Frame building is a partnership of materials, whether they be welded, bonded, wrapped or somehow joined together, to form the basis of every bicycle, the frameset. Vibe Cycles of Boise, Idaho, began as a partnership between two cyclists, Dave and Christi Kelley, who married and extended their partnership to include frame building. Dave applied his 25 years of fine woodworking and architectural metalworking experience, to design and build his first frame, constructed from bamboo. Fast forward seven years, where Dave builds exclusively in Titanium and Steel.
The Vibe Cycle’s company motto is “Life is but a dream…”, and can be found on the inside chainstays of every Vibe bicycle. Christi Kelley is part of the Vibe dream, building wheels, assisting with assembly of frames into complete bicycles, and running the Vibe office. Christi is a certified mechanic with training by UBI.
The Vibe NAHBS entry is a steel chromoly frame Fat Bike, with some special treatment applied to the frame downtube near the head tube junction. The tube was split, an inverted piece of material inserted in place, welded, and finally, brazed for shaping. All other junctions on the frame are TIG welded.
In addition to building the frames, Dave paints them too, at Vibe’s on-site paint facility. The paint featured on the NAHBS bike is a pearl white with a Nordic theme, featuring ghosted paint accents on the frame, Rockshox Bluto fork, and carbon Fat Bike rims.
Components highlights on the bike include a Rohloff XL rear hub with Gates Drive, Schwalbe’s new Jumbo Jim tires, and Industry Nine front hub.
Prices for Steel framesets begin at $US 1,450, Titanium framesets at $US 2,250.
Photos and article by Gravel Cyclist.
Jayson O’Mahoney is the Gravel Cyclist: A website about the Gravel Cycling Experience.
