What is Custom?

This term gets thrown around a lot in our industry. Big box bike brands started using the term a number of years ago when they saw a loss of market share to the companies that were making actual custom bikes. As an example, Trek's Project One marketing suggests that those bikes are custom. In reality, they are custom painted and you have some limited component choices. That's not exactly custom. There are plenty of other companies using the term to sell their product as well. I recently got an email from a company marketing their bikes as "Custom Made Italian Bikes". I was obviously curious and did some research only to find that they were neither custom nor Italian. They were Chinese bikes with a few component selections. In fact I've researched a number of other "Italian Made" bikes only to find out they are made by Giant or other Asian factories but that's a subject for another time.

To us, custom means custom. The entire bike is built for you. The frame itself is custom built for the rider, the paint and component selection is also completely custom. We'll call it "True Custom". We feel this is an important differentiation to make. We feel that the value of a custom bike far outweighs that of a production bike. For one, the people making these true custom frames are cyclists. Cyclists who are passionate about their art and they care about the product they create. The benefits of perfect fit, perfect center of gravity, material selection based on the rider and refined handling can not be compared to production frames. There are other things to consider here such as supporting local economy and environmental impact. Supporting frame builders in America and in your area keep money in your community. Ultimately what true custom provides is an absolutely seamless connection between the rider and the bike, better performance, peace of mind, and a bike that you'll keep forever.