It's All About The Bike - Anyone read It?
Discussion
Mmmm.
I finished the frame build chapter, and despite understanding his desire to have a unique frame (see later), his justifications seemed weak. For example, he went through the elaborate "sizing" procedure in which his frame builder took measurements, interviewed him, went out on rides with him etc etc etc, before building the frame. He made the point that bikes usually come in small, medium or large sizes, but humans don't. Conversely, he went on to outline that many aspects of frame geometry are pretty much fixed (for a particular type of bike), having been tried and tested since the dawn of the bicycle itself. He also mentioned that some custom frame builders can "size" a frame simply by looking at the rider.
It seemed to me while reading it, that a lot of it seemed like a load of guff: Unless you're some kind of freak, then surely a standard frame can easily be tailored to pretty much any rider by adjustments of seat, seat hight, bar and stem geometry, crank length etc. And undoubtedly easily within the limits of accuracy of someone just sizing a frame by looking at the build of a person. I'll be very interested to find out (if it's disclosed in the book) exzctly how different his frame is - in terms of geometry - to an off-the shelf version.
Don't get me wrong: The reason I'm reading the book is becasue a work colleague has just taken delivery of a beautiful custom Ti frame made in China, and the thought of doing the same and having something totally unique appeals to me very much, having built several bikes in the past using standard components. Also, the bike spec I've been looking for doesn't appear to exist - yet. On that subject, I'd like to run through what my "ideal" bike would be on here if anyone cares to comment or give advice from similar experience?
Comments?
Thanks!
I finished the frame build chapter, and despite understanding his desire to have a unique frame (see later), his justifications seemed weak. For example, he went through the elaborate "sizing" procedure in which his frame builder took measurements, interviewed him, went out on rides with him etc etc etc, before building the frame. He made the point that bikes usually come in small, medium or large sizes, but humans don't. Conversely, he went on to outline that many aspects of frame geometry are pretty much fixed (for a particular type of bike), having been tried and tested since the dawn of the bicycle itself. He also mentioned that some custom frame builders can "size" a frame simply by looking at the rider.
It seemed to me while reading it, that a lot of it seemed like a load of guff: Unless you're some kind of freak, then surely a standard frame can easily be tailored to pretty much any rider by adjustments of seat, seat hight, bar and stem geometry, crank length etc. And undoubtedly easily within the limits of accuracy of someone just sizing a frame by looking at the build of a person. I'll be very interested to find out (if it's disclosed in the book) exzctly how different his frame is - in terms of geometry - to an off-the shelf version.
Don't get me wrong: The reason I'm reading the book is becasue a work colleague has just taken delivery of a beautiful custom Ti frame made in China, and the thought of doing the same and having something totally unique appeals to me very much, having built several bikes in the past using standard components. Also, the bike spec I've been looking for doesn't appear to exist - yet. On that subject, I'd like to run through what my "ideal" bike would be on here if anyone cares to comment or give advice from similar experience?
Comments?
Thanks!
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