Most bikes are bought off the shelf. You may special order a bike, but you order it to your size just like clothes on store racks. Then there’s couture, or custom orders that are built to the rider’s specifications. They’re built to height and body proportions, and custom designed for the type of riding planned for the bikes.
One company, KGS Bikes based in San Antonio, TX, uses a custom trainer to determine the rider’s exact requirements. The trainer is called BalancePoint. It looks like a trainer with a seat, handlebars, a rear wheel, but it has cranks and dials to adjust the bike while riding. KGS then takes measurements to build the bike.
“Our clients fly to Texas for the experience of creating the ride of their lives. We invented our BalancePoint positioning system with the custom bicycle owner in mind, so there is no reference to any existing bike. It takes a few hours and is a hard workout, but the data we get in the process allows us to work remotely from then on,” said company president Kevin Saunders.
KGS takes measurements, and typically works with high-end bike manufacturers to build the actual bike. The company offers frames from Parlee, Passoni, Cyfac, Co-Motion and Eriksen. It then builds the frame with components to further adjust the custom ride.
Many will suffer from sticker shock. While prices vary for custom bike orders among different shops, four bikes recently sold by KGS for roughly $27,000 each. In addition to measurements fit to each rider, the bikes were designed with steering and balance for climbing and descending mountain passes since they will mostly be ridden in and around Vail, CO.
For more information check out KGS Bikes