Prototype Independent Fabrications Corvid Cyclocross Frame Spotted

Prototype Independent Fabrications Corvid Cyclocross Frame Spotted

Independent Fabrications has taken their sweet carbon Corvid frame (check these photos from NAHBS) and created a cyclocross variant.

The ‘cross version uses the same carbon lug and tube construction as their Corvid road bike, and the tubes will be sourced from ENVE Composites (you know, formerly EDGE) in IF’s Somerville workshop. Detail photos and specs of the yet unnamed model after the break…

Changes from the road bike are a PressFit 30 bottom bracket…

…and internal cable/wire guides designed with Shimano’s electronic Di2 in mind, making for a clean looking underside.

An oversized headtube is designed around an InSet headset.

Top of the top tube cable runs should keep things from getting too bogged down or rubbing you the wrong way on run ups.

Seeing as this frame is still in the development stages, it’d be really nice to see them take advantage of the UCI’s recent common sense and build in some disc brake mounts and hydraulic hose guides, you know, just to future-proof things a bit.

RoadCyclingUK reports that IF is looking for a name for this bad boy…any thoughts?

Happy Halloween: Independent Fabrication Titanium Factory Lightweight With New “Iftop” seat-clamp

Happy Halloween: Independent Fabrication Titanium Factory Lightweight With New “Iftop” seat-clamp


“Trick or treat?” Hmm, let’s see…should I take the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the weird, homemade popcorn ball, the candy apple with the razor blade in it, or…the Independent Fabrication Titanium Factory Lightweight with its new script decal, integrated seat-mast, and “Iftop” saddle adjustment device? Tough choice. The latter option has a few attributes that make it slightly more appealing than the former three. For one thing, it has a 44.5mm down tube (a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup doesn’t even have a down tube) made possible by the combination of a BB30 integrated bottom bracket and large diameter head tube, which is designed around the new 44cm inset headset standard.



The TFL is the first IF to, as my grandmother says, “rock,” the Iftop integrated seatpost mast. Apparently a fluorescent indicator will appear when the clamp reaches its maximum height. Another interesting fact about the clamp is that is is rated for use by a 500 Lb. rider. That’s right. As impressive as that may be, former Sumo champ, Chad “Akebono” Rowan is out of luck. If only he could lose those two pesky pounds, he could get an Iftop seat clamp on his bike. And while we’re on the subject of Akebono…do you think there’s maybe a Sumo wrestler out there with “Chad” as his nickname? Yoshikaze “CHAD” Masatsugu. Ya, that doesn’t really sound right does it?



If worked closely with aarn_wrks_dsn on the final 3D drawings for this snazzy new clamp.



Part of what allowed IF to use a 44.5mm down tube is the utilization of an over-sized bottom bracket shell and press-fit BB30 bottom bracket.



This is also the first we’re seeing of the 2011 script decal. The one pictured here is painted on, but the decal will be ready for production soon(ish).



These dropouts were designed specifically for the Factory Lightweight, “Featuring a smaller overall size, drilled out faces and an engraved backside.”



And yet, they still hold a wheel in the frame, just like their heavier, uglier counterparts.


That would be the over-sized head tube.

According to the guys at IF, this bike is not a comfy ti bike designed for a fat dentist; (My words not theirs. Hey, I had to make somebody cry today and fat dentists can not only afford Gucci Ti bikes, they can afford great Psycho Therapists as well.) this bike is a mean, racin’ machine, meant to put out MAXIMUM HORSEPOWER! Maybe they should have called the bike MAXIMUM HORSEPOWER! Nah, then it would sound like something made by Colnago.