If you want to build a bike, finding a frame is easy. There are dozens of frame builders that can fill your needs with anything from a rigid to a Sportster, a Softail, or an FXR.
These choices are OK for your basic custom bike, but what do you do if you want to create something as long and wild as the bikes shown on the pages of STREET CHOPPER? What if you like the style of a certain frame, but the tubing up front doesn't quite place the steering head as far ahead or upward as you'd like? There are a few of the major builders that are willing to custom-tailor their frames to make your dream bike become a reality.
We dropped in to visit Phil Day at Daytec Frame Center in Hesperia, California, for some answers. Phil's shop not only builds hundreds of fantastic rigid, Softail, and rubbermount frames each year, the company also does a fair amount of custom frame building for customers with special needs. Each frame ordered from Daytec starts with a frame build sheet, listing everything the customer is looking for. Standard dimensions are listed, as are incremental boxes of varying rake and stretch dimensions that can be checked off - just in case standard isn't quite your thing. There is another box on the order sheet with the designation of other. That extra box allows the customer to write in his or her own personal criteria - within reason, of course. Daytec will thoroughly discuss the specification sheet and counsel the customer by talking about what they want their bike to look like and the type of riding they intend to do with it. By taking this extra time, Daytec has a much better chance of ensuring the customer their finished bike is something they'll be proud to own for years to come.
We told Daytec that we'd like to stop by the next time the staff was building a custom frame to see how it's done. Phil gave us a lot of good information on what goes on at Daytec while he walked us through each phase of the build and explained how varying the rake, the downtube, and the backbone stretch affects the geometry of the frame.