Quote Originally Posted by elk View Post
So what is the process?

Do send her your measurements or do you go to a fitter?
You take many careful measurements and send them to her. (Unless of course you happen to live near her in Colorado and can go there) It also helps to have someone take pictures of you riding your current bike from the side, so she can see what you are dealing with now. You talk to her on the phone, and describe to her what you like about your current bike's fit, what you don't like, any aches or pains, and what you hope to improve in your new bike, your style of riding and your riding and use goals for the new bike, etc.

and why did you pick Luna than, say, Sweetpea or Terry? Are there other women "only" builders?
I did look carefully at many steel bike builders. It actually took me about 8 months to decide.
I liked the idea of a woman builder who knew a lot about the fit problems women tend to have. This was a big factor for me.
I liked SweetPea, but I was not comfortable with how short a time they had been building bikes, as opposed to Luna's 12 years experience. Also, Sweetpea had a wait list of several years for a custom frame, while Luna was only a few months. (for more comparison, a custom Rivendell is several years wait these days as well) At 54, I'm too old to wait several years for a bike that's comfortable. I got my Luna in 5 months, which I thought was good these days.
I found nothing on the Terry site about building a custom frame to individual body measurements. That was important to me, as I was really tired of riding a bike that 'almost' fit me.
Color was important to me as well, and I liked that Luna could get my bike in any color and special design elements I wanted (i designed my own bee logo). I wanted powder coat too, in matte finish. I couldn't get all those options from Terry.
I don't know of other current women steel custom bike builders with years of experience.
Hope this answers?