]