Loving my bike...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I think your concern about Natalie's experience is valid. Definitely crossed my mind though she does seem to be going about it the right way with excellent mentors and having you work with professional fitters. Totally understand your rationale here.

Just want to say that the wait list is 9 mos not several years.
http://www.sweetpeabicycles.com/blog/get-your-sweetpea/

Margo did a beautiful job with your bike.

Thanks SK.
I should mention that when I was making my decision on which builder almost a year ago, the Sweetpea website did state that their custom waiting list at the time was 2 or 3 years. The time frame changes according to how many bikes they have in the pipeline at any given time of course, so apparently now it is (happily) shorter. 9 months is not bad at all in my opinion.
I'm sure Natalie builds wonderful bikes- they certainly look beautifully made.


I was very impressed with Margo's +/- 12 years of experience in building bikes primarily for women- and that (combined with the 5 months wait list and custom finishes) really tipped the scale for me personally.

[ginny]

I don't know about Sweetpea, and I haven't ever had a bike custom made for me, but I like that fenders come with the price, a saddle, and the custom powder coat (don't worry Lisa, not getting exactly the same color - going to get the 'life is good' yellow). I like to feel like, "here's the price, this is all inclusive". Again, I have NO idea about other custom bike makers. I just find the Luna's particularly beautiful and she's just down the road from me, so I can go get measured by her and take the bike home when she's done (she won't be starting until I've saved up the dinero which will take some time...)

[elk]

It's an interesting process....thanks for your comments.

I'm in PDX --where Sweetpea is--- and I think of her kinda like the Sasha White for women...but that may be because her bikes have that distinctive "portland" look that I associate with Vanilla. I love what Richard Sachs said about her in Bicycling, something like... she had a wisdom and soulfulness beyond her years..

Looking at them...from this great distance....they seem to have a different aesthetic..again, Natalie has that retro modern look, while Luna bikes seem more "athletic"...I'm overstating a general impression...but there is a difference. It may be predicated as much on my impression of the people as their bikes...

Georgina Terry has a forum and she mentioned she could build me a decal less lugged gloss black bike....but I don't know about custom....and since I ride that smaller size, I'd have to do those 2 diff. wheels which I'm not wild about...

I started a little side account for squirreling away some money for this...I think it's a great idea ....and I'm so damn fussy about looks, I think it would be an awesome process at the end of which you'd have this amazing bike that was heaven to ride....price per mile? priceless!