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How a $4,550 bespoke bicycle is made


dinneR

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

I gotta agree - both were cool.  It's a neat process.  Damn, though, the tools alone in that Soulcraft shop must make it tough to start a business.

IIRC Sean Walling has been making steel frames for ages. He was with another small builder, Salsa maybe before going on his own.

I considered Soulcraft but figured an off the peg Ritchey was good enough and easier in the wallet. 

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5 minutes ago, denniS said:

What are you considering?

Another Ritchey, the Ultra MTB frame.  I already spoke to shop owner where I got my Swiss Cross and he could build me up a cool SS for around $1,500 with stuff he has around the shop. Doesn’t need to order anything other than the frame.  He actually sounded really excited about the project. 

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45 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Another Ritchey, the Ultra MTB frame.  I already spoke to shop owner where I got my Swiss Cross and he could build me up a cool SS for around $1,500 with stuff he has around the shop. Doesn’t need to order anything other than the frame.  He actually sounded really excited about the project. 

That's a great price. Black or the RWB?

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9 minutes ago, denniS said:

That's a great price. Black or the RWB?

I think it’s only in that greyish black but I’d definitely get the RWB if it’s available.  

Yeah it was awesome when I asked him as I wanted to do a budget build and he’s all in mad scientist mode digging around the shop, OK I have this take off fork & wheels, I got enough shit laying around to build the rest. We’d just need a frame.. 

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...all my bespoke bicycles were first bespoken by someone else, so I get quite a break on the price. :)

I just drove a frame down to Bernie Mikkelsen's frame shop in Alameda yesterday. Bernie is 75 years old, has had at least one major stroke, but he's still going at in there with the help of his wife.  It was quite an adventure for me, because I haven't driven down to San Francisco in well over a year, what with all the staying at home and stuff.

 

Bernie put a   couple of water bottle bosses in the down tube of an old Fuji Finest road frame I'm planning to paint and build up in the Summer.

 

 

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9 hours ago, Page Turner said:

...all my bespoke bicycles were first bespoken by someone else, so I get quite a break on the price. :)

I just drove a frame down to Bernie Mikkelsen's frame shop in Alameda yesterday. Bernie is 75 years old, has had at least one major stroke, but he's still going at in there with the help of his wife.  It was quite an adventure for me, because I haven't driven down to San Francisco in well over a year, what with all the staying at home and stuff.

 

Bernie put a   couple of water bottle bosses in the down tube of an old Fuji Finest road frame I'm planning to paint and build up in the Summer.

 

 

Did it just have bosses on the down tube?  Those Fuji Finest frames seem to have a following.

 In the 80’s I was a Euro snob coveting all things Campy & the Euro bike brands but have come to really appreciate the Japanese brands & 70’s & 80’s Sun Tour components. 

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2 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Did it just have bosses on the down tube?  Those Fuji Finest frames seem to have a following.

 In the 80’s I was a Euro snob coveting all things Campy & the Euro bike brands but have come to really appreciate the Japanese brands & 70’s & 80’s Sun Tour components. 

...I have had this one Fuji Finest as a rider for many years. It's one of the first year frames, with a track fork crown.  They were all fully chromed, and someone stripped all the paint off it,  so I've been riding it like that, and this year I decided to repaint and resticker it.  In the process, looking for some original, authentic parts, another one came up for a hunnert bucks over on the Davis CL.  But someone had drilled holes for a bottle cage on that one, and never put reinforcment bosses in it, probably because it was chromed.

I was just gonna strip it and use the parts, but I had some remorse about just tossing a pretty good early Japanese frame, so I decided to repaint that one too.  :facepalm:

They were from that era when bottle bosses were just a dream, and the vast majority of production frames did not have them.  I think they were fearful of weakening the down tube by adding additional heats. And yes to the fact that Suntour derailleurs from the 70's work very well, so the idea that they are "authentic" on these bikes is definitely a plus. I have some Cyclone derailleurs that need to be used.

 

On my original frame, to save the chrome, I'm just gonna mount a cage on the bar with an adapter they used to sell at Performance.

 

 

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