Bryan Myers of Fresh Frame has painted two of my bikes, my Icarus MAX track and my Bishop road. He’s a master masker and the designs that leave his shop are, well, incredible. While Fresh Frame didn’t have a booth at the Philly Bike Expo, he did lead a seminar on painting and for an in-progress project example, he brought this partially finished Icarus road. This frame is stunning! I can’t wait to see it built up. Check out more below.
So Ian at Icarus has been working on this monster track machine for a little while. The idea is that bigger track racers, like 200+ lb sprinters, need a stiff bike and weight isn’t really a big of an issue. So he’s gone oversize everywhere he can. He’s still working on the frame, in his down time but this thing would rip the boards off a velodrome underneath the right racer…
When the team at Budnitz Bicycles emailed me, asking if I wanted to try out one of their single speed, belt-drive bikes, I respectfully declined, prompting them to offer up their titanium bars and seatpost instead. I’ll be honest, I was pretty amped on how my Icarus looked with those Ritchey drops and there was absolutely nothing wrong with my Thomson post but I decided to give them a try anyway. It’s been a few weeks of riding them, so what’s my consensus?
Honestly, the feel of the bars is distinguishable from an aluminum bar’s stiffness but it’s not blatantly obvious. It takes a few rides to feel it. What makes these most appealing is the shape, perfect for a bike like this: not too racy but not upright like many cruiser or porteur bars. The finish is nice and the bend is elegant. I never was a fan of straight, flat bars. As for the post? I can’t really feel any difference. The clamp is a bit cumbersome but once you set it up, makes a lot of sense. And I really like the simplicity of the design.
Overall, a $170 Ti bar and $150 seat post is out of most of our price ranges but when compared to high-end carbon bars and posts, it’s not that bad, especially if you prefer the feel over carbon. Or in my case, the low-lustre finish. The Budnitz Bicycles Ti Bars and Seatpost definitely changed the look and feel of my Icarus. Only time will tell for how long. Check out some photos in the Gallery.
Today I swung through to see Ian at Icarus about a few things. One of which was to photograph a new frame that just returned from Fresh Frame, his painter. This frame in particular is headed over to Germany tomorrow and it’s stunning. The client wanted a blue and white track frame, inspired by Jeremy’s Classic Track. The subtle pearl coat’s blue reflection really pops in the sunlight and I can’t wait to see how this beauty builds up. Until Ian and I can figure out a way to display these frames, I just asked to hold it in front of his new shop. It’s gonna be a busy winter for Icarus.
So you’ll have to excuse the enthusiastic photos and copy here but since I got my new fork on my Icarus ViKing Track, I’ve been looking for a polished silver, non-grooved 31.8, 44cm wide road bar, but to no avail. Track drops on the street aren’t for me. They never come wide enough and I like having multiple hand positions on the bike while riding.
I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard to find that exact bar. Surely someone else wanted it? It wasn’t until a friend showed me the Ritchey Classic Logic Curve that I thought there even existed such a bar. Minimally branded and all of the above, these bars fit the bike perfectly.
Click on the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.
If you follow me or @IcarusFrames on Instagram, you might have picked up on this. As of two weeks ago, Ian relocated here to Austin and will be building frames in a new workshop. Without giving too much away, he’s working on some rad projects, including building out his shed and as you can imagine, I’ll be shooting all of his new bikes for him. There’s already three Icarus frames rolling around Austin. I can’t wait to see more.
It’s not every day that Ian gets ahold of photos from his recent work, so when I saw this, I had to jump on it. Inspired by Chris’ Philly Bike Expo road, Ben’s Road Wraith is all about performance through modern steel. Check out more at the Icarus Blog!
This bike, or this Camera. I’ve been using the hell out of both as of late and while there’s not enough medium format content to make it an official Recent Roll post, there have been some gems coming out of this lens. The biggest challenge has been using this Distagon T* 50mm with its dual focusing rings. That and general exposure. Shooting with a Hasselblad has really changed the way I look at film photography. I don’t see myself picking up my AE-1 for a while.
See some more recent shots below…
Even if this bike didn’t have a feather on the headtube, or the name Icarus anywhere on it, I could still tell it’s from the shop of Ian Sutton. With everyone and their mother ripping this dude off, I’m glad to see Ian’s still got some detailing tricks up his sleeve.
That head tube badge is still one of the best out there! See more of Korosuke’s lovely road bike at Icarus Frames!
Here at Prolly is Not Probably, I’ll always support domestic-manufactured products. I don’t need the 4th of July to bring about that kind of fervent energy: this Flag Hatchet always flies. The next time you’re looking to purchase a bicycle or even a backpack, take a minute and think about buying from a domestic manufacturer.
Have a good 4th, blow shit up, drink bourbon and enjoy the time with your friends.
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