Former IF racer and camera maestro Logan Hodson paid us a recent visit and took a bit of footage.
Check it out:
Independent Fabrication from Logan Hodson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
New Tees :: New Frame Colors
It's always a vigorous conversation around IF World HQ when it comes time for new t-shirts and new paint colors.
This time around we kept it simple for the new tees, both offerings are black. Rather than try to figure out the latest "color X is the new black" debate, we just went with black for both offerings. So hard to go wrong with a black t-shirt... formal and rebellious at the same time.
Offered with our two down tube logos, one of which is the new script that we first introduced last year on the Titanium Factory Lightweight. The script version also features our new seat tube tower logo on the back.
For the classic up and down box version, we went with a gray and orange combination to celebrate the colors of our new showroom and fit studio, The Bike Factory NH.
As always, American made and available here.
On the new bike color front, it's a bit of a shot in the dark when it comes to which colors to add to our standard offering of two dozen or so colors (of course we are always happy to match your custom color request).
Once you consider the classic bike colors of black, white, red, silver, and the occasional blue, along with our team green and yellow, it gets to the fringes pretty quick. But the fringe is where the fun is, so we we try to keep it fresh. Last year we added a bunch of muscle car colors like Boss Blue, Barracuda Purple, Sprout Green, and Omaha Orange to go with the Factory Lightweight series, so this year, after we culled out some of less popular selections, we decided to go with:
Dove Gray is for those of you who like a sharp contrast to either a second color, or to your choice of decals, but are played out on white. It looks good on its own, or next to just about anything. I love it with orange (see The Bike Factory Logo and the new t-shirt above).
Chocolate Brown is... well it's chocolate, does anything else really need to be said? Makes me want a big slice of cake right now.
Nogaro Blue is back for a return engagement. It's an Audi color used in their S-series performance models, and we had it the line-up a few years back. We have been getting more requests for bright blues, and have been told that it is the next trend in bike color, set to rival red for bike color dominance. We'll see how the blue/red bike color smack down plays out, but it's an awesome blue and it's an election year, so equal opportunity and all.
Army Green is probably the biggest flyer here, but I just want to do one bike with red logos on it as an homage to vintage Soviet-era parade vehicles. I always thought it was funny to see military vehicles in polished camouflage colors with bright red logos. Did they repaint them in matte finishes and less visible logos after the parades? Just wondering.
Cheers,
G
This time around we kept it simple for the new tees, both offerings are black. Rather than try to figure out the latest "color X is the new black" debate, we just went with black for both offerings. So hard to go wrong with a black t-shirt... formal and rebellious at the same time.
Offered with our two down tube logos, one of which is the new script that we first introduced last year on the Titanium Factory Lightweight. The script version also features our new seat tube tower logo on the back.
For the classic up and down box version, we went with a gray and orange combination to celebrate the colors of our new showroom and fit studio, The Bike Factory NH.
On the new bike color front, it's a bit of a shot in the dark when it comes to which colors to add to our standard offering of two dozen or so colors (of course we are always happy to match your custom color request).
Once you consider the classic bike colors of black, white, red, silver, and the occasional blue, along with our team green and yellow, it gets to the fringes pretty quick. But the fringe is where the fun is, so we we try to keep it fresh. Last year we added a bunch of muscle car colors like Boss Blue, Barracuda Purple, Sprout Green, and Omaha Orange to go with the Factory Lightweight series, so this year, after we culled out some of less popular selections, we decided to go with:
Dove Gray is for those of you who like a sharp contrast to either a second color, or to your choice of decals, but are played out on white. It looks good on its own, or next to just about anything. I love it with orange (see The Bike Factory Logo and the new t-shirt above).
Chocolate Brown is... well it's chocolate, does anything else really need to be said? Makes me want a big slice of cake right now.
Nogaro Blue is back for a return engagement. It's an Audi color used in their S-series performance models, and we had it the line-up a few years back. We have been getting more requests for bright blues, and have been told that it is the next trend in bike color, set to rival red for bike color dominance. We'll see how the blue/red bike color smack down plays out, but it's an awesome blue and it's an election year, so equal opportunity and all.
Army Green is probably the biggest flyer here, but I just want to do one bike with red logos on it as an homage to vintage Soviet-era parade vehicles. I always thought it was funny to see military vehicles in polished camouflage colors with bright red logos. Did they repaint them in matte finishes and less visible logos after the parades? Just wondering.
