It would seem to me that over the past four years and with the advent of lame bike shows on TV, that every one now is a professional bike builder. Here in Mass I can remember having to drive hours from my home to get the smallest parts. Now its a simple matter of walking or driving twenty minutes to find a local shop. About a week ago I spent a day traveling to several bike shops in the area.

These shops claimed to be custom fab and paint shops but all carried pre assembled bikes. At one shop I noticed a sign that charged ninety dollars per hour for sheet metal work yet they had no equipment what so ever to bend or shape the smallest piece. After talking to the owner he had mentioned to me that he could build me a gas tank for 2,800 but would take 6 to 8 weeks for delivery from their "out source tank builder". I don