Custom Build Question

I'd take any fitting with a pinch of salt - if you had five fittings done at by five different experts I can guarantee you'll come out of it with five quite different set ups. I've been to Cyclefit and found it very useful, especially the set up of your pedalling position, but they gave me a position which was far more upright than I had before and felt totally wrong to me. Give it a go but be prepared to modify it if you aren't happy with it.

i have just started and not loads of knowledge here!
I have been in this forum looking at techy stuff but sometimes is too much for my little head.
i wlill go to derby and get fitted...a bit nuts maybe?

Nuts? Not at all. If you're going sometime this month, I might even join you!

+1 to getting fitted, though I'll confess that I just built myself a new bike and didn't and it's come out spot on, which was more luck than judgment to be fair.

If you want to get really anal about brazing/geo/etc, dip into these forums

http://www.frameforum.org/forum3/index.php

Lots of shop talk.

i will go on the 25th oct because is cheaper £16
and as they take 20 weeks to do the bike, is fine
i would love it you come with me

i have to say that i love my surly!

Well, I was thinking of riding up in the next couple of weeks, but if that doesn't happen then I'll keep 25th October as my incentive!

maybe i could go with you but it has to be a sat. i haven't got a clue how far it is

Roberts will charge you quite a bit more than Mercian and Bob Jackson although my Chas Roberts still hit the sweetspot after twelve years on the road..:)

@smiling buddha:
do you love th mercian too? grant seems a nice guy

Emilia,
Just spotted the dead Surly thread and then this. Having just (well 4 months ago now...) built a frame up at the Dave Yates' frame building class and still not ridden it, I can't say how good the fit is yet or how it rides, but I can tell you that Dave is a top bloke that will not bullshit you and it would be well worth your time giving him a ring to ask about having a frame built for you.
Since his speciality is audax and that's pretty much exactly the spec bike you describe, I'd definately chat to him. I'd start of by saying you really like how your Surly rides and take it from there.
There are also some new dropouts available (from Jonny Cycles if you ask nicely) which allow you to run modern multispeed set ups or fixed on the same frame. You can do this with old Campag 110 style dropouts, or the newer Surly Karate Monkey dropouts, but Jonny's design has moved the derailleur mount so that it lines up properly with the back end of the dropout. Campag 110 dropouts require the wheel to be at the front end of the dropout to work properly, hence you need the little adjuster screws to keep the wheel pushed forwards.
Anyhow, worth a thought. However, the absolute best looking frames I've seen in the UK come from Robin Mather. I'd rate him as the only UK "constructeur" at present. Have a look at some of his galleries.

em i just read this thread, then te one about your wrecked surly.. this is what you said about it on there....

"I know, I know, but I'm struggling to imagine how. I'd had the bike for 14 months - just enough time to do a few 1000 miles, have some adventures, and totally fall in love with it. I'd started to make all sorts of plans for the future - I'd just put a rack on it, and was going to promote it to being my long-distance inter-city bike (I've just picked up a boring bog-standard Condor, which will now become my rebound bike), and eventually ride across America on it. And then some. And it rode like a dream - I smiled every time I got on it, and used to glance at it sitting in the corner of my room, and feel all smug that it was mine.

I'd almost rather have broken a few bones. Bones heal - frames don't."

i was thinking, why not just buy another surly? from the way you talk about it, it sounds like you wouldnt get much better love from a custom £700er... i dunno, just a thought. wish i had a surly.

@smiling buddha:
do you love th mercian too? grant seems a nice guy

you what?

OK, so having recently been bereaved of my Surly (sniff), I am starting to think about the Next Big Thing, and have decided that, since I was always going to drop a grand or two on a top-notch custom-built frame at some point, it might as well be this point.

But how on earth does one decide which framebuilder to go for? At the moment I'm erring towards Mercian, but this is on the fairly flimsy basis of a couple of 5-minute test rides on other people's bikes, lots of positive testimonials, and (ahem) the fact that they're really really pretty.

Do Mercian make two grand frames?

Do Mercian make two grand frames?

No, but I'll have to get wheels and shit.

em i just read this thread, then te one about your wrecked surly.. this is what you said about it on there....

