FOCUS: Dropouts

At IF we have lots of different kinds of dropouts, each type is made out 3 different materials: Steel, Stainless Steel and Titanium. Today we're going to take a look at a few of them, up close and personal style.

Below are pictured the steel disc dropouts. They are covered in a scale that is a result of the heat treatment process:

58 degree steel road bike dropouts (we use different angle dropouts to match up to the angles of the seatstays):

Steel track drops (with dried coffee stains):

Mitered titanium track drops:

Titanium road dropouts used on bikes with carbon monostays:

Steel slider dropouts:

Finally, titanium slider dropouts:

If there anything you would like us to FOCUS on, let us know in the comments below...

Cutters Rule!

Little 500=super awesome.


You must see the pictures (here).

FOCUS: Corvid Carbon Prototype

Monday morning spy shots of another Indy Fab full carbon prototype that we have dubbed "Corvid". All EDGE/IF carbon fiber tubing and lugs. Hopefully it will be ready for a photo shoot on Friday to be in our ad in the next issue of Rouleur...


Headtube in the jig...


BB30 lug and insert...


Corvid proto all mitered up on the production jig..


This is a dry fit.


The frame will be taken apart and cleaned and then we will set it up on the bonding jig.


Curing in the bonding frame jig..


If there anything you would like us to FOCUS on, let us know in the comments below...

FOCUS: Tahitian Pearl

Today we will take a close up look at the 2009 special color Tahitian Pearl.

The first couple of pictures are of a frame that just came out of the paint booth this morning. These pictures were taken under fluorescent lighting.

No headbadge yet....

No water bottle bolts yet....

Finn also rode his Tahitian pearl bike in today, these picture were taken in natural sunlight...

There is a little dirt on the frame, but what do you expect... He rides it.



If there anything you would like us to FOCUS on, let us know in the comments below...

FOCUS: Tools

Per request we will take a look around the shop at some of the special tooling that we use, focusing on (but not limited to) some of the more handmade items. Once again, no fancy talk, just tools. Below is Tony, Tony has a little brother named Tiny:


This one purges where no others will:


This one is just beautiful in its simplicity (the way it works, not the way it looks), it only does one thing and does it well:


This one is a beast, we use it to punish people when they are bad. If there is nobody to punish then we make Finn use it:


Purging heatsinks are a welders best friend, this one is for a bottom bracket:


Beee's favorite tool in the shop:


The Sharpie, the most lost tool in the shop, we had to chain this one up so it wouldn't get away:


If there anything you would like us to FOCUS on, let us know in the comments below...

FOCUS: Welds

We're gonna try something different with this blog for a little while and see how it goes. Every few days we are going to focus on something in, at or around Independent Fabrication. It could be physical, it could be cultural, it could be insightful or even a little irrelevant. Regardless, we're going to keep it simple and informal, just a look around.....

Today we will take a look at some welds; raw, unfinished, pure, naked Independent Fabrication T.I.G. welds. No fancy talk, just welds.

Here is a steel seat tube junction:


Now that you have digested that, let's move on to a stainless steel seat tube junction:



Lastly, a titanium bottom bracket:



Stay tuned for more FOCUS:

Is there anything you would like us to FOCUS on?