Make sure you’re sitting down and comfortable; Independent Fabrication launched this stunning Ti Factory Lightweight single speed frame at the recent North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Quite a looker isn’t it?
It’s based on the road-going Ti Factory Lightweight in that they both share the same design direction and construction techniques. The key feature of the frame is the beautifully welded titanium frameset interrupted rather elegantly by a full-length carbon fibre seat tube.
Stunning doesn’t really do it justice. It’s not the first time we’ve seen such a combination of materials (I’m thinking Scapin here) but, as is usual with IF, the execution is eye-wateringly good.
While not strictly a mountain bike, we just couldn’t end this article without mentioning the new Cross Jester. It’s hard to ignore a cyclo-cross bike as breathtakingly gorgeous as this one, even if you’ve not ventured off-road on a ‘cross bike yet – maybe this is the bike to help make the leap?
Anyway, the frame uses the same carbon fibre tech as found on the Corvid, the company’s flagship road bike, but chucks in the necessary extra clearance for bigger tyres and for mud to fall through. It’s been built up here with a single speed Gates belt-drive using Phil Wood’s sprocket developed for the belt-drive system.
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