"I know, I know, but I'm struggling to imagine how. I'd had the bike for 14 months - just enough time to do a few 1000 miles, have some adventures, and totally fall in love with it. I'd started to make all sorts of plans for the future - I'd just put a rack on it, and was going to promote it to being my long-distance inter-city bike (I've just picked up a boring bog-standard Condor, which will now become my rebound bike), and eventually ride across America on it. And then some. And it rode like a dream - I smiled every time I got on it, and used to glance at it sitting in the corner of my room, and feel all smug that it was mine.

I'd almost rather have broken a few bones. Bones heal - frames don't."

i was thinking, why not just buy another surly? from the way you talk about it, it sounds like you wouldnt get much better love from a custom £700er... i dunno, just a thought. wish i had a surly.

'Tis funny, this has crossed my mind, but I've barely considered it. I don't know why. It could just be sentimentality, in which case I should really HTFU and get over it. I think I'm just assuming that it would never be quite the same, and you need to move on from these things, rather than trying to recreate them.

I don't know. Maybe I am just being sentimental. Anyone else got experience of exchanging like for like?

(And I am keeping my fingers crossed that whatever frame builder I go to might also be able to replace the Surly's down tube...)

Emilia,
Just spotted the dead Surly thread and then this. Having just (well 4 months ago now...) built a frame up at the Dave Yates' frame building class and still not ridden it, I can't say how good the fit is yet or how it rides, but I can tell you that Dave is a top bloke that will not bullshit you and it would be well worth your time giving him a ring to ask about having a frame built for you.
Since his speciality is audax and that's pretty much exactly the spec bike you describe, I'd definately chat to him. I'd start of by saying you really like how your Surly rides and take it from there.
There are also some new dropouts available (from Jonny Cycles if you ask nicely) which allow you to run modern multispeed set ups or fixed on the same frame. You can do this with old Campag 110 style dropouts, or the newer Surly Karate Monkey dropouts, but Jonny's design has moved the derailleur mount so that it lines up properly with the back end of the dropout. Campag 110 dropouts require the wheel to be at the front end of the dropout to work properly, hence you need the little adjuster screws to keep the wheel pushed forwards.
Anyhow, worth a thought. However, the absolute best looking frames I've seen in the UK come from Robin Mather. I'd rate him as the only UK "constructeur" at present. Have a look at some of his galleries.

Ooh - thanks for the tip! I think I'll be doing a bit of a tour of framebuilders this autumn... And it hadn't even occurred to me to look for multispeed/fixed compatibility, but that sounds eminently sensible.

Any chance I could have a look at your frame at some point? When are you going to be riding it?

mercian does repairs. they sent the prices af all the things they do I seem to remeber that it was 70 pounds for a tube.

I heard £75. But I'm not going to believe it till I see it. Don't want to get my hopes up...

i will have a look in the paper and i will tell you when get home

ah but you looked so happy in the pic, just imagine you could recreate it for cheeeap. then spend the rest of your money on something else.. i once had the top and down tube of a bike replaced. £150 from memory. good luck however you decide to play it though. Argos cycles here in bristol are tip top by the way.

If you go Mercian then go up and see them, tell them what you want and see what they say. They will measure you but be aware it will be different to what Cyclefit say . They use different theories and take a different approach. As someone else mentioned Cyclefit can leave you a bit upright. I have used Cyclefit to get some feedback on my road bike and ultimately found it didn't suit me, But my Mercian feels just right......
If you can justify the costs and don't mind waiting then going custom is worth it. All part of the experience is seeing what all these great british companies can make and finding the one that seems right for you.

My Mercian took some time, it was painful at times but in my mind it was worth it.....

That black Mercian's bloomin marvellous.

Ta. Its actually gun metal grey and real quality paint job to boot. Probably need to get a better camera...

(If anyone else wants to tempt me with pictures of their beautiful Mercians, please feel free...)

A deep seventies lick!

The blue is deeper than this and the beige is warmer...

Not a custom, this one was built for the showroom in '76. Just lacing the wheels tonight, on the road in a week I hope.

My Mercian took some time, it was painful at times but in my mind it was worth it.....

I can't see how it could have been painful (unless there was a wait!), this is the actual real fuckin balls, apart from that contraceptive thing on the top tube. what a lovely bike, you must get people complimenting you on it all the time.

I bet people hang up when you answer the phone