Calfee always seems to have something interesting to show at NAHBS and was no different with a number of custom touches and new products. One of them that caught my attention almost immediately was their new integrated front rack/fender mount which should add a bit of versatility to one of Calfee’s road bikes. Bonded directly to the fork, the racks are strong enough to support a handlebar bag, while also providing a clean mounting point for a front fender. And of course it’s color matched…
Craig Calfee mentioned that the racks could be retrofitted to existing forks, or you will be able to purchase a fork from Calfee with the rack already added. The rack doesn’t have a huge weight capacity, but it’s meant to support a light weight bag and your ride essentials. As usual, the paint jobs on these bikes were standouts in themselves with beautiful green and copper finishes that included unique textures.
The tandem above was also featuring Calfee’s new carbon bottle cages which Craig said were modeled after the traditional King Cage shape, only in carbon fiber. The result is supposedly a stronger cage that holds a bottle better but is still light weight – even though the cage is made from solid carbon. These should run $60 each once they’re available.
Calfee also had their DIY bamboo kit on display which allows you to build your own bike. Available in multiple raw material kits, Calfee has a unique deal in which you can rent the tool set needed to build the bike from two weeks to three months, rather than buying it (you can do that too). That allows users to create perfect miters for the joints when building the bike to your fit, and the tool kit is one of the things that Calfee says sets them apart from other DIY bamboo bike kits. Among the bikes on display were two bikes that parents had built with their childern – including the bike Craig built with his own daughter, and a BMX bike a dad built with his son. That sounds like it could be a pretty fun way to get your kid into their next bike!
