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Where to start? I really fancied a custom made frame but no way i could afford a go for a serotta,seven,moots,roberts, setavento I had heard about xacd on the web, £350 for a custom frame seemed like a bargain, if its shit some fool on ebay will buy it from me!
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I emailed XACD around the last couple of days in May 07, Porter got back to within a 24 hrs, not the greatest command of English, but pleasant enough, Told him what I was looking for, roughly a 56cm audax frame, semi sloping top tube,clearance for mud guards and 32mm tyres(for cyclo-cross) bosses for touring racks, Emailed me back with an engineering drawing of a frame, I swapped a few emails over the next couple of weeks changing and tweaking a couple of mm's here and there, Got a final drawing which I was happy with, Told him I was keen to go ahead with the purchase, Sent me the bank transfer details and final price, £302 including shipping, I sent the money via my current account, halifax charged me £25 for the pleasure, 15 days later the frame was in my hands, no problems with import duty, customs, shipping.
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The build
frame,shipping,bank charges £327
10 speed dura ace triple from ebay £320 (no brakes, bought it bit by bit)
frogs legs canti's from ebay £32
Bonty race x lite wheels 2nd hand £200
Bonty carbon stem,bars 2nd hand £75
ITM vista cross fork wiggle.com £80
odds and ends wiggle.co.uk £35
stickers (see link) great service £12
seat,post,pedals from my spare box
total £1081
total bike is around 8kgs
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Still over a grand, but surely at least £1500 cheaper than anything from one of the custom builders.
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Not done many miles on it yet, but so far my thoughts are,, mega comfy, really easy to ride on the drops, BB area is a little flexy, back end is stiff no brake rub when out of the saddle, so far so good, rest assured if something goes wrong, I will post the details.
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LINKS
www.wiggle.co.uk
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I hopefully this post will be useful, I'm no way connected to any of the company's, Just a tight arsed Scotsman in hunt of a cycling bargain.
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DISCLAIMER
If you purchase from any of the links provided and your not happy, tough shit
UPDATE 4/5/09
After almost 2 years and 10000kms the bike is still going strong, No problems.
Update 5th December 09
Still going strong, I had it custom painted, and stuck some Sram red on it
