Bikes of America (and Canada!)

[Mohawk]

Chris Pauley

 

[Canuk]

No Serrato owners on the forum?

 

[zerogravitas]

A couple of modern suggestions I hope will be forgiven..

Firefly make some exceptionally well finished machines with real beauty in the details. The design and execution of their anodized titanium graphics is stunning.





https://fireflybicycles.com/

 

[zerogravitas]

Framework Bikes in Ontario are also producing beautiful, non traditional frames. CNC'd lugs bonded to carbon tubes, all produced in house.





Bonded lug bikes are obviously not new, but their approach is one of ever evolving development. As far as I can see Framework is a very small operation that leverages their knowledge and skill with these industrial production techniques to produce bikes that have a true artisan feel. It will be amazing to watch where they go in future.

The Radavist has a great feature here; https://theradavist.com/framework-bicycles-shop-visit-review-part-1/

and the Framework Instagram is well worth following; https://www.instagram.com/frameworkbikes/?utm_source=ig_embed

 

[Canuk]

Framework Bikes in Ontario are also producing beautiful, non traditional frames. CNC'd lugs bonded to carbon tubes, all produced in house.

View attachment 926203

View attachment 926202

Bonded lug bikes are obviously not new, but their approach is one of ever evolving development. As far as I can see Framework is a very small operation that leverages their knowledge and skill with these industrial production techniques to produce bikes that have a true artisan feel. It will be amazing to watch where they go in future.

The Radavist has a great feature here; https://theradavist.com/framework-bicycles-shop-visit-review-part-1/

and the Framework Instagram is well worth following; https://www.instagram.com/frameworkbikes/?utm_source=ig_embed

Didn't Alan do a similar Carbon/large integrated lugs like this?

 

[zerogravitas]

Didn't Alan do a similar Carbon/large integrated lugs like this?

Yes Alan, Vitus etc are absolutely the early ancestors of this method. They were using investment cast lugs and - as far as I know - pre made carbon tube. I think what makes Framework particularly interesting is the small scale (I think its a two person company?!) combined with the total precision of the process and rapid improvements to both the products and their methods. I think its because the bikes are a side project to their main work (CNC mouldmaking) so they have had the time and freedom to iterate the bike side using all the equipment and skill they had already well established.

 

[Canuk]

I'm kind of thinking about this Alan CX, but I'm certain I saw a road bike version with even bigger, fatter and more elegant aluminium lugs. Can't find the links now, but it was stunning, and I passed it up at 150 quid

 

[bulgie]

Yes Alan, Vitus etc are absolutely the early ancestors of this method.

Not the earliest of course, since this was done in the '70s by Graftek, Graphite USA, and Mossberg. I think they all came out around the same time in 1974, with the Mossberg maybe edging out the other two by a little.


Of the three, only Graftek was made in substantial numbers, and actually available for sale in bike shops. Grafteks were ridden to several USA National championships — amateur, since the US had no professional scene back then.

One of the partners in Graphite USA was Bill McCready, who later founded Santana, maker of tandems. He said they had reliability problems and threw in the towel after fewer than ten prototypes. I saw a couple, because I worked at Santana in the '70s, so I know they existed (barely!)

I owned a Graftek, here's my Flickr album from when I put it up for sale. Went to a fellow in Nederland, so there's at least one in Europe.
It weighed under 17 lb, pretty good for a 63 cm frame from the mid-'70s