Indy Fab
FootWorks Cycles could not be more excited to carry Independent Fabrication. Why? Well, I have personal history with this brand going back to when things were called Fat City Cycles. Chris Chance, the renowned Boston frame builder created Fat Chance mountain bikes and Slim Chance road bikes and I was lucky enough to be able to sell these bikes in the early 90's. Wacky, Goofy, and just plain fun were typical adjectives of these bikes. Rock solid, true, perfect and fast were also how these bike rode. Art meets function was Fat Chance, and it is carried on by Indy Fab. You know what…? I am going to stop typing and just copy what Indy Fab has to say about themselves since you can't mess with perfection.
After 12 years of business, the pioneering mountain bike manufacturer Fat City Cycles was insolvent and the brand was sold off in 1994. The company closed its Somerville, Massachusetts doors leaving behind an empty factory and a handful of workers. But what kind of story would this be if that’s where it ended? A group of former Fat City employees still had the itch to design and build custom bikes, so they dusted off their work boots, brought out the drawing board, and started their own company. An independent company. A company that would make bikes the way they knew they should be made.
In 1995, Independent Fabrication was formed. What they lacked in adequate workspace, they overcompensated with elbow grease. Would they be employee owned? Yes. Would they allow a customer to paint their bike whatever colors they wanted even if it was ugly? Why the hell not? Would they continue to build high-end, precise, handcrafted frames? ABSOLUTELY.
In its first year, Indy Fab designed to its strengths – forging the best steel mountain bike frames the industry had ever seen. Riders agreed, and IF’s cult following began to grow. The Deluxe and the Special mountain bike frames hit the bike show circuit and found success. The following year, the IF team called on their lifelong experience of riding city streets and love of racing to develop several new models: the Crown Jewel – a road bike, the Planet Cross – a Cyclocross race frame, and the Roadster – a cruiser. IF quickly emerged from the woods to become a complete cycling manufacturer.
Today the IF team of artists and fabricators continue to push the envelope by using the newest metal technologies and refining accepted techniques. But even as production methods become more sophisticated with the use of carbon fiber and titanium shotpeening, the IF team continues to make bikes by hand and respects the craftsmanship of the old way. But they’ll never stop doing things their own way.
THAT'S INDEPENDENT FABRICATION.
Check out Independent Fabrication's home page for more specifics