Cheers,
G
Monday, January 9, 2012
Doing Well and Doing Good :: Shiny and Pink
Every now and then I come across a part that makes me want to create a bike around it. It's a round about way to do things, but it works for me.
Such was the case last year when I first saw Soma Fabrications cafe racer handle bar. It inspired me to create the Caffeine Racer mixte for my better half.
While at NAHBS, I was conveying this story to Paul Tolme, who runs PR for Gates Carbon Belt Drive. He came back to our booth a bit later and handed me a pink belt that Gates had produced in limited quantities to raise awareness for the fight against childhood cancer going on at the Pablove Foundation, and challenged me to create a bike around it.
It wasn't a "double-dog-dare-you" kind of thing, but he was pushing my buttons.
At the same show, I received a unique set of shaped stainless steel tubes from our crazy and stylish Italian metal-heads at Columbus. It was obvious... shiny and pink had to go together.
The head tube is a story all by itself. I wanted to use 3T's new tapered steerer road fork, so that meant an oversized HT to accommodate, but no stainless tubing exists in the proper diameter, so in stepped Mark Norstad from Paragon Machine Works. Mark spent 9 hours of machine "spindle time" milling this head tube out of solid stainless bar.
Expensive as it was, I think that it was worth it, since it gives the front end a bit of presence to go with the aggressive fork and over-sized down tube.
Such was the case last year when I first saw Soma Fabrications cafe racer handle bar. It inspired me to create the Caffeine Racer mixte for my better half.
While at NAHBS, I was conveying this story to Paul Tolme, who runs PR for Gates Carbon Belt Drive. He came back to our booth a bit later and handed me a pink belt that Gates had produced in limited quantities to raise awareness for the fight against childhood cancer going on at the Pablove Foundation, and challenged me to create a bike around it.
It wasn't a "double-dog-dare-you" kind of thing, but he was pushing my buttons.
At the same show, I received a unique set of shaped stainless steel tubes from our crazy and stylish Italian metal-heads at Columbus. It was obvious... shiny and pink had to go together.
With the belt and tube set in hand, the casserole cooking began in earnest. I wanted to make it fixed gear, and incorporate modern standards like a BB30 bottom bracket and an over-sized head tube to accommodate the robust main tubes and an aggressive fork with a tapered steerer tube.
After all, it is a war against this disease, so you have to roll with something stout.
The shaped chain stays presented a challenge when it came to incorporating a break for adding/removing the belt. Their square tapered bottoms required the splitter to be just below the bridge.
Expensive as it was, I think that it was worth it, since it gives the front end a bit of presence to go with the aggressive fork and over-sized down tube.
The folks at Cane Creek came through with a unique head set to make it all work together, and the fine folks at Full Speed Ahead added their SLK series bar, stem and post to go along with their BB30 Gossamer Crank.
Pink anno chain ring bolts... of course.
Jedi Paint Master Chris added the Pablove panels on the DT and ST.
Here she is... a shaped tube, stainless steel, fixed gear, belt drive, cancer killing machine.
Stay tuned for details on how you can help kill childhood cancer and win a chance to do it on style on this machine.
Cheers,
G
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Finishes :: Festive 500 and 2011
It's great to finish something. No matter how much it really sucked, the human spirit has a way of filtering out the negative and only recalling the positive. Such is the case for me with both 2011, and Rapha's Festive 500.
For some reason, I felt that signing up to ride 500 kilometers between December 23rd and today, the 31st, would be a fitting end to a challenging year. I figured why not end it with a ridiculous challenge?
My quest began with an aborted ride in the wee hours of the 23rd when I awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground and no studded tires in hand. Nothing like starting the nine day clock with zero mileage in the bank.
I went to the shop, and realized that my winter Deluxe, although great fun for cruising around town and trails in the ice and snow, just wasn't going to chew up the miles fast enough, so I ordered a pair of studded tires and some clip on fenders for my ti Planet CX and hoped for clear roads until they arrived.
Well... some days of OK road conditions, and then some more ice and snow, so sometimes you just have to "run what you brung" as they say in NASCAR... my trusty XS Club Racer.
She's one of a kind, built for 2010 NAHBS in Richmond, and ended up pulling duty for lots of the 500K.
Animal tracks, four legged and two wheeled.
