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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why should I consider buying a custom bicycle? Pretty much everyone can benefit from a custom bicycle. A truly hand made custom bike is designed and built for you and you alone. It will fit you perfectly and will be built with materials and components that reflect you and your riding style. A good custom bike will also say a lot about you, your personal tastes, and your sense of style. Almost all of the non-custom bicycles available on the market today (including many marketed as "hand made" or "custom") are designed to fit the "average" rider. They reflect significant compromises that the manufacturers feel are necessary to try and accommodate the largest number of people with the fewest number of frames and are constructed with methods and materials designed to reduce the cost of production. For example, have you ever noticed that most "compact" frames only come is four sizes? Manufacturer's have come up with all sorts of marketing hype to sell you on these frames, but the main reason they exist is to cut costs. MFG's feel they can "make them work" over a larger range of riders, thereby reducing the number of different sized frames they have to tool up for and build, etc. When you go into a bike shop to buy a bike, most of them try to sell you one of the bikes that they have in stock and then attempt to make your body fit it, which often results in unacceptable compromises (in my opinion!), such as too short or too long of a stem, less than ideal seat positioning, improper weight distribution, too many headset spacers, & etc. What I do is exactly the opposite........rather than try to make your body fit a bike we are trying to sell, I literally build the bike from the ground up to fit your body! In addition, a Custom Bicycle allows you the opportunity to get in on the creative process and experience the rewards of having something built by hand especially for you. All of my bikes are built with considerable input from the rider, from lug selection to paint and lettering details. When the bike is finished, you will truly have a bike that is not only beautiful, but uniquely yours. In other words, with a custom bike, you can have it all; a bike that reflects who you are and what you want and need from a bicycle. Why do Custom Bicycles seem so expensive? A custom bicycles may sometimes seem a little more expensive than stock bikes, at least initially. This is because I don't have any "stock" bicycles....nor do I have the lack of individual design or lack of attention to detail that go with them. What I do have are bike that are designed and built one at a time by hand with the utmost of care for YOU and with your wishes and needs in mind. This requires a lot more time and effort. I also do not have access to the economies of scale that a large manufacturer has.....there are no assembly lines, no CNC machines cutting out a 100 parts an hour, no large stock piles of discounted tubing, or etc....... Just two hands, some files, a torch, and a lot of know how. However, if you compare the cost of
a fully assembled Anderson Custom Bicycle with a high quality stock
bike with similar components, you will often find the difference in
cost to be small, or even that my frame sets and bikes are less than
many models offered by larger manufacturers.......manufacturers
sourcing their frames from huge volume producers in Taiwan or
China. And, if you consider that modifications are
often required to get a stock bike to work for many people (different
saddle, handlebars, stem, seat post, etc.) the cost of a stock bike
can be significantly GREATER than one of my custom bicycles.....and,
in my humble opinion, the resulting bicycle will be less satisfying
to you than what you will experience with a custom....... :-) What about fit? I do not live near your shop. Can do you design and build me a custom bicycle if I am unable to travel to your location? Absolutely! In fact, the largest percentage of my customers, by a great margin, are what I call "long distance" customers. Customers that do not live anywhere near Minnesota and have never come to my shop. In fact, I have built great fitting and riding bicycles for people from all over the world. In short; data that I acquire through our various conversations and via my "custom build questionnaire", allows me to design and build your new bike with great accuracy. How long will it take for my new bike to be delivered? Hmmmm....Good things come to those who wait ;-) Having a custom bike built does take a little time. This is because I build each one from the ground up especially for you and you alone. I have no stock bikes, or bikes in stock. (If I did, they wouldn't be custom ! :-) ) I build them by hand one at a time as orders come in. Therefore, wait times can vary depending upon how many people are ahead of you in the build order. The length of the build order can also vary depending on what time of year it is when you place your order, etc. For additional information, including current wait times, please call or e-mail. As noted above, these are the
most Frequently Asked Questions. However, chances are you
have more of your own. If so, please feel free to call or e-mail
us. We would be happy to answer any other questions you might
have....No Strings Attached.......Sincerely, David Anderson
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"I do not try to make your body fit a bike we are trying to sell, rather, I literally build the bike from the ground up to fit your body"
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"A custom bicycle allows you the opportunity to get in on the creative process and experience the rewards of having something built by hand especially for you."
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"If you compare the cost of a ......Anderson Custom Bicycle with a high quality stock bike......, you will find the difference in cost to be small"
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"Good things come to those who wait..." |
