Soliciting advice for a custom build

[MattTuck]

Will be receiving a Dave Kirk made frame over the winter, and am thinking about what I want to hang on it.

I currently ride a bike where the front wheel doesn't match the rear, so the idea of matching parts and colors is pretty exciting.


Right now, I'm thinking that if I choose to paint the frame white, the panels will be either blue, red or blue and red. I'd like to get wheels built up with hubs that match the headset, and probably alloy colored rims and Ultegra group (I think the alloy and metal look better with white paint).

If I go with another color, grey, solid blue or orangy rust are strong contenders, I think i'll go with HED rims, and campy chorus as I don't think the black/dark looks so bad on a non-white bike.

Either way, I'll probably get an Ericksen Sweetpost so the accent on that matches the headset and hubs. Not going to do anything crazy for the bars, just alloy. Might have the stem painted to match the bike.

Any other ideas or suggestions on what you'd do with a custom?

Pictures are good too.

[jr59]

Getting Dave to build you a matching stem and having JB paint it sounds like a GREAT idea to me.

As what to put on it. That's a personal thing. Campy and High Shimmano both work well. DI2 to EPS, 10 or 11 it all does work well.

[handsomerob]

Fwiw.... I think black bits can look awesome on a white/pearl bike. I had a Carrera that looked BA... Atmo.

Especially with silver panels and black lettering.

[FlashUNC]

As my girlfriend liked to remind me when I was parts hunting for a couple builds, black works with just about everything.

If you're getting a light colored frame, I think the contrast would work really well.

Here's an admittedly poor series of shots with my rather bright orange custom with nearly all black components. (The hubs and spokes are all silver, rest is black.)

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=102730

[rugbysecondrow]

why did you commission the custom? What was your dream, purpose for it?

[MattTuck]

why did you commission the custom? What was your dream, purpose for it?

Everyday driver. I don't race. Mostly solo riding. Want it to be well balanced and stiff enough that when a heavy guy like me gets out of the saddle it moves. Just wanted a hand-made custom for the craftsmanship and uniqueness of it. I've ridden the same bike since 2002, a steel Lemond Zurich.

Knowing that I'll probably be riding this one for that long or longer* makes me want to be careful about choosing colors and components.


Unless I get bitten by the 'custom bug' and start ordering frames left and right.

[jr59]

Unless I get bitten by the 'custom bug' and start ordering frames left and right.


This is an easy bug to catch and a hard one to cure!

No 12 step programs for guys like me!

[mcteague]

A bike build question? Isn't this the "LA doped" forum?:D I gotta check my browser settings.

Tim

[jimcav]

Everyday driver. I don't race. Mostly solo riding. Want it to be well balanced and stiff enough that when a heavy guy like me gets out of the saddle it moves. Just wanted a hand-made custom for the craftsmanship and uniqueness of it. I've ridden the same bike since 2002, a steel Lemond Zurich.

Knowing that I'll probably be riding this one for that long or longer* makes me want to be careful about choosing colors and components.


Unless I get bitten by the 'custom bug' and start ordering frames left and right.

just in case you decide to sell later :)
I'd put the new sram RED exo/aero whatever it is called--think it looks good and i like what i've read about the yaw and function. However, if you won't get the bike for awhile, consider 2013 Di2--you can program it for multiple shifts etc, and with the hidden battery options that exist the focus can be on the frame--as it should be for your 1st (only?) custom--worth the investment if you ride the same bike for years and years!

[MattTuck]

just in case you decide to sell later :)
I'd put the new sram RED exo/aero whatever it is called--think it looks good and i like what i've read about the yaw and function. However, if you won't get the bike for awhile, consider 2013 Di2--you can program it for multiple shifts etc, and with the hidden battery options that exist the focus can be on the frame--as it should be for your 1st (only?) custom--worth the investment if you ride the same bike for years and years!

Yes, this will forever be my first custom. It will be for some amount of time (perhaps 6 months, perhaps 30 years) my only custom.


I believe my optimal top tube length is 55.5 cm. Although we'll see what Dave says after I give him all my numbers and desired ride characteristics.

