NAHBS 2011 – Calfee’s New Adventure Bike, Plus Sweet Disc Brake Fork, Di2 and Carbon Fork Hacks

As usual, Calfee was showing off their ability to work with carbon and bamboo to create some pretty nifty stuff. Sure, they had bikes -a bamboo tall bike, even- but the highlights were what they modded to go on those bikes.

Starting with the obvious, they wrapped disc brake tabs to an existing carbon fork to create their own disc forks for their new Adventure rando/touring bicycle.

They also had created their own Di2 battery that’s both lighter and longer-lasting than Shimano’s and took Niner’s carbon fork and made it long enough for a 6-foot high tall bike. Hacky enough? Check it all out behind the jump…

The disc fork wasn’t the only hack the made to get the Adventure bike the way they wanted it. That fork is an ENVE carbon fork, but the bike is made to tackle the kind of roads and conditions that warrant fenders. Problem is, when they put fatter 28c tires on to handle the bumpy paths, the fender wouldn’t fit clear the tire under the crown, so they modded the Crud Road Racer 2 fenter to fit into the front brake mount (which would also work if it were using traditional road brakes).

Now, about that bike. It’s a 2.2lb frame that’s made with their filament wound carbon fiber tubes. Construction is all tube-t0-tube with ridged carbon lugs. Calfee says “comfort” is about going fast over the stuff that would normally slow you down, so it’s designed with standard road bike geometry. Two models are offered, one with standard brakes like above and the green/black one with dual disc brakes.

The rear dropout is modular and combined with the disc brake tab, so it looks like you could switch between different dropouts to run different drivetrains. Pretty cool one-piece dropout/brake mount piece, too.

Anyone with a tall bike in their booth, except perhaps the guys in the back with only a tall bike in their booth, admitted freely that it was a gimmick to get your attention. And a bamboo tall bike? Pure silliness…except that it served as a platform to showcase more of their carbon handiwork:

Suppose you’re insanely tall and need a custom frame. That can limit your fork choices…until now. Calfee created a custom carbon fiber extension that was bonded to a Niner carbon 29er fork to give this one the length it needed for a tall bike.  Adding a few inches to your favorite carbon fork is now an option. Oh, and if you need a carbon fiber kickstand to save weight, too, they’re your people.

What they seemed most proud of, though, was their proprietary new internal Di2 battery kit uses their own battery, fits into any seat post, lasts 20% longer and is 20g lighter than Shimano’s battery. A sleeve is glued into seatpost, then battery is held in with washers and C-clips. Wiring is run thru seat tube, you simply attach the wiring and install your seat post as normal. System is retrofittable on any and all carbon fiber bikes and they’ll mod your bike for $500 (starting) including battery and all equipment.

Last on the Hacker’s Delight list is their new full carbon Barstem ($500 plus bar). Use’ta be they’d take an alloy stem like the one below and chop and bond it to a carbon bar. Nowadays, it’s all carbon (actually, the alloy one is still an option for $300) and starts with an ENVE stem (below, left), removes the head (drops 50g) and attaches it to any carbon handlebar you want at any angle you want.