It’s a familiar story: custom framebuilder turns small-batch builder. Not that the East London-based Stayer isn’t still building custom bikes, but in recent years the company has added off-the-peg framesets to its handbuilt oeuvre.
What that means for the Stayer Crit is you get a choice of paint plus gear and cable-routing options, but Stayer has made the big decisions – geometry and tubing – for you.
The logic is that most people’s morphology is pretty typical and so custom geometry isn’t strictly necessary, and an experienced builder knows what works tubing-wise far better than most customers.
I’m not bashing true custom – a frame tailored to the millimetre is an amazing