As far the electronic shifting. I am not against it in any way. But it is pricey... and I'm truly not that convinced that the benefit is that much greater over mechanical shifting.

The way I figure it, wheels + group + other stuff is going to come in somewhere around $2200 - $3000, which is about where I'm comfortable. Adding electric does add to that substantially.

[mcgillicuddy_p]

I got a set of these for my new custom frame and I could not be happier:

http://www.industrynine.net/i25

Lots of hub colors to choose from as well.

[AngryScientist]

i think the custom made stems that DK and others make just take a nice build over the top, they are a real show of craftsmanship and attention to detail. if you can swing the additional cost, i would do a custom stem in a heartbeat.

also, if you're going to send "extras" to the paint booth, consider sending a frame pump barrel (topeak, they come apart in a minute) off to the painter to get that done too, another very classy move IMO, matching frame pump. someday i will have one myself.

i personally think color matched alloy rims are distasteful, just my opinion, but i think that's just too much.

silver hubs are always a class act, timeless in fact.

athena alloy bits are the bees knees, and top off any build perfectly, especially paired with nice silver hubs.

cant wait to see it.

[Fishbike]

1. Pick your primary color.
2. Pick your secondary color. What color combinations make you currently go weak? Remember, we are looking for an emotional reaction.
3. Pick your saddle and bar tape. If they are the same color, make sure they are the SAME color.
4. Pick the color of your gruppo. If the frame requires classic silver, NO SRAM and no modern Shimano.
5. Build your wheels. Colored rims can look great, but be careful not to overdue the color. No bike looked bad with silver or black rims.
6. Fill in the details like headset, hubs and cables.
7. Admire and ride!

[MattTuck]

i personally think color matched alloy rims are distasteful, just my opinion, but i think that's just too much.


Don't disagree that you can take it too far. (for rims, black or alloy are the way to go, although American Classic makes some white rims that might not look so bad on a white bike, :banana: ), it is definitely a fine line for hubs/headset/seat collar/outboard BB... pushing it to cable housings can be a little over the top. In my opinion, having a splash of color on the headset and hubs can make a bike pop, if the rest of it is pretty low key. But if you have a lot of accents competing for attention, it can be pretty distracting.

I think Charles took color matching to its theoretical and practical limit with his Meivici.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/serotta/meizipp1.jpg

[skijoring]

Get yours built before LOUIS! :banana:

[Llewellyn]

i think the custom made stems that DK and others make just take a nice build over the top, they are a real show of craftsmanship and attention to detail. if you can swing the additional cost, i would do a custom stem in a heartbeat.

I had a custom stem made for my Llewellyn (pics to follow) and I have to agree wholeheartedly. It sets the rest of the frame off beautifully


silver hubs are always a class act, timeless in fact.

athena alloy bits are the bees knees, and top off any build perfectly, especially paired with nice silver hubs.



I think silver components in general are timeless. It's a shame there are so few current options available

[rounder]

I am not an expert on buying custom bikes (have bought two), but to me the hardest part was settling on colors, i know it sounds stupid. I looked at all of the gallerys at D. Kirk, Tom Kellogg, Kelly Bedford, Serotta, etc. It won't tell you what you want, but it will give you a good idea of what you like and don't like.

Also, i think that buying components to match your colors is the wrong way to go. I think you should get the components you like, regardless. They will go with any paint job. Wheels - sky's the limit. You should get what you like. I matched the components, but custom was intriguing.

Not sure how helpful this is, but that is what i did. Good luck!

[jlwdm]

...

i personally think color matched alloy rims are distasteful, just my opinion, but i think that's just too much.

...

+100

Jeff

[tch]

... and you need to look around and see what sets you aglow, whether it be house colors, clothing, or utensils.

Personally, I'm a big fan of toned colors -- whites, greys, light greens, oranges...earthy colors. I set off these colors either with complementary colors (red on green, for instance) or black or white, depending.

