One Down, Five to Go

• It's not as if there aren't fantastic steel road bikes on the market any more. From Goodrich to Sachs to Yamaguchi and beyond, there are several top quality handbuilt makes available in North America. One step down (or perhaps to the side?) there are the small factory bikes: Serotta, Seven, Waterford, IF. And one step down from there, you can still find a few high quality (semi) production brands: Gunnar, Salsa, Rivendell, etc. The production bikes are fine, but tend to focus on the middle and lower end of the market, and so if you want something with sharp handling and/or custom geometry, you'll generally need to look at the first two categories (and spend 2-4X as much).

  This is the where TATI (and other small shops) have tried to fill a bit of a gap in the market. Over the past three years, steel TATI road bikes have sold steadily. Most buyers are folks who have or have had very nice bikes. They are knowledgable about materials, demand a perfect fit, and expect that classic resilient road feel that nicer steel frames can provide. A decade or more ago, Bianchi sold fine steel production bikes. And before that, several Japanese manufacturers did. These were middle to high end machines, equipped with racing componentry, lightweight wheels, and high quality tires. There are a few brands that offer something like this, but most are in the UK (Condor, Roberts, etc.) and Japan. I have a customer who looked high and low for such an animal. His requirements were not great: a light, snappy frame, SRAM components, and the option to customize wheels, pedals, saddle, bars, etc. In the production world, he came upon the Bianchi Vigorelli, but at $1750 with a 105/Ultegra mix and so-so frame, this was a no go. His next choice was a Gunnar Roadie, but it would have cost a grand more than the Vigorelli with Rival. We ended up putting together a great Rival bike in his favorite color for a shade more than the Bianchi -- including a pair of Time RXS pedals and a reissued San Marco Concor saddle.

  I'd put the custom bike pictured above in loosely the same category. The buyer is taking steps to get more serious about cycling, and wanted something that would be comfortable on 3+ hour rides, but snappy enough for a hard and short morning ride with his colleagues. On the performance vs. comfort spectrum, I'd tip the build 40/60 -- but this is partially due to the smart Chicago-road-friendly 25c Panaracers. There is still some tweaking to do, so we'll see how the final build comes out.