A bike just for you
Sometimes trying to get an off-the-shelf bike that does exactly what you want, or rides exactly how you want can be frustrating. If you want a particular set of wheels, you have a handlebar in mind and you want to carry a load in a certain way, there might be no bike that does this out of the box. Maybe you just want something that feels a bit more like Your bike with an aesthetic that grabs you. If you also have preferences about the components you want to use, then you’re guaranteed not to find a ready-made bike that really speaks to you.
If you find yourself in this situation, then maybe you should be thinking about a custom build. We have been building custom bikes for people since the early days of Commuter Cycles. We start by working out the right frame as a base, then figure out how to make it work for you, then figure out the rest based on your physiology, usage and budget along with any aesthetic desires. We have a lot of experience that helps us pick good parts that work with what you want.
Planning a custom build
Spec list
Planning a custom build takes as long, and often longer, as actually building it. When you first approach us for a custom build, in person, on the phone or via email, the first thing we will do is mine you for information. We will ask about your requirements, your preferences, your planned usage, your budget, and any decisions on frames or components that you may have already made. If you’re chasing a certain look for your bike this is where you let us know. Armed with this info we will put together a proposed list of specifications (or spec list) that details the build along with a quote for that spec.
Bikes are relatively simple machines, but as always the devil is in the details. It is surprisingly easy to find yourself with incompatible (or worse, only seemingly-compatible), or ill-fitting components despite lots of research. Not only are we exceptionally good at avoiding these incompatibilities, we are also very good at judging the suitability of each component for the job at hand.
Fit
At this point we might already have your fit sorted based on test rides, matching an existing bike or taking a few measurements such as inseam and arm length. Sometimes, customers have had a fit done by a physio or another bike fit expert. We are happy to use the recommended fit data to set up your new bike when available. Bike fit is tricky because there are competing factors at play. Usage, handling and sizing are all at play when locking in a fit. The fit on a fully-loaded touring bike that will be ridden at 15k/h for long days is completely different to that of an unloaded gravel bike that will be moving at 25k/h for a few hours at a time. Our expertise is in fitting people for pretty much any type of riding that isn’t racing. We all have significant personal experience with touring, commuting, gravel and dirt road explorations, long distance road riding and mountain biking.
Deposit
Once the sizing and spec list is approved, we will ask for a 20% deposit and begin assembling components. For any given custom build we often have about 80% of the components in store already but the others will need to be ordered in. Any components that need ordering are now ordered and we give you an ETA on anything that is likely to take more than a week.
The build itself
Once the parts all arrive the build itself is often done quite quickly. In some cases it is done in a single day. Frames are always prepped before building. This means headset and bottom bracket fittings are reamed, chased and faced where appropriate to ensure the headset and bottom bracket bearings run as straight and smooth as possible. Everything is fitted and adjusted before being test ridden and further refined. A small amount of steerer tube on the fork is left above the stem to allow for small adjustments in the fit after it has been ridden for a while. Tape will sometimes be left unwrapped until after you’ve taken it for a test ride if there is any doubt over your preferred handlebar and lever angles.
Post-build
Like any new bike, a custom built bike will benefit from a first service to make small adjustments after things have settled into place. We typically recommend this after a month or two, or sooner if you notice anything coming out of adjustment. Even if it seems to be running perfectly, we still like to spend some time going over it to make sure everything is as it should be. This first service is free and we would not expect it to need another until you have put some decent km on it and it’s getting closer to a year old.
How have other people customised their bike?
Here’s a listing of some previously completed custom builds for customers. Check them out and get inspired!
We don't have much to say about Karmin's new Midnight Special except SRSLY!? 🤯💕🥰🙋
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#commutercustoms #surlymakeityourown #surlymidnightspecial
K had been loving his Salsa Fargo the last couple years but had been dreaming about it being a bunch faster and lighter. 🤔
Enter his new, 9.5kg Salsa Cutthroat with Shimano GRX and super fast rubber! 🔥 Gonna be FUN!
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#CommuterCyclesCutthroatClub #commutercustoms #salsacutthroat
How's everyone's vibe on this Curve GMX+ with Loop titanium bars and SRAM wireless drivetrain? 🤔🔥💕
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#commutercustoms #curvegmxplus
Robbie's new Salsa Cutthroat has it's own thing going on and we LOVE it! 🍨💕
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#CommuterCyclesCutthroatClub #commutercustoms #salsacutthroat
Wanna be on the wall at Commuter? Wanna get an awesome Commuter show-bag full of new merch with designs by @symonisms 🙋
We're going to be adding to our already awesome wall gallery of adventure images and would love to see some pics up there from our community. 🙏
Currently the gallery features many white dudes in flannos (myself included 💁🏼♂️) so we'd especially like to hear from you if you don't fall into that category, although white dudes in flannos should still send em over. 👌
Hit Adam at Commuter Cycles dot com dot hey you with your Dropbox or Google Drive links. 📩
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#commutercustoms #adventurebybike
We can't even begin to explain how grateful we are for @symonisms and the changes his massive awesome brain have brought to Commuter. 💕
Full reveal in the morning. 🤗
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#commutercustoms #commuterrenovations
Little bit of an emotional start to this year's renovations at Commuter. 💕😭
Big thanks to everyone for their support the last fourteen years. 🙏
@symonisms gets on the cherry picker tomorrow to fire up our stunning new look. 😎 Can. Not. WAIT for you all to see it!
