If you follow along on Twitter or Facebook (links over to the right), you have noticed my excited postings yesterday when I had just talked with Chris from Cysco Cycles. Earlier in the year, when I was in the middle of my frame drama with Cannondale, he’d contacted me about building something custom if the Cannondale thing didn’t work out. Fast forward 6 months, and I’m shopping for a frameset and realizing that the frames that have most everything that I want in both geometry, stiffness, and handling characteristics are pretty expensive, and all of them had tiny, nit-picky things about them that I didn’t like (fit not exactly right, BB standard that would mean changing cranks, etc). I was literally laying in bed half asleep, thinking about road bikes, when I remembered the conversation I’d had with Chris, and realized that I could get EXACTLY what I wanted in a custom bike for the same cost as some of the frames I’d been running through my head.

So, late last week,I emailed him, and, over the weekend, we started the planning process. By yesterday (Monday) evening, I had the 3rd draft of a frame…

As we’ve talked about on Just Riding Along, if you know exactly what you want, the custom process is magical. I’m getting a frame with the exact stack and reach measurements that I like, an oversized downtube & swoopy seatstays (like this one featured in Bike Rumor a while back: Custom Stiff Yet Comfortable Road Frame), oversized chainstays, and a seat mast & raw ti finish like this bike. We’re also throwing around the idea of some extra bottle bosses, but they may be too difficult to squeeze in on such a small frame. If I wanted, I could have full-run housing mounts instead of normal cable stops, but I’m not intent on full-run housing for a road bike like I am for an off-road bike. It’s nice to know that the option is there, though.

Talking with Chris is great, because he sounds almost as enthused as I am, and, as an added bonus, we share feelings on the importance of standover and Chris King components. We’ve got a few more small details to hash out before the final draft & deposit, but it should be a go by the end of the week. I’m excited to not only get exactly the bike I want, but also have the cool factor of supporting a regional small business and having a gorgeous, one-of road bike.