Chas Roberts, pre-fitting thoughts

Hello All,

On Wednesday I am going to see Chas Roberts for a fitting. My plan is to have Roberts build the frame, I will source the components and pay Roberts to build the bike.

At the moment I use an old Giant beater for my 18 mile (round-trip) daily commute. My aim is to get a really efficient perfectly fitting bike so that a 25-30 mile daily round-trip will be practical, not sure I could manage this on my current bike.

Any advice on how I should handle this would be greatly appreciated. Would you leave it all to Roberts knowing you can rely on his expertise? Or would you consider a fitting from somewhere like Cyclelabs as a second opinion to take into account?

This is the first time I have ordered a custom built frame, any ideas on what the really important decisions are would be great. I'm hoping this will be my most treasured possession and I don't want to cock it up.

A big Thank You to anyone who takes the time to respond.

All the best.

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.

Also, look at other frame builders - there are plenty here in the UK and loads of the forum bods have had stuff made. Dave Yates does a supervised frame-building course if ou really want to get your hands dirty.

Thanks Bodie.

I have been looking at frame builders for the last few months, Dave Yates, Mercian, Feather, Wilson... and have read all the threads I could find on here relating to this issue. For various reasons I have settled on Roberts Cycles (history, proximity, general high regard) just not sure how much I should be sitting back and leaving it to them from here.

Just thought, is there a reason you think I should look at other builders instead of Roberts Cycles? They seem well respected from what I have read.

Trust Roberts.

Speak with JayGee as he has two custom frames from him.

I have a Roberts - granted it's not a custom, but the workmanship is fantastic.

dnmzone is right though.

I know many frame builders will take measurements from how you've setup your current bike and work from there. If Roberts intend to do this it may be worth mentioning that your not confident you've currently got the optimum positioning, and can they offer a proper fitting?

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]

The most important factor, IMHO, is to tell the frame builder what you want to us the bike for and for what sort of riding. Unless you really know what you want in a frame, I would leave it up to the builder.

Have faith, trust Roberts, prepare to be very happy.

It might be a bit 'flexy'

^ troll

I had Chaz make me a frame last year. Very please with the end result all in all. Only thing I would say is he recommended me a stem length that turned out to be quite a bit to long. I would imagine this can be put down largely to riding style. Chaz really knows what he's doing but make sure your very specific in telling him exactly what you want to use the frame for.

in other word, be honest, be very honest.

tell your frame builder porkies

you'll get a hilarious bike

Get the top tube length right (stem reach). Discuss riding posture and types of riding you want to do.

Figure out what Braze ons you may want now and in future (discs or cantis? mudguards? racks? chain hook? Gear cabling?)

Think about what tyre clearances you'd like.

Take their advuce from there in terms of scructure. Think about nice colours, engraving etc.

Are you building a tourer? Do you like offroad? Would you rather a trad audaxy type thing? These are the questions you need to ask yourself.

Fit changes as your riding changes so what you get measured for, in 6 months, may not be what's optimal. Be prepared to adjust stuff, even on a custom frame.

Just sayin'

Trudis^

Do some core strength and flexibility training for a few months before getting a fit done. Scherrit was saying he wished most people did this before having a fit done.

Some frame builders are brilliant builders but not may not be so great at the fit aspect. Many people with custom bikes are possibly not keen to say their bike is not perfect or may not know the difference between a good and a great fit.

Builders who spec your bike based on your current frame assume your bike is the correct fit. A good fitter takes your current position and adjusts it to enhance.

The fit will depend on what you intend to do- racing/sportive/touring will all require slightly different positions.

Trudat^

1+1=2

Austrailian Degree level mathmatics^

You must spread some rep....etc...Smallfurry...etc...

Austrailian Degree level mathmatics^

Best not to include spelling mistakes when taking the piss out of someone's education.

#furryfail