NAHBS 2012 – Independent Fabrication Sneaks the Details In
Independent Fabrication brought one of each bike style, showing off a few nice features on each…but it took a close look (and a talk with owner Gary Smith) to discover them.
Their titanium-and-carbon fiber Factory Lightweight tubeset found its way on a disc brake cycloccross bike with ENVE disc fork, Hayes’ new CX5 mech brakes (which Smith said were very good…we’ve got a set we’re about to start testing) and Shimano’s newer cross group with top pull front derailleur to eliminate the need for a pulley wheel.
Even though it’s used with Shimano’s cranks, they went with a BB30 bottom bracket shell because it gives them a bigger surface area to mount weld other tubes onto. Tapered 44mm ht and oversized 1.75″ Ti downtube.
Their custom seatmast uses an older Edge-branded (pre-ENVE) clamp offset to the rear.
This randonneuring steel 29er montercross bike has a bit more relaxed geometry to make it a true adventure bike. Customer is a fisherman, hence the bass boat sparkly paint that fades light to dark like a trout. Front bag holds fishing license in clear pocket on top. Disc brake mounted inside frame so it has better clearance for racks, he’s planning on putting a cooler rack on the back.
Ti Deluxe 29er with full custom paint across all components and fork. Color scheme was inspired by a cut canteloupe.
Stainless steel road bike drawn with old Columbus Max biovalized tubes.
Club racer steel porter bike with 650B wheels. Logos are 24 carat gold leaf.
Columbus tubes, circle relief on seat clamp to prevent stress risers. Pass & Stow rack, ti Cane Creek headset with walnut inserts left over from when CC made them many years ago.
Comments
Wow. Indy Fab has transmorgrified itself into the cycling world’s ‘Cadillac Escalade’.
Yowza…
Eric — I’m not so sure about that. What this article didn’t show, was the 6th bike that Indy Fab had on display which was the well used, Ti Deluxe 29′er Single Speed with 44mm headtube and oversized chainstays owned by one of Indy Fab’s grassroots MTB racers, Ron Shevock. (you can this bike’s cranks in the background of the photo of the red 650b porter bike). His bike was on display to show that not only does I.F. make the super custom stuff that is shown in this article, but they also still build rough and tumble MTB’s that are meant to be ridden and raced hard. Ron’s bike had several medals hanging from the handlebars including one from an 8-Hour solo race where he got a 2nd place overall while riding this single speed against the geared guys. The bike had dirt on it and paint chips from being crashed and ridden like a MTB should…maybe that’s why it didn’t make it into this pictorial.