As the week rolled by, the kilometers/miles began to accumulate, but I quickly learned that they would not come easy. Lots of riding after dark; and the cold, wind, and messy road conditions made for slow going, not to mention the busy work week.
The workload towards the end of the week only allowed for riding after dark, which turned out to be pretty awesome. The wind tends to be a little less of a problem after nightfall, the traffic is light on the back roads, and I had more than a few memorable moments of Christmas lights and a waxing moon reflecting on the bay.
I also had one really sketchy moment where my head light died on a very dark and rainy night. Fortunately I was only a few miles from home, so I knew the roads well. I just rode in what I thought was the middle of the road and kept looking over my shoulder to see the edge of the road in the glow of my tail light.
So, today it came down to a final 50 miles. The weather forecast last night called for the dreaded "wintery mix", and sure enough, it was freezing rain, with lots of ice on the roads.
Fortunately, my studded tires and fenders for the CX bike arrived at the end of the week, and I installed them on some older Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL's. I can remember when those wheels were the hottest things on the road, and now they are my winter warriors... lots of great miles and simply indestructible.
With the icy road conditions, I figured that I'd incorporate some gravel roads, thinking that they'd have more grip, but they were just as bad. For some reason(s) of physics that elude me, the rain froze just as thick, if not more so, on the gravel. Kind of funny to see that the municipal trucks had been out to sand a gravel road (the more orange stuff in the middle of the road).
One of my favorite quotes about riding in hard weather comes from Justin Spinelli, a fellow Granite Stater and ex-pro. He said that, "riding in the cold and rain is not epic, getting up and doing it day after day is".
The on and off freezing rain, combined with the cold temps were pretty tough, so I did a route in the morning, then broke for lunch and some dry kit.
The temps rose a bit after lunch, so there was some incredible fog.
At one point a truck pulled up next to me at a stop light and the driver rolled down his window and asked, "are you crazy"? I said, "no, I'm a cyclist". He then asked, "what kind of a cyclist rides in this weather"? I thought for a minute and all I could reply was, "a festive one"! He laughed and the light turned green.
So now that it's all done, time to toast finishes. Here's a hearty recovery shake to all of you, your friends and families. May all your rides in 2012, if not be warm and dry, at least be festive.
Happy New Year!
G.
For some reason, I felt that signing up to ride 500 kilometers between December 23rd and today, the 31st, would be a fitting end to a challenging year. I figured why not end it with a ridiculous challenge?
My quest began with an aborted ride in the wee hours of the 23rd when I awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground and no studded tires in hand. Nothing like starting the nine day clock with zero mileage in the bank.
I went to the shop, and realized that my winter Deluxe, although great fun for cruising around town and trails in the ice and snow, just wasn't going to chew up the miles fast enough, so I ordered a pair of studded tires and some clip on fenders for my ti Planet CX and hoped for clear roads until they arrived.
Well... some days of OK road conditions, and then some more ice and snow, so sometimes you just have to "run what you brung" as they say in NASCAR... my trusty XS Club Racer.
She's one of a kind, built for 2010 NAHBS in Richmond, and ended up pulling duty for lots of the 500K.
Animal tracks, four legged and two wheeled.
As the week rolled by, the kilometers/miles began to accumulate, but I quickly learned that they would not come easy. Lots of riding after dark; and the cold, wind, and messy road conditions made for slow going, not to mention the busy work week.
The workload towards the end of the week only allowed for riding after dark, which turned out to be pretty awesome. The wind tends to be a little less of a problem after nightfall, the traffic is light on the back roads, and I had more than a few memorable moments of Christmas lights and a waxing moon reflecting on the bay.
I also had one really sketchy moment where my head light died on a very dark and rainy night. Fortunately I was only a few miles from home, so I knew the roads well. I just rode in what I thought was the middle of the road and kept looking over my shoulder to see the edge of the road in the glow of my tail light.
So, today it came down to a final 50 miles. The weather forecast last night called for the dreaded "wintery mix", and sure enough, it was freezing rain, with lots of ice on the roads.
Fortunately, my studded tires and fenders for the CX bike arrived at the end of the week, and I installed them on some older Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL's. I can remember when those wheels were the hottest things on the road, and now they are my winter warriors... lots of great miles and simply indestructible.
A big shout out to Nokion. Those fine Finnish folks really know how to make a winter bicycle tire, and the Planet Bike clip on fenders were a breeze to install.
