Custom Bike recs

[johnnybravo]

OK, heres a loaded question. I have been riding a fuji aluminium bike. My complaints are the top tube too long-stress on the back and harsh ride. I've been considering a custom bike. I race cat3 and enjoy road races and crits.

The only custom bikes around me are Serottas. I price out a legend with dura ace and it was around 7500. I like the ride of carbon but the only custom carbon around me is de rosa which is too pricey.

What other custom bikes would you recomend? Parlee? About how much do they cost?

[Kurt]

if you do, it narrows done your choices quite a bit. Look around in your races, do you see many guys racing expensive frames in cat3? giant, trek, cdale all make frames well suited for racing that cost half or less. If you have a lot of cash and/or you just want to ride something different then forget what I said.

[Ken Robb]

or a Clll rather than a Legend

[Peter]

You don't want custom. You are an amateur racer. You WILL crash when you race. Crashes break frames. Frames cost money. Lots of money. Do not buy expensive frames unless you have lots of money to replace them when you crash while racing.

Find a standard production bike that fits you that you can afford to race on Sunday and pile drive into the ground, then replace on Monday without flinching. I am not joking on this. In fact, same goes for the parts. Keep the Dura-Ace for the trustafarians and sponsored racers.

Try a Trek OCLV, a lower end Look (excelsports.com), or maybe a Calfee Luna (calfeedesign.com) ; you mentioned carbon so these are "affordable" carbon suggestions. I'm not a fan of carbon so I don't recall many brands. I like steel. Affordable steel. If only because you race and you can, in theory, replace it quickly with no tears and a small wallet because you are an amateur racer. For my favorite, steel, I recommend a Gunnar Roadie or as a bow to the quality Serotta products, the Fierte.

[Zarathustra]

Peter said:
"You don't want custom. You are an amateur racer. You WILL crash when you race. Crashes break frames. Frames cost money. Lots of money. Do not buy expensive frames unless you have lots of money to replace them when you crash while racing."



If you get a Serotta, which I think you should, you can be in their Owner's Club. This is a little gem that most people don't realize exists but is really the only one of its kind in the industry.
Basically it is like an insurrance policy for your frame. If you get in an accident, no matter how it happened, Serotta will fix your bike for only a small deductable price. I think it works out to be around a $200 max, no matter how much damage is done to the frame. If it is beyond repair, they give you a substantial deal on a replacement frame.
Owner's Club costs $250 for 5 years of coverage.
I think it is a great idea. It makes the whole Serotta thing more worthwhile in my opinion.

Z

[Serotta PETE]

Below is the wording from the web site. For more detail see (Owners Club) on Serotta.com


Serotta Crash coverage cumulative $1,000 of covered structural repair through out the course of membership; $250 cap on all repairs in excess of $1,000; replacement frame (if original frame can not be repaired, at manufacturers discretion, a new frame of equal value can be purchased for $250)
30% discount on cosmetic repair/repaint**