Ordering a Custom Bike From the Bike Tailor -The Saville Row of Bike Shops
9th June, 2021 / Photos by Russell Burton
In everyday life, you might buy a pair of jeans that come straight off the hanger, that fit perfectly fine, and look after your bum pretty well on a daily basis. You might have an idea of how much you like to spend on your jeans and if they feel like decent quality then that’s a bonus and you’re perfectly happy with that.
But if you’re looking for a suit to wear on your wedding day, those jeans from the sale at your favourite high street shop just won’t cut the mustard. Now it’s time to bring out the tape measure and get someone to make you a suit that fits you like a glove. We imagine the material shouldn’t be that cheap stuff that goes shiny when you iron it. And it needs to make you feel good too.
According to legend* the term ‘bespoke’ actually comes from Savile Row and means ‘a suit cut or made by hand’. (It’s all coming together now, right?) A bespoke bike from The Bike Tailor is as painstakingly put together as a suit from one of the most famous tailoring locations in the world.
*Wikipedia
When you first come to us to talk about a custom-made bike, one piece of advice we would give you from the get-go is this: pick up the phone. (01273 560996 if you were wondering.)
We know it might feel weird to do that right away, especially if you don’t know what you want yet, but that’s why it’s so much better on the blower. You can see if we’re a good fit for you, and we can get an idea of what you want, all just by having a five-minute chat.
Also during this chat, we can get an idea of what you’d like to spend. There are quite a few styles of bike out there, and loads of different combinations of fixtures, so if we can find out what your budget is, we can pinpoint exactly what components you need.
OK, so we don’t actually use a tape measure. We use specially made technology from Dartfish that measures you to the millimetre.
You just need to pop along to our fitting room at the beautiful Stanmer Park and we’ll get all your vital statistics. If you can’t get there, we’ll do our best to come to you to get the info we need.
If you already have a bike, then we measure that too. It’s not the best idea to ride two bikes with different sizing and positioning. You’ll definitely get grumbly if you’re switching between them both and having to sit differently on each one.
We also get to the nitty gritty with the parts you need – right down to the actual nuts and bolts. Got a colour in mind for the frame? We’ll sign that off at this stage too.
Then we whisk your details away and make a CAD – Computer Aided Design – before calling up some friends…
Once we have everything we need, you can relax while we contact our very cool and very trusted friends from around the globe, to gather all the parts you need for your bike. We only work with manufacturers and makers who we know in person, and who we consider to be the best artisan craftspeople in the world.
The frames can be made to your measurements – although stock sized frames are fine, because we use your measurements for fitting the components. Many of the guys we use are boutique workshops, so this process can take around six to ten weeks, but it’s worth the wait. We’ll always keep you up to date about how this is going, so you can carry on planning your first bike ride.
When we receive the frames and other parts at the workshop, we carefully inspect them for any problems at this stage then start the custom build in our workshop.
Check out our Custom Bikes page to see the frame makers we work with, and our to swider journalee the different componentry we can use.
When it’s all been put together, we invite you back to our fitting room at Stanmer Park, and make sure you’re happy with your bike!
If you can’t make it to the park, that’s fine too. We can deliver your new machine to wherever in the world you live so you can take it for a test run. It’s all part of our service.
We offer three follow up checks: one after six weeks, then another after six months, and a final one at twelve months, all as part of your bespoke build package. And if there’s anything you want to talk to us about – anything at all – we’re always on the end of the phone.
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