With the icy road conditions, I figured that I'd incorporate some gravel roads, thinking that they'd have more grip, but they were just as bad. For some reason(s) of physics that elude me, the rain froze just as thick, if not more so, on the gravel. Kind of funny to see that the municipal trucks had been out to sand a gravel road (the more orange stuff in the middle of the road).
One of my favorite quotes about riding in hard weather comes from Justin Spinelli, a fellow Granite Stater and ex-pro. He said that, "riding in the cold and rain is not epic, getting up and doing it day after day is".
The on and off freezing rain, combined with the cold temps were pretty tough, so I did a route in the morning, then broke for lunch and some dry kit.
The temps rose a bit after lunch, so there was some incredible fog.
So now that it's all done, time to toast finishes. Here's a hearty recovery shake to all of you, your friends and families. May all your rides in 2012, if not be warm and dry, at least be festive.
Happy New Year!
G.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Season's Greetings :: Longer Days
Tis the season to be jolly... and the days started getting longer yesterday, so Spring is queuing up right behind Santa.
Maybe it's optimistic to think that Spring is right behind Santa, but I've been stressing about the winter 5 that I've already gained, and I haven't even made it through Christmas yet, so I've signed up to try Rapha's Festive 500 challenge.
Sure enough, I woke up before dawn this morning with the intention of getting in a few hours of riding, and what did I find when I looked out on the back porch?
You have to love New England weather. It was sunny and almost 60 degrees yesterday, and today it's a "wintery mix" advisory on the weather reports. The kids are stoked about having a white Christmas, but it's time to bust out the studded tires, except that my Winter Deluxe is sitting on a stand in the showroom.
Speaking of coffee tumblers, check out the custom colors that Chris and Phil did to put in the stockings of the ladies at BaileyWorks:
I hope that you've all been nice this year and that Santa brings you shiny new bike things for your stockings. As we were shooting this Australia bound red Crown Jewel the other day we all joked that it was the perfect "Santa Bike". Maybe the jolly old fellow wouldn't be so rotund if he rode a bike during his off-season. Must be nice to eat cookies all of the time and have eight reindeer to pull your largesse around.
2011 has been a busy year, a time of change for us as we settled into our new home. We are thankful for all of our terrific dealers and friends who have supported us throughout, and wish you all a joyous holiday season and prosperous New Year.
May your glasses always be full and your rides safe.
Peace,
G
Monday, December 12, 2011
What Euro Crisis? :: Citrus Squeeze
Our friends at Bike Boutique in Holland recently sent us some build pics of this special hot lime steel Deluxe.
Jaap and his crew place a lot of emphasis on the small details that make the whole special. Check out the custom stay protector and the tied and soldered spokes on the Enve/Chris King wheel build.
Chris and Phil put a lot of hours into the custom painted Niner carbon fork. Seems like an anachronism to put a rigid carbon fork on a steel frame, but the design of this fork somehow just works well with the classic lines of the frame.
A deluxe Deluxe indeed.
Thanks Jaap for sharing the pics!
G.
Would you like a slice of melon hubs with your lime frame? If you haven't held one of the new SRAM XX cassettes in your hands yet, I highly recommend it. It is just a piece of machined art, and I hear through the grapevine a glimpse of what's to come with the update to the Red road group.
Plenty of stopping power and Tune skewers to match the hubs.
Chris and Phil put a lot of hours into the custom painted Niner carbon fork. Seems like an anachronism to put a rigid carbon fork on a steel frame, but the design of this fork somehow just works well with the classic lines of the frame.
A deluxe Deluxe indeed.
Thanks Jaap for sharing the pics!
G.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Handmade :: Hands
Not long ago I read an interview with Bruce Gordon, one of the elder statesmen of the handmade bicycle community, and one thought has stuck with me. I don't remember his quote word for word, but he said something to the effect that most people in America today don't interact on a regular basis with anyone that actually makes something with their hands.
With this in mind, I was going through the many great photos shot by Chris Milliman during his recent visit with us, and the hands really stuck out.
How many people did you interact with today that use their hands to make something?
Cheers,
G.
With this in mind, I was going through the many great photos shot by Chris Milliman during his recent visit with us, and the hands really stuck out.
How many people did you interact with today that use their hands to make something?
Cheers,
G.
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