Anderson Custom Bicycles-FAQ

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 our 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 we do is exactly the opposite........rather than try to make your body fit a bike we are trying to sell, we literally build the bike from the ground up to fit your body!

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?

Our custom bicycles do tend to seem more expensive than stock bikes, at least initially. This is because we don't have any "stock" bicycles....nor do we have the lack of individual design or lack of attention to detail that go with them. What we 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. We also do not have access to the economies of scale that a large manufacturer has.....we have no assembly lines, no CNC machines cutting out a 100 parts an hour, no large stock piles of discounted tubing, no cheap third world labor force, & 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. 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 our custom bicycles.....and, in our humble opinion, the resulting bicycle will be less satisfying to you than what you will experience with a custom....... :-)

Why do Anderson Custom Bicycles cost less than other Custom Bicycles on the market?

Ah! A good question. We are less expensive than other custom builders. However, please do not infer that the bikes we build are inferior. Rather, we believe that we offer a product that is of the highest quality available. Our prices are less for several reasons. First, we are a small family owned business with a staff of two (my wife & I......well six if you count our kids.....don't worry, their roles are strictly limited to product testing and marketing :-) :-)), and our shop is located adjacent to our residence. Therefore, our overhead is very low. Second, all of our bicycles are build by hand by me (Dave) using traditional methods and hand tools. Therefore, we have no expensive milling machines, CNC lathes, or other expensive tooling to pay for. Third, most of our business results from word of mouth referrals and from folks who have seen our stuff on the road or on the web. Therefore, we are not spending a huge amount of money on advertising. And fourth, we are still in the process of building our business and reputation and believe that offering a superior product at a lower price helps to "spread the word" about what we do...........

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 we build each one from the ground up especially for you and you alone. We have no stock bikes, or bikes in stock. (If we did, they wouldn't be custom ! :-) ) We build them by hand one at a time as orders come in. Therefore, our 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

Anderson Custom Bicycles, LLC
651-324-0095 /// E-mail: Info@AndersonCustomBicycles.com