The Bike Shop Ride: Custom Built

One of my favorite parts of my job is helping people find the bike that is perfect for them. Often we find that there is no “stock” bike that is exactly what they need or want. We then turn to building a bike for them from the ground up, a custom bike. The end result of these custom builds is almost always more special than a stock bike because it is built exactly they way they (we) wanted.

I always put a bit more work into custom builds, the little things. This result is a bike that isn’t just exactly the way someone wanted it, it also results in a bike that looks and functions better too.

Here are some shots of a custom Gunnar Fastlane I built for a woman who will be doing a supported cross-country tour this spring. In the future she will also do shorter tours, long weekend rides and travel with this bike.

I haven't worked with Gunnar much until this year. So far I have been very impressed with their frames and service. High-quality, made in America bikes, that fit and ride fantastic. What more can you ask for?

The build starts. Each component has been selected with the rider in mind. Headset pressed, bottom bracket and triple Ultegra crank installed.

Nice welds and fender mounts.

We wanted to add lowrider mounts, incase a small front load was ever needed.

For road applications, the TRP Spyre mechanical disc brake has become a personal favorite, they works exceptionally well. They also have a nice lever feel due to dual pad movement. On most mechanical disc brakes only one pad moves, resulting in a mushy lever feel if the fixed pad sits too far from the rotor.

Another trick to getting mechanical brakes to feel good, cleanly cut cables. I use a high quality file and clean-up the ends a bit more after cutting.

Another little touch, the rear fender bridge was a bit high with the tire size we selected, so I lowered the fender a bit.

Another shot of the lowered fender.

Fenders can be tricky with disc brakes, you can see I added a small spacer between the fork tab and the fender stay to clear the brake caliper.

While the Gunnar dropout has two mounts for fenders and rack, they are a bit too close together to be used simultaneously with the fenders and rack we selected. So both fender and rear rack go on the lower mount.

Since the mounts are so high on the frame, I also cut down the rack to make it sit lower.

Another part selected specifically for the customer. We wanted a super wide range of gears, a road triple and a 11-34 cassette. This required a long cage mountain bike rear derailleur.

Hand built wheels add to the durability and each component is tuned to the rider. I choose DT Hubs, double butted spokes and Velocity A23 rims for this build. These wheels are reasonably light weight, for a light rider, and will hold-up well.