My philosophy on show bikes is that they call it show business for a reason: you've got to show your stuff, and you have to do some business; meaning that you need to stretch the boundaries of where you've been, and do it in a way that is ultimately commercial. To that end, we try and do new spins on existing models, and fly the freak flag on some things.
Here's a sneak peek, and hope to see many of you in Austin:
First up is a ti Factory Lightweight road bike that is heading to our man Gregorio in the Philippines after the show. It's done in Boss Blue and matte black, wearing an asymmetrical set of Cole tubulars.
Up next is another IF/Rapha XS that will be on display in the Rapha booth along with the other bikes in the Rapha Bicycle Collection. This one is built up with SRAM Red and Mavic's new R-Sys SLRs that feature Exalite coating, a modern, high-tech take on their old ceramic braking surface. They look great in all matte black. 
Let's throw in a little dirt to mix it up. Here we have a prototype of a ti Factory Lightweight single speed mountain bike. Chris Rowe and I had a lot of fun going all Chip Foose on this one with the stripes.
Sticking with the dirt theme, we have a steel Club Racer that is designed in collaboration with Sandy Whittlesey, the mad dirt road genius behind D2R2. If you haven't done this ride, sign up now. Similar to last year's SSR to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, we will be raffling off a custom build of this frame-set between now and August to benefit the Franklin Land Trust, the good folks that protect the beautiful scenery in Northwestern Massachusetts where D2R2 is held.
Switching from dirt to mud, we have a brand new all carbon model, the Cross Jester. Shown here in single speed belt drive, featuring Phil Wood's new rear cog for the Gates belt drive system. This cog is a work of machined art, and incorporates White Industries free wheel internals.
Last, but not least, is one near and dear to my heart (literally), since this is for my lovely wife Toni (aka Mix-T). It's the Caffeine Racer, the ultimate weapon when a speedy injection of coffee goodness is required to get through the day. Inspired by the cafe racer movement in motorbikes, this Barracuda Purple and black checkerboard beauty features an 8 speed internal hub, chrome cafe bars, Phil-centric BB, a carbon and aluminum disk brake fork, Paul racer brakes in the rear, a dynamo powered headlight, and of course, a custom painted stainless steel coffee tumbler.
I really have to give a big shout out for the crew, they've done an amazing job bringing this all together, and I couldn't be more fortunate than to work with such a great group of dedicated and fun people. Thank you Shawn, Keith, Ron, Brian, LPB, Chris, Poni, Ryan, Benny, Adam, JP, Jesse, and Toni.
And thanks to all of our fine industry friends for their support and patience with our crazy requests, Tom at Cole and Vittoria, Jason at Enve Composites, Chad at FSA, Steve at Crank Brothers and Fizik, Lynette at White Industries, Chris D. at Chris King, and all of the good folks at Phil, Paul, Gates, SRAM... awe shucks, this is turning into an Oscar acceptance speech... you all know who you are and we love you.
See you in Austin, yippee ki-yay!
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6 comments:
Holy crap those are awesome! Fantastic job IF, you guys rock!
Soma Cafe Bars on Caffeine Racer?
You guys really know how to add class to a carbon fiber built. Outstanding!
Love that orange! You wouldn't happen to be nice enough to give ou the paint code on that would you?
Hey John...that's pearl orange, an old stock color. Its a 2 step pearlcoat, with DBC62495 shot over DBC62494. or vice versa, the orange pearl goes over the white base. glad you like it.
Simply amazing, really a great work. I love specially the Caffeine Racer and the Club Racer. Guys, you never unfinished to amaze me.
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