There is quite a revival of interest in handmade frames - built individually by hand, usually in steel by an individual or small firm in the UK or some other country with comparable wages. The relatively expensive hand made item is not for everyone. A reasonable question might be "Why pay a lot more money for a hand made item, when bicycle frames can be mass produced much more cheaply using machinery, production lines, cheaper labour or all three."
I think the answer is somewhat similar to those involved in other transactions where final cost is not the only consideration. People like the sense of connection, the adventure, journey, call it what you will of meeting the creator, getting a personal product and perhaps not feeling that the person making your machine lives half way across the world and is somehow exploited in the process of bringing you your goodies cheaply.
Now the desire to do business with the small scale crafts person just like the small shop keeper is not guaranteed to go well. Someone who is business oriented may see interaction with you as an interruption to more productive activities like building frames. Someone who is not may go out of business before they can build for you or fail to balance demand and supply so that their deadlines are always heading to a new horizon. Phones may go unanswered, likewise emails, websites may forever be under development or drifting in virtual reality long after their owner has moved on.
Indeed the frustrations of contacting small craftsman have i am sure driven many a potential customer back into the arms of a major manufacturer, who will answer their inane questions, massage their egos and compliment them on the wisdom of their buying decisions at least until the purchase is made.
So what I am proposing is a bit of a Blog on buying a frame for a bicycle I am building for my wife. If I can sustain the interest - I will report on the process of finding a builder and commissioning and so on.
I think the answer is somewhat similar to those involved in other transactions where final cost is not the only consideration. People like the sense of connection, the adventure, journey, call it what you will of meeting the creator, getting a personal product and perhaps not feeling that the person making your machine lives half way across the world and is somehow exploited in the process of bringing you your goodies cheaply.
Now the desire to do business with the small scale crafts person just like the small shop keeper is not guaranteed to go well. Someone who is business oriented may see interaction with you as an interruption to more productive activities like building frames. Someone who is not may go out of business before they can build for you or fail to balance demand and supply so that their deadlines are always heading to a new horizon. Phones may go unanswered, likewise emails, websites may forever be under development or drifting in virtual reality long after their owner has moved on.
Indeed the frustrations of contacting small craftsman have i am sure driven many a potential customer back into the arms of a major manufacturer, who will answer their inane questions, massage their egos and compliment them on the wisdom of their buying decisions at least until the purchase is made.
So what I am proposing is a bit of a Blog on buying a frame for a bicycle I am building for my wife. If I can sustain the interest - I will report on the process of finding a builder and commissioning and so on.
