It's tough getting a frame...

I never knew getting a steel MTB frame could be so difficult. The stores around here really don't carry much and it's all special order. My husband decided to surprise me for my bday with an Ionic frame, but it didn't arrive on time so he just told me. Well, their service wasn't the greatest (kept telling us one more week) so we cancelled. We went to our lbs and decided on the salsa. They were on back order but were exptected to be available on the 22nd (according to Salsa). Well, the lbs just called and said the 17" frame wouldn't be available until Jan!!! That is such a long wait for a frame that isn't even custom! I expected to get it in about one month. Now, we're investigating other options...If I'm going to wait 5-6 months for a frame, might as well go custom!

I feel your pain having gone through the same experience. I finally found my Titus Racer-X after calling every Titus dealer in the US. I purchased from Rage Cycles in Scottsdale because he's at the Titus factory every day and could personally pick up the frame when it was delivered to Titus.

I can't remember what price range you have but you obviously appreciate the more unusual brands. Have you looked at Kelly? Hubby and I have 2 cross and 1 road frames from him. I've ridden his wife's singlespeed mtb around the parking lot and am lusting after it. He uses True Temper OX tubing also. http://www.kellybike.com/

Which Salsa frame are you after?

I was looking at the ala carte. Kelly is a bit out of my price range, I REALLY like them also though. Just not sure if I can convince the husband to increase the amount that much. The ala cart was around $500-$600, but we were looking at frames around $800 (we were considering some in that range and decided on the salsa because it was a bit cheaper). I definitely don't think I could get him to over $1000!

I swear, when you start frame shopping, every couple hunderd seems so much more enticing!

Ah, but you can get a Kelly in almost any color you want. My cross bike is double-bubble pink. His wife's singlespeed was the most beautiful glossy chocolate milk shake brown.

OK, not worth the extra $200 but tempting!

Well, I don't think you're going to get custom in your price range. But a search of the mail order companies brought up a lot of A La Carte frames. Not sure if you're wedded to your LBS, but you might consider. Our LBS is very understanding when stuff ends up on a long backorder. They will advise us to try elsewhere since every LBS uses different distributors.

I'm not locked in with the lbs, I'm sure they would be understanding, but it sounds like it's Salsa that just isn't producing any 17" frames until the new model comes out in Jan. I've a couple of the online places and they have said the same thing. I could try your route though and call the dealers and maybe I'll get lucky and find one with it in stock.

Or, maybe I'll have to upgrade! Trust me, it was hard at first to settle on the Salsa because I'm a HUGE fan of the custom color bikes. It's worth the $200 to me, just may not be to husband ;)

I had issues with other steel frames but my Soma rocked. Just sold it now that I'm obsessed with my Le Monde road bike, but a great little frame and cheap. I considered a custom Vicious but at $1400 not worth it. Soma was $500 and at my door in 5 days

Didn't say if you are looking for full suspension or hard tail. There are alot of good custom steel builders at there - check out Landshark and Kish. I have a Kish Ti hardtail which is gorgeous but they also make great steel bikes. Add a Spectrum Power Coating paint job and VOILA! A thing of beauty!

I'm looking for a hardtail. I was talking with DH last night and basically we're waiting to see what the lbs can come up with but I THINK we're going to go with a quiring bike. He's a local builder, does all the paint in house, would custom measure and overall seems like a good guy. Since he's local, we can go out and see facility. My husband felt good talking to him, he biked with him a couple times (OK, he was warming up before a race, DH was going all out to keep up ;) ). It's a bit more than we wanted to spend, $1000, but after all the hassel it seems worth it and seems like a great deal. We can have any single or two color fade. It has me really excited, but I don't want to get too excited until we make a final decision.