Why order a custom frame when you can get a good deal on a mass-produced bike from one of the major bike brands?  Individuality is one reason--you won't see the same model again and again on the bike routes.  For instance, you can have a lightweight steel cyclocross bike with lugs, disc brake mounts, rack and fender mounts, and decorative stars on your  waterbottle cage braze-ons.   If you're very tall, you can happily ride a bike that fits you.  If you're short, you can ride a bike that suits you--and you can have two water bottle cages on your bike.  No trivial matter--if you buy a mass-produced bike sized 50cm or smaller,  you might not be able to fit water bottle cages holding two medium to large bottles on your frame.   For instance, one large bike company offers 47cm and smaller road bikes without room for a cage and large bottle on the seat tube.  Their seat tube water bottle braze-ons are placed so high that you can't fit a medium to large water bottle in the cage.  That means that short riders can only have a large bottle on the down tube.  If the bottle braze-ons were positioned lower, the frame could hold two large bottles.  At Ravello Bikes, we don't want short riders to be thirsty.

We also believe in building bikes with a safe bottom bracket height, from 10 1/2 inches to 10 5/8 inches from ground to center of BB.  We noticed that a prestigious U.S. custom bike builder is offering road bikes with 10-inch high bottom brackets.  Their rationale is that compact clipless pedals allow for a low bottom bracket height that provides a lower center of gravity and a more stable ride.   But we can tell you from personal experience that a low bottom bracket height can lead to a crash from digging a pedal into the asphalt during cornering.   We are not alone in this conviction; major companies such as Trek and Giant also stick to conventional bottom bracket heights on road bikes.

Copyright © 2006 [Ravello Bicycles].  All rights reserved.
Revised: May 26, 2008.