NAHBS award winner Jim Kish has two debut products for this year’s show to complement several favorite cross and road standards. The first is a production steel road model called “The Road Hog.” The second? A titanium fat bike to be unveiled at the show (Kish swears it will be done by then).
BIKERUMOR: What are your main building materials?
KISH: Titanium, with a little steel here and there.
BIKERUMOR: What’s new with your company since NAHBS last year?
KISH: We’ve decided to dedicate our time to building all our custom frames in titanium, and have introduced a line of production road bikes, the Road Hog.
BIKERUMOR: Any killer custom bike builds in that time?
KISH: Lots of gravel bikes, that’s the rage out here in NC. Plenty of Di2/EPS roadies, too.
BIKERUMOR: What were some of your newer inspirations for recent bikes?
KISH: Mostly the people around me. We have a new machinist/engineer, Rick, who has improved our tooling and bending capabilities. Having a few more tools in the design toolbox is inspiring on its own. We also sponsored a great gravel racer, Kelly Klett, and his feedback has been helpful in tweaking our cross/gravel bikes.
BIKERUMOR: What are you building this year that’ll draw a crowd?
KISH: A fat bike that we built for another of our racers that I’m really happy with. No pictures yet, but I swear it’ll be done. And some Kentucky-compatible drinkware.
BIKERUMOR: If you had to build a bike for a Kentucky Derby style race (think short, all out effort on deep, loose dirt), what would you build and why?
KISH: Fatbike with hidden motor.
BIKERUMOR: Bourbon or beer?
KISH: Bourbon, thanks.