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#commutercustoms #commuterrenovations #newlooksameawesometeam
Strong contender for Best Present EVER right here. 💕
Absolutely stunning Velo Orange Polyvalent Lowkicker build for one very lucky lady.
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#commutercustoms #veloorangepolyvalent
Kallum's new, super rare Salsa Fargo Titanium is off to a lifetime of exploring starting in Tasmania. 🤤
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#commutercustoms #salsafargotitanium
Like most other heavy hitters of the Melbourne bike game, our own @willatlarge spent at least twenty five minutes prepping for this year's @handmadebicycleshow 🧐
Almost certainly handmade by someone at some point, Will's @monebikes inspired Kona Africa flies in the face of traditional show bike convention. 💩
More a series of impulse decisions than an overall vision, this stunning fusion of klunker MTB and pub beater is sure to turn heads. 😵🤯
Look for it chained to a railing or outside the show's nearest bar this Friday only.
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#commutercustoms
We can't wait to share this one with you properly. 💕
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@velo_orange #commutercustoms #veloorangepolyvalent
John's new AXS equipped Midnight Special with dynamo lights and a carbon fork. 🤯
Gotta be close to the coolest MS we've built to date. Thoughts? 🤔🔥
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#surlymidnightspecial #commutercustoms #surlymakeityourown
Tell us how you feel about Pete's new singlespeed Salsa Fargo. 🤔
We give it a solid 👍👍👍
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#commutercustoms #salsafargo
🔥 OK brace yourselves, this one's INCREDIBLE! The #Kiolet lives!!! 🔥
Our own Kia @pollen_pal built herself this unbelievably nice Velo Orange Piolet and we're all sitting here staring at it today so apologies if you're trying to get in touch and the phone just rings out. 🤯💕
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#commutercustoms #veloorangepiolet #kiolet
When you hang out at Commuter a few times and start falling in love with things. 💕
Pretty nice to build this awesome new Wolverine for the curly-hair styling legend that is @mr_d_hair 💁🏽♀️
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#commutercustoms #somawolverine
Ben's new Tumbleweed Prospector came out 🔥🔥🔥
Ready for years of rugged exploration. 🤠
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#commutercustoms #tumbleweedprospector
Yosl is about to load some bags on his new Bridge Club and head to Sydney on the dirt. 👌
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#commutercustoms #surlybridgeclub
🔥 ROUND TWO 🔥
In a close and protracted battle, @curvecycling Kevin was defeated by @surlybikes Ghost Grappler and retreated to @moondogbrewing to regroup and, perhaps, return bigger than before. 🤔 #IndustryGossip
@salsacycles Storm Chaser rises to the challenge, but can they weather the storm? ⚡⚡🌊
Head to our stories to #ChooseYourBiker ☝
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#commutercustoms #surlyghostgrappler #salsastormchaser
David's classic Velo Orange Neutrino rides, and looks, sooooo nice 💕💕💕
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#commutercustoms #veloorangeneutrino #tinybikeclub
If you've met Commuter stock-boss Ican (ee-chan) even one time, you'll know that guy has style. 😎
So when we started an unofficial staff Steamroller-off (more on that soon) we knew we were in trouble. 😟
Absolutely nailed it.
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#commutercustoms #surlysteamroller #surlymakeityourown
And here’s a list of some builds with full write-ups:
Expedition Beach Fishing with Jason’s Salsa Blackborow.
If there’s one good thing about lockdown it’s that it breeds big ideas.
How Far Could a Fargo Go, If a Fargo Could Go Far?
If you’ve ever even mentioned the word Fargo to us on the phone or in-store you’ll understand that at Commuter we love this bike. LOVE IT!
The First Rule of Bridge Club
Is tell EVERYONE about Bridge Club!
If you’ve dropped into the store, or kept an eye on our social media, over the last twelve months you’ll have noticed a growing number of Surly Bridge Clubs getting around. And with good reason. After initially being underwhelmed by it on paper prior to it’s release, the Bridge Club really has proved itself as an extremely versatile, great value and super fun option for so many different kinds of riding.
The Many Guises of the Soma Wolverine
At Commuter we’re very lucky to have been able to forge relationships with some great brands and offer some of the industry’s leading commuting, touring and adventure bikes. Within this range though, there are a few that really shine, like the Tumbleweed Prospector we featured recently. To be fair though there is a solid standout for us when it comes to versatility of setup and mixed terrain capability. The Wolverine from Soma Fabrications.
