Radly Presented: Sparky's Corvid

Q: How much does it weigh?

A: It weighs 1.1 ounces (in sterling silver) more than it could.... gotta make it legal, right?

BTW: You must click on the above picture to see through the tint to the weave on the top tube... in certain lighting situations (like in our photo studio, or in the sun) the tint really pops.
Kevin (AKA Sparky) is Indy Fab's lead frame designer and super fast racer. He and his brand-spankin'-new Corvid are on their way to Bend, Oregon for the Elite Road National Championships. He will be rendezvousing there with the rest of the IFracing team who drove out in the super-duper IFracing suburban. Good luck fellas!

The Indy Fab logos are nothing but clearcoat showing through to the carbon fiber beneath... subtle elegance.

Notice (below) the chain radly crossing over the chainstay? So sweet.

All that power transfer, such a tiny chain....
Bikes are so cool.

Sparky doesn't know it, but i named his bike Radly... Can I do that??... I think so.

Embrocation SSR: Fork Remix

It's all in the details. We just couldn't let our man James ride a bland fork any longer.
So we juiced it up.... with the espresso pot reach around: a fresh new Embro duo-tone wrap around pattern.
The carbon fiber from the Ouzo Pro fork is peeking through the Embro pattern on the white underbelly of the fork.
Midnight Blue Metallic, Lambo Green and White.... all smothered in clearcoat, mmmmmm.
Delicious.

Rapha Build: US221

Another stainless steel SSR Rapha frame set, this time a complete build.
Sterling silver Rapha headbadge.
Designed, cut, welded, brazed, polished, painted, built up, photographed and presented to you directly from Indy Fab.
I.F. crown seat collar, carbon fiber seat tube insert and painted in graphics.

US221...... If you click on the picture below (to make it bigger) you will notice a green sparkle in the white paint. This is a green pearl added to the white, very subtle but nice in the sun.
Selle Italia Flite Team saddle.
Blacked-out Chris King headset with 3t stem, seatpost and bars.
DT Swiss ceramic bearing hubs laced up to some deep dish EDGE carbon fiber tubular rims.
EDGE 2.0 carbon fiber fork and Sram Red gruppo.

Stainless Doubletake... XCr and 953 SSR's

These 2 bikes were made for the same person, built with the same geometry and parts.
The only difference is in the tubing. Both are stainless steel. One is built with Columbus XCr tubing from Italy....
The other is built with Reynolds 953 tubing from England.

XCr above, 953 below. Indy Fab SSR's in either case.
EDGE 2.0 all carbon forks.
3t stem, seatpost and bars.
Sterling silver headbadge.
Multi colored hoods from Hudz.
Chris King headsets.
Mavic Open Pro rims, handbuilt with....
...Chris King Hubs.
All tied together with a Sram Red Gruppo.
Ride report from our (super sensitive) mystery tester to come.

Forks in Production: Disc Tabs

A fresh shipment of our new and improved disc brake tabs has arrived. After the forks have been welded, aligned and finished they are taken back over to welding to have the disc tabs welded on.
The jig we use is simple yet effective. The front brake is where we get 90% of our braking power. Thus the Disc Tab's lengthy top portion... this dissipates the stress caused by the front brake over a larger surface area, making it bomb proof.
The machining on the new tabs is exquisite! Big thanks to Mark and his crew at Paragon Machine Works for a job well done.
Here are a couple of partly TIG welded glimpses...
The welds are wicked hot in this picture (temperature-wise as well).
Below is the tab welded to one of our rigid mountain forks. It now goes back to finishing to have the zip tie mount brazed on....
If you look closely at the above picture (you'll have to click on the image) you will notice a tiny hole that is drilled in the front of the fork on the disc tab side, just above the dropout. This hole allows the heated up air inside the fork to escape during the welding process. This hole will get filled with brass and filed down in finishing.

Forks in Production

As you know, we make a lot of different kinds of frames. We make mountain bikes, road bikes, touring bikes, commuting bikes, track bikes, etc.... and they are all custom. That means that in order to do it right sometimes you have to do it yourself. This brings us to why we make forks. Specific brakes, tires, racks, fenders, build heights, offsets.... you name it, someone needs it. So we make them, frames and forks, together, custom.
In order to do it right we need blades...
....and steerers....
....and machines to miter them. Above is "El Forko", a machine that we will be replacing soon.
Above are the heatsinks that we put in the dropouts while we weld them on. Below you will notice that there is even a fork with 1 inch threaded steerer for a touring bike we are working on.
The dropouts will get ground in the finishing department later.
The crown races will also get brazed on.

Below are some almost finished forks next to the fork alignment table.
The paint booth also has a bunch of forks in it.
Below is a detail of the primed weld.
Below are some painted forks waiting to get the final inspection and clean-up before shipping. (is that another Rapha frame hanging up there?....)The one below is just chillin' with the swordfish.
We just purchased two new machines to update the fork building area. The new area should be up and running with the next couple of weeks. We will be saying goodbye to "El Forko".
These Nichols machines are really sweet. We are looking forward to outfitting them with all of the fixtures.


We love these old machines.