Johnk3

I looked at the Waterford site and quite frankly, I was not impressed at all. They are priced rather high and have a baffling and very expensive list of options. Many of their frames look clunky. The frame price does not include a fork which is not cheap, and from what I can tell, they don't even offer a stainless steel fork, only stainless crowns and dropouts. I would take my Cicli Barco TIG Columbus XCr frame any day at a price that is probably half of a Waterford with twice the craftmanship and artistic flair. Just my opinion. I studied custom frame makers for years before I chose Barco. I looked at Waterford before as well and thought they are living on the old Paramount reputation.

There are quite a few really excellent framebuilders in the US. Some of the best are very expensive, over $6,000 for a classic lugged road frame, plus they have waiting lists that can be years. Barco told me it would take 14 weeks, but it actually took about 5 months, but in their defense, Christmas holidays and the Corona Virus caused some delays. They are very communicative and responsive, I have about 100 emails with them from planning to finish work and delivery. It is a family business that has been building steel frames since 1947. If you check their Facebook and Instagram pages you will see how serious they are.

Here is a Barco Viva fork with carbon fiber steering shaft available in brushed or polished stainless steel at the same price; it is made like a piece of jewelry.

mstateglfr 

I don't follow. Why, in your view, is Waterford the only possible option for custom that isn't local?