Co-Motion: Custom, even when it’s stock.

As much as the world has changed in even just the last 5 years both in and away from the slice of life that is bikes, there are a few things that will never lose their luster. A great road bike is still a fantastic joy to ride. Exposed cables are still a fantastic joy to work with. And of course, every rider still dreams of a custom bike.

The mythos surrounding custom frames may change in its specifics through eras but the image of an expert diligently cutting, bending, welding, brazing, and filing away in their workshop is always going to be romantic and the incredible quality that comes out of this labor of love will always be special.

But that labor of love is intensive and time-consuming. Frame builders put 20-30 hours into a single bike, and if a customer wants something more complex and ornate it takes even longer. And that doesn’t even include the consultation, fit, and design processes!

Compare that to the amount of time it takes for factories to build standard mass-market models and the pricepoint of a custom frame starts to make sense.

As Seattle’s Co-Motion Cycles dealer we have facilitated countless fully custom bikes with extraordinarily complex paintjobs and extra features, but we also quite frequently suggest that riders looking for a fully custom bike take one of Co-Motion’s stock geometries instead.

Why? They have a size to fit 95% of riders perfectly, and the build process is exactly the same as for full custom jobs.

That means you get the bespoke, handmade quality you want but save a chunk of change that can be put into the rest of a custom build.

What can you do with that freed up budget? You could go for a carbon build kit to pare down to race weight. You could opt for a pair of custom wheels from our friends at Cascadia Wheel Co. or Astral Cycling. You could hunt down bling from Paul Components, White Industries, and beyond!

But as seen on this gorgeous green-on-green Klatch, you could elect for one of the most unique and exciting features on any offroad bike: a Pinion C1.12 gearbox with a Gates belt drive. This drivetrain delivers the biggest range of any mainstream drivetrain option, plus it’s fully enclosed. That means that dusty, muddy, grimy, wet, or otherwise, your drivetrain will be clean. It’s pretty incredible!

Check out the full build gallery below, and stop by soon to talk about a new custom bike!