Alpha Bicycle Studio is a custom bike builder in Denver, Colorado, on the Front Range. We are a studio, not a shop — appointment-only, with no showroom floor and no bikes waiting to be sold. Every bike we build is being built for a specific rider, starting with a professional fit. If you are new to custom and trying to work out what that actually means, these are the questions riders ask us first.
Do you have bikes I can come look at?
Not in the way most shops do. There is no showroom floor at Alpha, and no rack of bikes waiting for a buyer — every bike in the studio at any moment is a bike being built for a specific rider or show frame from a manufacturer. That is the trade a studio makes: less to browse, more attention on the bike being built for you.
If you want to see the studio before you commit to anything, come by during Open Studio Hours on Saturdays, 12:00 to 2:00 PM. That is the lowest-commitment way to see how the place works and meet the people who work in it.
Where does the process start?
It starts with a professional bike fit. The fit is $600, it takes a few hours, and our Master Bike Fitter runs it. You leave with a set of numbers that describe how your body works on a bike — reach, stack, saddle height, cleat position, and the rest — and a conversation about what those numbers mean for the kind of riding you want to do.
We call the full arc From Fit to Finish: Discover, Measure, Design, Deliver. The fit is the Discover-and-Measure end of it. Everything downstream — frame choice, component spec, geometry, build — depends on those numbers being right first.
How do you choose which frame?
After the fit, and always in conversation with the rider. The fit tells us the geometry a frame needs to hit; the conversation about how and where you ride tells us the character it needs to have. Then we work through Alpha's frame partners — Sarto, Mosaic, ENVE, Allied, and Ritte — and land on the one that answers both.
No one walks in and gets sold a frame off a wall. There is no wall.
What does a custom build cost?
Complete builds run from about $8,000 to $20,000 or more before tax, depending on the frame, the component group, and the wheels. That covers three line items: parts, the $600 fit, and $600 in build labor. A complete entry-level ENVE MOG built through Alpha lands near $9,950 before tax — roughly $8,750 in parts (including some Colorado-specific upgrades), plus the fit and the build labor. Colorado sales tax is on top.
If you want to plan around a target, tell us the number and we will tell you honestly what it can and cannot do.
How long does the build take?
The honest answer is that it varies by frame partner. Some partners hold frames in Boulder or in the U.S. and can move quickly; others are made-to-order overseas and take longer. Once the fit is done and the frame is chosen, we can give you a real window for that specific build. Before that, any number would be a guess.
Do you service the bike I already have?
Yes. Alpha runs a full service line — Bike Service & Repair — by appointment, and it is open to bikes purchased anywhere, not only bikes we built. That includes Bike Assembly for frames you bring us ($350–$600), custom wheel building, and full mechanical work.
One exception: we do not service e-bikes. That is a deliberate choice about where our mechanics work best, not a comment on e-bikes as a category. If you ride one, we are happy to point you toward a shop that specializes.
How do I actually engage?
Book a fit. Alpha is appointment-only, so first contact is either a scheduled fit or a visit during Saturday Open Studio Hours. Everything else — the frame conversation, the spec, the build — follows from there.
