Partly I've been thinking about it because of the bike company I started, called Native Bikes.  We don't build frames, but we take bike frames and build bikes specifically for one person.  It's cool because when you get on a bike that was built just for you, it feels right.  What's the difference between a stock bicycle and a custom bike I might produce?  A lot.  Stock bikes 

come with pretty much

whatever parts the bike company could get the best deal on at the time and the frames are mass-produced.  Stock bikes are like one-size-fits-all tshirts.  They don't fit anyone.  That's not necessarily true about bikes, but there are things about a bike that are important to riders but not to bike companies.  Their job is to sell bikes.  You say you want a blue frame?  No problem.  The bike that Chad Shanks and I put together for Joel Collins was the color and size that Joel wanted with all the specific parts he needs to ride solid for a long time.  And it's a hot bike.  Guaranteed people stopped in the parking lot at Keystone on Sunday and started asking questions.  Ya damn right!

You want a vintage cruiser?  Of course you do.  Dr. Caren Eichor got hers.  My dad and I took a 1950's cruiser bi

ke and painted it milk chocolate brown and Guinness cream, stenciled her name on the chainguard, doggie prints on the rack and flowers on the tank, and rebuilt this beauty with white-walled balloon tires and polished chrome fenders.  The first bike we started working on isn't finished yet.  I'll tell you about it later.  But check out this custom head badge!

The point is, custom products are sweet.  Jason and I were talking about how cool it would be to have a tailor make us custom suits.  I was just reading this article in Esquire Magazine about custom suits and it got my interest up.  So many things you wouldn't know about suit quality unless a professional told you about them.  

And that's how it is.

  That's the beauty of buying something quality from a small, custom- producer.  I've been thinking about cars a bit.  How cool it would be to buy, not a car from one of the huge automakers, but a car custom-built by a small car company.  Someone who does quality work and makes cool cars to suit their clients.  You'd never stop at a stoplight and have someone in the exact same car drive up and stop next to you.  In the good old days it wasn't so uncommon to find custom producers.  A few years back my dad bought an old, beat-up roadster that had once graced the floor of the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.  He restored it to its original condition, which was beautiful.  Along the way we found out that it was called a Falcon 

Knight and was custom-made for Jim Howe, the man who invented Tums.

Imagine living in a house built just for you.  Maybe you're like me and you have a problem putting away your clothes and you just need drawers to throw stuff in and a shelf to put all your jeans.  And maybe your architect could design that into your house.  I cook whenever I can and would love to have a bigger kitchen- and one of those big center islands with a butcher block maybe.  And in the bathroom it would be cool to have a big shower that is open, like the one I used in Costa Rica.  People like Joel Collins (of earlier custom bike fame) design these types of houses, and if you can afford it, why would you buy mass-produced floor plans off the internet?  That doesn't make sense.

You've all probably seen the tv show about the dudes who build motorcycles.  I think it's called American Chopper.  They use their creative skills and expertise to build custom choppers for their clients.

And that's the thing about custom.  You don't go to the Orange County Choppers guy and say, "I want you to build me this bike" and then tell him every little detail.  And you don't ask him to build you a Harley Davidson.  He's an artist.  And a scientist.  He knows what works best, visually and technically.  You give him the gist and then give him the reigns. 

My mom once told me not to go around asking just anyone for advice.  She told me when I need advice I should find out who knows what they're talking about in whatever area I need advice, find someone whose opinion I trust.  Ask that person for advice.  And take it.  Because it's rude to ask for advice and not take it.  

I think THAT is good advice.  Leave it to the experts.  You don't have to know everything, just know people who do.

But wouldn't it be great to have everything custom made?  I wish I could.  But I guess we do what we can.

Maybe you can kind of think of your coffee here at DoubleShot like a custom suit.  Certainly you don't understand coffee the way we do because we have our hands in it all day.  But you don't necessarily have to understand.  Just figure out what you want and leave the rest to us.  It'll suit you like a fixie in Bartlett Square.

(By the way, if you're looking for a custom bike, I'm your man:  brian@doubleshotcoffee.com)