Quote Originally Posted by divingbiker View Post
Lisa, how did you decide on a Luna? I'm curious as to your decision process. As I recall, she doesn't make lugged bikes, right? I talked to Margo a couple of years ago, but ended up buying an off the rack bike. Four months for a custom bike is great!
Ah yes, my decision process....it's rather interesting.

My wonderful lugged steel Rivendell is a great bike that i love. It's very smooth riding and "almost" fits me perfectly. Yet- there is the old familiar woman's problem of the toptube being long and thus the bike is somewhat longer in reach than would be completely ideal for me. I have tweaked everything possible and brought it within a fraction of fit perfection. But to lay down a big chunk o dough for a second bike....well i want it to fit me perfectly...not almost perfectly.
I knew this woman at Luna has been specializing in making women's fit steel bikes for about 12 years now- so she must know her stuff. I suspect most of her customers are women who have had a hard time fitting on generic men's designed bikes. I really like the idea of a highly experienced woman builder making my bike. I've read about her and I like what she has to say. She seemed great on the phone today and inspired my confidence. I have some slightly unusual gearing wants that will require some knowledgeable solutions.

Lugs are mostly pre-manufactured with certain fixed angles for the tubes that fit into them- so there is a limit as to how much you can tweak the tube angles on a lugged steel bike to fit an individual's proportions. Needless to say, most lugs are designed to make typical man bikes. With TIG welded steel, the sky is the limit for angle/geometry on any particular bike. So I opted for better likelihood of perfect custom fit over the allure of lugs. Luna does mostly TIG welded steel bikes.

I don't have the patience to wait 2-4 years for a custom bike like some of the current waiting lists are with customs. (Rivendells customs are well over 3 years wait list now, as are Vanilla and Kogswell, etc)
4-5 months seemed pretty good to me.
Ebisu was of interest to me, but I think I would have had problems conveying my specific female detailed wants and needs. DH has ordered parts from the very capable builder there over the phone and I think I would have had a difficult time communicating all my concerns, between both the language and the gender differences.

I have never ridden any lightweight "fast" road bikes. This last weekend I actually test rode a Roubaix aluminum road bike. Don't get me wrong- I know lots of women love theirs....but I thought my fillings were going to get rattled out of my teeth! When I got back on my steel Rambouillet it was like AAAAAAHHHHHHH......velvet. It was the last little experience that made me want to stick with steel. I love to do long rides and steel has been very comfortable for me thus far. Plus I like the fact that it is largely repairable and doesn't tend to crack in a crash like carbon.

Luna can pick a thickness of steel tubing that will be just right for my weight and my style of riding. My Ramb is a production bike (not custom) and so naturally they chose a tubing that could safely handle a guy my height that might weigh 100 pounds more than me. (!) So going custom will give me a slightly lighter bike too.

Hmmm...so those are some of the reasons I decided to go with Luna. I'm sure i've forgotten some!

Oh yes!- they can make my bike any color I want!