Any builders/shops do straight contract building ?

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

Just wondering if the cost savings would be anything meaningful by forgoing the consultation. And yes - I can see that for geo/fit, it's probably not a big saving if you know what you need.

On the other hand, I can see where just sending a geo/fit sheet to a builder would deprive you of a lot of the expertise RE: his/her knowledge of tube characteristics, ride quality, etc. So, on balance, for me, it seems to me that consultation is really pretty good value....

most decent builders aren't going to build something for you without a consult, in some form.

it's like walking into an attorney's office and asking them to sue someone for you for x without actually speaking to the lawyer.

there's more than a cad sheet. always.

the tl;dr of this thread: you're not going to save any money trying to cut corners. but you may end up with a ****ty bike.

[d_douglas]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

the tl;dr of this thread: you're not going to save any money trying to cut corners. but you may end up with a ****ty bike.

Well put. I think you'd just annoy a framebuilder with a request like that, in spite of you know a fair bit about geometry, etc.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

it's like walking into an attorney's office and asking them to sue someone for you for x without actually speaking to the lawyer.

.

disagree.

we here like to romanticize bicycles, but the bottom line is that a bicycle frame is a piece of mechanical hardware, period.

if a client knows exactly what they want, they absolutely can create a detailed specification that has no grey areas.

now i would agree that many/most clients are not skilled enough to create a specification detailed enough to get exactly what they want, but this attorney analogy is not representative of specifying a bike frame.

for a little background, i have spent enough time in the design engineering world to understand the variables at play.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Well put. I think you'd just annoy a framebuilder with a request like that, in spite of you know a fair bit about geometry, etc.

this is why i asked if anyone specialized in this. i would not want to ask a custom framebuilder to build to my specs blindly if that's not what they do.

another example is vicious cycles and frank the welder. they do contract work for at least a few other small custom bike manufacturers. someone designs the bikes, and someone else builds them to their specs. it's not exactly a foreign concept.

if you buy a gaulzetti, you get a bike spec'd by craig and built to his specs by someone else.

my question was.....does anyone offer this service on a per/bike basis.

[AngryScientist]

also, i'm not trying to come across as knowing more than anyone, or downplaying the importance of the framebuilder's expertise, but in this particular case, i happen to know exactly what i want, that's all

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

this is why i asked if anyone specialized in this. i would not want to ask a custom framebuilder to build to my specs blindly if that's not what they do.

another example is vicious cycles and frank the welder. they do contract work for at least a few other small custom bike manufacturers. someone designs the bikes, and someone else builds them to their specs. it's not exactly a foreign concept.

if you buy a gaulzetti, you get a bike spec'd by craig and built to his specs by someone else.

my question was.....does anyone offer this service on a per/bike basis.

I'll resubmit Colossi. But to your earlier point, the charts I saw sent to them and returned to confirm before production, were far more detailed than just a BikeCAD sketch.

[gdw]

If you don't mind buying from a European builder contact Mercian. https://www.merciancycles.co.uk/

[joosttx]

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

this is why i asked if anyone specialized in this. i would not want to ask a custom framebuilder to build to my specs blindly if that's not what they do.

another example is vicious cycles and frank the welder. they do contract work for at least a few other small custom bike manufacturers. someone designs the bikes, and someone else builds them to their specs. it's not exactly a foreign concept.

if you buy a gaulzetti, you get a bike spec'd by craig and built to his specs by someone else.

my question was.....does anyone offer this service on a per/bike basis.

It is possible that Co-Motion does this kind of work. Worth an ask at least.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

disagree.

we here like to romanticize bicycles, but the bottom line is that a bicycle frame is a piece of mechanical hardware, period.

if a client knows exactly what they want, they absolutely can create a detailed specification that has no grey areas.

now i would agree that many/most clients are not skilled enough to create a specification detailed enough to get exactly what they want, but this attorney analogy is not representative of specifying a bike frame.

for a little background, i have spent enough time in the design engineering world to understand the variables at play.

I agree that you may not need the builder to do the geo for you but other aspects need to be considered. Being and engineer and being knowledgeable about bikes is not an a priori qualification to completely spec every detail of a bike (unless you are copying an existing bike that you have all the specs for). You would absolutely not expect spec to remain the same in terms of tubing etc throughout the size range of frames but do you know when and where those changes should be made and by how much along the spectrum of sizes for a given design/engineering goal. I know this is not rocket science, but at the same time, you may not get what you are asking for if you don't know what you should be asking for.

If you feel that you have the prerequisite knowledge and I am certainly not saying that you don't, then your position is valid. I just have a lot of experience with engineers from other fields being by far the most challenging clients to work with because they often assume that there is a natural transference of complete expertise across to other design/build areas. There is not. For the record Nick, I am not painting you with this brush, does not seem to be your style. Is it pride or thrift that is driving your desire to avoid a simple consultation that may be beneficial to you both; or perhaps you just have something exact to copy, just curious?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

this is why i asked if anyone specialized in this. i would not want to ask a custom framebuilder to build to my specs blindly if that's not what they do.

another example is vicious cycles and frank the welder. they do contract work for at least a few other small custom bike manufacturers. someone designs the bikes, and someone else builds them to their specs. it's not exactly a foreign concept.

if you buy a gaulzetti, you get a bike spec'd by craig and built to his specs by someone else.

my question was.....does anyone offer this service on a per/bike basis.

Yeah, you're on the right track. Don't overthink this. You won't end up with a custom-butted Firefly or Spectrum, but if you take your bikecad drawing to an OEM builder, you're probably going to end up with a bike that you're happy with.

[rwsaunders]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Ftw ....

+1...FTW FTW...that’s Frank the Welder for the win. Might make a good vanity license plate...FTWFTW...or *** or ****** if you're dyslexic or looking in the rear view mirror.

[John H.]

I bet John Slawta would do it- But it would be in carbon.

[charliedid]

I don't think it would be very hard to find someone to build you what you want. The question is what you want? Are you simply wanting to supply your geo/fit numbers to a builder, that's done all the time but the builder/company obviously has veto/oversight power if they are putting their good name on it. Are you also wanting to spec tubing, tubing manipulation etc? If it's simply "I love the way this Ritchey rides, can you make this but do x to it" as a starting point is normal but still a convo.

Plenty of examples of "custom" geo to accommodate peoples fit and preference from many very well respected builders. Not that I think that is always a good thing. You know the ones...

Or is this a one-off original design that you have that you want come to life just for yourself or are you wanting to "produce" them? Prototype if you will.

Sorry if these questions have been answered but I didn't notice. Obviously you don't need to share more than you want to.

[Bentley]

Originally Posted by joosttx

No intention of hijacking the thread, but this is nice, your work?

Best

Ray