Custom versus Bespoke

Do you have a bespoke suit?  A custom car? 

Was it made to order? Or tailored to fit you and your style after it was made? 

The words "custom" and "bespoke" are regularly applied to bicycles and often in ways that make the two words seem interchangeable. But are they? 

From the dictionary definitions, it seems many do view the two words as "synonyms", that is, two words that mean the same. 

In the bicycle industry, this certainly seems to be true: both words are regularly used more or less interchangeably. The British have perhaps (until recently) favoured the use of "bespoke" while Americans have leant towards use of "custom", but that seems to be changing rapidly, with "custom" becoming the dominant word on this side of the Atlantic as well. 

I wish to make a case for differentiating the meaning of the two words
for the sake of precision and clarity! 

The problem in my view is that both words are often used to describe two situations that are entirely different: 

• A bicycle frame made from scratch to the precise requirements and demands of an individual.

like a "bespoke suit" =

you are measured up before scissors go near the fabric

• The building up of a frame (any frame, whether stock or made to order as above) to meet the demands or satisfy the requests of an individual. The individual has had no input into the design and manufacturer of the frame itself, though usually they are given a choice of size, from a range of sizes on offer. 

like a "custom car" = 

you buy another person's basic design or vision,
with the option to personalise the hell out of it!

Possibly the purest form of having a bespoke bicycle built for you is through a dedicated bike fit specialist. The likes of Cyclefit and Bespoke Bicycles (see, the clue is in the name) are not in the business of building bicycles themselves but in doing all the individual measurements and assessments that are then passed to one of their bicycle manufacturing partners as a blueprint for the bicycle to be made. These business models at their core offer a bespoke service, then act as sales agent for the manufacturer of the bespoke product. 

Trek's Project One is a classic example of "custom bicycles". 

With Mercian Cycles, you can have both, by the same team: get a full professional bike fit and then Mercian's craftsmen will hand-build your made-to-measure frame using traditional methods. You choose the build kit and nearly everything about the bicycle's appearance. 

A bespoke item will fit or suit just one person or perhaps a minority of the population who happen to possess the same characteristics as the person who originally commissioned it.

By contrast, a custom item usually starts life designed and specc'd to suit the majority of the target market, but is then customised or personalised to suit the requirements or taste of one individual. 

So, while a "bespoke" item may mean another person can't wear/use it, a "custom(ised)" product will probably fit or be usable by a number of other people -- provided they have similar taste!

Of course, the result in both cases is something quite special, out of the mainstream market. 

To one degree or another, every single one of my bicycles has been customised. But only one -- using the prevailing language in the cycling industry -- can be called "custom".  

That seems all wrong to me. 

The Enigma is bespoke... made to measure. 

Every other of my bikes was, to start with, a "stock build" that was manufactured in a pre-determined size and geometry, with certain presumptions (often varying by price point) about the eventual build, for example with regard to the quality of the frame material or the provision and locations of braze ons (drop out shapes, cable guides, etc).

I've rebuilt and re-purposed my Puch Princess so many times, occasionally I have to stop, sit down and think to remind myself what the original factory build would have looked like. (Fortunately, I have in my possession a second Puch Princess in 100% factory original condition as a handy reference!)  I'd say Lorelei has been customised... over and over and over again. 

But it would open a can of worms to describe this 37 year old steel touring bike as a "custom bike". 

The same applies to the Cross Check: it has been modified to the extremes of its limitations.

I bring the word "modified" into the discussion quite deliberately. In the automotive world, "mod" has a meaning and association much closer to that of "custom" than to "bespoke". (At one time I might have said this had more to do with the fact that Americans are more "into" modifying cars than the English are, but that was before I spent a decade involved with the UK owners club for Citroen 2CVs!) 

For example, most would agree this "Batmobile" is a heavily modified 1955 Lincoln Futura. The result is referred to as a "custom car". 

My take on all this is that the bespoke starts with the frame, everything after that is customisation. 

Would you draw a distinction between the meanings of these words? If so, where would you draw it?