As far as bits, I also find black to be more muted and modern than silver. And....it has the added advantage of opening up far more choices in components (lots more things made in black nowadays). But these are MY choices, not necessarily yours. You need to spend a lot of time looking at lotsa bikes and other items, cuz if you ask the forum, you'll get about 1,000 different answers...and none of them will be YOURS. (I'd NEVER paint a bike red, white, and blue....but a lot of people would!)

[MattTuck]

... and you need to look around and see what sets you aglow, whether it be house colors, clothing, or utensils.

Personally, I'm a big fan of toned colors -- whites, greys, light greens, oranges...earthy colors. I set off these colors either with complementary colors (red on green, for instance) or black or white, depending.

As far as bits, I also find black to be more muted and modern than silver. And....it has the added advantage of opening up far more choices in components (lots more things made in black nowadays). But these are MY choices, not necessarily yours. You need to spend a lot of time looking at lotsa bikes and other items, cuz if you ask the forum, you'll get about 1,000 different answers...and none of them will be YOURS. (I'd NEVER paint a bike red, white, and blue....but a lot of people would!)

I certainly have some preferences and ideas for things I might like to do, but I acknowledge that there's a ton more collective experience here than I could ever acquire on my own...

A lot of my ideas are also conflicting with each other. I'd love to do a white/pearl bike with a few small pink bands, maybe around one seat stay, around one fork arm and maybe around the seat tube. I am saving this one for Hampsten, because I like the single color look of those frames and think that design would be a better fit for a Hampsten.

[MattTuck]

This is probably my favorite Kirk of the new logo era. I'm not the biggest fan of the new logo, as I think it makes panels harder to pull of. But this one does a really good job.

http://www.kirkframeworks.com/galleries2012/di2_8.jpg

[weaponsgrade]

A few thoughts: rather than start w/ colors, I'd decide on a theme and go from there, e.g., classic, retro, racer, industrial, loud, etc. That's sort of the approach I took when deciding on a color for my Kirk. I wanted a classic/retro color, but with a modern accent color that popped.

[Tim Porter]

I've been through the process two times with Dave and JB and it's a blast. I knew from the get-go that I was going to be using Record or Super Record and I don't ever see myself using anything but black or silver bits--nothing anodized.

So when it came to frame colors I wound up with one from the boating world (I was trying to approximate the pistachio color that you see on some older Herreshoffs and didn't quite get there), and one from the classic bike world (champagne Masi, with yellow contrasting panels). Thinking back, I might have gotten JB to paint me a stem and/or pump.

Ride-wise, they're both just amazingly balanced and fast bikes. (Second photo from Dave.)

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a583/porterphoto1/file_zps1bd212a4.jpg

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a583/porterphoto1/file_zps63f8663c.jpg

[djg]

So the bottom line is that the bike should be great. Happy trails with that.

For some reason I've never been a big fan of custom stems painted to match the frame, but I might be in the minority on that.

Alloy-ish (anything from highly polished to that Deda pewter-y color) can work with a white bike but so can black. That's true for the seat post, the stem, the rims and the hubs.

Never a huge fan of the matchy-match thing: sure, I understand that obviously mismatched wheels might bug you, and I get the urge to coordinate saddle and bar tape, but somehow some bikes cross a design bridge too far with me -- you see a frame color picked up in the hubs, tire sidewalls, etc., etc., and eventually it looks too too. Rims should match each other, and otherwise should be the rims that are appropriate to the wheels you want. Hubs should match each other. Saddle and bar tape should match, and the saddle should be a saddle you like and the tape something decent. Stem and seat post, maybe -- I mean, it makes sense -- although I violated that on my custom build because . . . I'm not sure. I had a stem I liked and wanted to use and it looked good and I got a fizik post that seemed good, and had the right amount of setback, and that was the end of the thought process.

[scrubadub]

For my last custom, I told the builder what I liked and didn't like and told him to surprise me. It was a little stressful but also a fun surprise when I got the first photo of the bike after paint. He also chose many of components to match the paint.

DK seems like he's got a great eye for design, I'd give him some preferences and let him run with it.

[kentileguy]

I've always bought used bikes, so picking a color was never an issue. I recently had my Kirk repainted by JB. I purposely gave him some vague instructions and trusted his judgement. Glad i did.