Introducing the Tumbleweed Prospector (Properly)
We’ll start our series of deeper introductions to our range with what is definitely the least well known member of the Commuter family, the Tumbleweed Prospector
Will’s Karate Monkey is ready for anything!
Now that he’s back on home turf and running out of continents to ride across, he has decided to trade in the Ogre for something at bit more capable for everyday trail riding. This custom built Karate Monkey should be tough enough to take on the burliest of trails in his home state of Tasmania.
MONe El Continente Rohloff build
Sometimes during the process of tailoring a bike to suit a customers needs all elements come together to create something truly special. In this case Cjell Mone created one of the sweetest brazed frames known to man, then David walked in and fell in love that gold braze on raw steel. We complimented the frame with some parts from the best in the business.
Ben’s Rohloff equipped Salsa Fargo 29+
We had first met Ben via email when he was gearing up to take on the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel race in 2017. We helped deck him out with some Apidura kit and Dynamo power for the long stretches in the dark.
Sally’s Soma Wolverine
We already knew that the Soma Wolverine was a versatile bike — it can take any gearing, chain or belt drive, wide 700c tyres with fenders and almost any combination of racks and bags — but in this build we discovered it can be set up as a more rugged off–road tourer visually reminiscent of early mountain bikes. We squeezed in 2.1″ tyres on 650b rims, fit the brand new through–axle fork, set it up with a swept flat bar and added a bit of character with pink anodised hubs, seat clamp and headset.
Soma Fog Cutter demo bike
This new offering from Soma blends the best features of the Smoothie road bike and the Double cross disc into a versatile Road Disc package with generous tyre clearance. We recently received a frameset courtesy of Soma fabrications to build up. We’ve kept it more road centric than a lot of our Wolverine builds as the carbon fork and tighter geometry are screaming out for a build that is both fast and comfortable for all day rides.
Soma and Surly house builds
We’ve been building tried and tested commuting, touring and adventure bikes for a while now so we have a great understanding of what people want in a bike. This had led us to creating some off the shelf custom builds. Thus allowing us to hand pick parts and QC the entire build process. Some of the bikes we love such as the Soma Wolverine, Soma Juice and Saga disc are only available as frame-sets so we wanted to give customers a feel for how great these bikes really are. We’ll be adding more bikes to the website in the coming weeks so stay tuned and in the mean time call in for a test ride!
Adam’s SRAM Rival1 Wolverine
Adam didn’t realise he needed a SOMA Wolverine, until he saw mine. “I saw an orange bike on your Instagram feed” said the man as he wandered around the workshop, “I am on the lookout for a new bike, and had been thinking about an internal gear hub town bike, but that bike looks like fun”. The seed had been sown, and a test ride of my Wolverine and six months later, Adam is the proud owner of a SRAM Rival1 Wolverine.
Albert’s expedition ready Surly ECR
Albert was looking for a tough bike to take on the rough roads near his home town of Deniliquin. He was finding his cross bike just wasn’t cutting it. The Surly ECR grabbed his attention and we worked on a build that would be good for long day rides and also longer trips into the outback.
JR’s Single Speed Wolverine
Our mate John loves a single speed. He’s got an enviable collection of bikes and had a gap between the cross bike and the SS hardtail that needed filling. Despite being the biggest frame size we’ve built, John’s is the lightest Wolverine that’s been through the shop.
Velo Orange Piolet
This bike is a niche filler. There aren’t many options for touring bikes that can tackle the sort of trails and fire roads that you’d usually need a mountain bike for. Velo Orange has just started producing one and they’ve called it the Piolet.
Riley’s SOMA Double Cross Gravel Commuter
Riley has been commuting on a Paconi steel road bike for years. He came to us looking for something more suited to the daily grind of poor roads, all weather conditions and emergency braking. He also wanted a bike that he would be able to take on dirt road adventures on the weekend. It had to be fast, and black too.
Belinda’s Surly Light Haul Trucker
Belinda’s bike was a bit of an enigma. She came to us with a brief that didn’t at first make a lot of sense. She wanted a lightweight build on an old favourite of ours, the Surly Long Haul Trucker. During the build we affectionately nick-named it the Light Haul Trucker. Needless to say, by the end we were all convinced and pleasantly surprised with the result.
Many thanks to the wonderful team at Commuter Cycles and best wishes for a happy, healthy, successful 2022.
Since Christmas, I’ve been riding my superb Tumbleweed Prospector Fat Bike from Commuter Cycles at least 5-or-6 days a week, learning to get optimal efficiency from its Ruhloff gears as I work on my fitness. I’m so happy with my bike and so grateful to Commuter Cycles.
My bike arrived during the peak of Covid-lockdown at the end of October. The build is first-class and the excellent service I received was wonderful.
Here’s the story of the build:
https://www.bike-drifter.net/2021/10/24/my-new-bikepacking-fat-tyre-bike-arrived/