Yesterday, Margo Conover, from Luna Cycles, contacted me regarding my prior blog. Luna Cycles specializes exclusively in the fit and performance needs of female cyclists. Luna is the only frame builder in the country with a woman designing and building all of their bicycles. Luna Cycles with a few other custom frame builders, depend on low overhead websites for the majority of their business. Therefore, I must make an exception to my personal judgment towards online purchases.

My fears are when women purchase a bike online and have no person to discuss fit and performance with. We are talking about buying a bike through a large, online distributor because it is on sale and you end up with a top tube that makes you feel like Superwoman in flight. THEN…you feel embarrassed to take it to your local shop for adjustments because you did not buy it there. THEN…when the bottom bracket seizes the first week you have no shop guarantee.

Custom frame builders such as Luna Cycles do not fit into this nightmare scenario. Many female cyclists still find it hard to find high-end bicycles through stock brands. Sooner or later these companies will wise up and provide high-end quality for women. Small women also run into fit issues where they cannot find a stock bike that meet their needs. Custom frame builders like Luna Cycles can pin point and meet these needs. Yeah ladies! These frame builders do provide a high customer service experience leading to a high quality product.

Luna Cycles guarantee unconditionally bike fit and provide a hassle-free return service within 30 days of purchase if the customer doesn’t like her Luna for ANY reason (no one has ever returned a bike…). I feel I provide excellent service in terms of follow up and communication. Margo Conover, Luna Cycles

Small custom frame builders have a question and answer period where they get all the information they need to build you the bike of your dreams. This process allows you to build your bike from the ground up.

For custom bikes, I have every customer fill out a questionnaire that gives me oodles of info, including body measurements. After receiving that info, I spend a lot of follow up communication with the customer getting very clear on what she needs and wants, and what she doesn’t. I provide preliminary drawings of her frame/bike via jpegs attached to emails, and then follow up versions if modifications are required. Even if someone is just loosely inquiring, I will offer to “run their numbers” gratis, and give them a size range that will work for them as they shop for stock bikes, or consider custom (usually standover and top tube length, at a minimum). For my “prebuilts” I also encourage the woman inquiring to give me this info, so we know if the bike is within the ideal range. Margo Conover, Luna Cycles

I do my best to have it all set up correctly to fit the customer, and leave lots of fork steerer so there is adjustability in front end height. I strongly encourage having the bike’s final (minimal) assembly done at a local shop, and I always always encourage a fit-kit kind of fit (the $50 variety) to ensure she is set up properly on the bike (right stem length/rise, saddle fore/aft, etc.). But, remarkably, I find that the final tweaking of fit is generally minor. I also often ship bikes directly to local shops, which allows them to check everything out and sell the requisite accessories, if needed… Margo Conover, Luna Cycles

So…with all of this said…I will amend my prior blog to say that purchasing a bicycle online is not all bad. I do respect small custom frame builders who are keeping it real.