deal?"..Nowbroaderthoughts....
>>
> A couple of points here. I agree that a used custom-made bike is not as
logical an item to go after as a new one and definitely not worth a premium
over a frame of the same builder made for off-the-shelf sale. I would even
go so far as to say that it is perhaps less attractive to me. However to
equate this with used clothing is quite a different matter.
Steve... I don't know of a lot of stuff one can buy where the individual's build and measurements come into play beyond tailored clothing and cycle frames. I thought this was the essential starting point in having a frame custom made: your measurements. So if you buy someone else's custom made bike you are, essentially, buying some else's custom made suit or shoes. If it fits, great but....
Quality is subjective of course, but it's just an assumption that doesn't follow in most things, including cycles, that custom made just means better. For example, supposing (and surely this happened) you had a framebuilder of very set ways and methods and tastes... does this follow that what he built was necessarily reflected better ways and methods or just is own? I would assume larger even huge cycle manufacturers had all manner of influences, good, bad and indifferent, thrown into the mix. And the product may have benefited or not from this broader participation and perspective. And somehow there is something rather wonderful about something good, not necessarily great, that was made in huge numbers, sold at a competitive price and impacted the general market in a way no custom machine could do.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA
I