Home > Bike Types > Commuter

NAHBS – Villin Cycleworks’ Exceptional Hammered Lugs

3 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

villin-cycles-maroon-bike02

NAHBS 2010 – Gainesville, Florida’s Villin Cycleworks undoubtedly had the best lugs at the show.  A far cry from the smooth lugs on the other bikes, Villin’s lugs are hand hammered and forged by co-owner Alexis Dold.  By forged, I don’t mean traditional metal forging…I mean they’re made by melting down metal, hammering and folding it back into itself and repeating, creating a depth and patterning that simply wasn’t seen anywhere else in the show.

villin-cycles-maroon-bike01 villin-cycles-maroon-bike03

This bass-boat sparkly maroon bike is just one example.  Hit ‘more’ for plenty of gorgeous examples…

villin-cycles-mixte-bicycle01

Villin took full advantage of all the juntures on this white Mixte to showcase the hammered, folded metallurgy.

villin-cycles-mixte-bicycle04

The triple crowned fork used three individual crowns all made from melted, hammered and folded metal, resulting in a beautiful topographical pattern.

villin-cycles-mixte-bicycle03

The same technique was used to “wrap” the headtube onto the top- and downtubes…

villin-cycles-mixte-bicycle02

…join the middle stays to the seat tube…

villin-cycles-mixte-bicycle05

…as well as the seat stays.  The tapered endcaps on the stays just add to the overall effect.  Not sure if they made it onto this frame, but Dold had examples of melted quarters that had been folded and hammered and had a really nice tint to them.

villin-cycles-black-bike01

This black one has Villin’s sorta-trademark outward curved seatstays that’ll catch your eye first.  Upon closer examination, though…

villin-cycles-black-bike02

You’ll see see that the logo is hammered just like the lugs.

villin-cycles-black-bike03

And the headtube surrounds hammered metal with a cutout to reveal their headbadge icon.  Sick.

villin-cycles-green-bike01

This drop bar commuter/road bike had a rich, sparkly green paint job that really set off the chromed lugs.

villin-cycles-green-bike03

villin-cycles-green-bike04

villin-cycles-green-bike06

Nifty little chain catcher.

villin-cycles-green-bike05

Hammered headbadge completes the look.

villin-cycles-purple-bike04

Check out the chromed and painted frame pump tab.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
jc
jc
14 years ago

Once they figure out their personality, they’ll be great…right now its a bit all over the place with the custom metallic fleck paint job and the oldworld -rivendale-crafty-iron-smithiness…anyway, it’s not quite working for me.

Bysickler
Bysickler
14 years ago

I have to agree with jc — why distract the eye from the amazing metalwork with the sparkly paint? Why not a subtle satin paint job? Fortunately, the paint can be fixed, because the craftsmanship is breath-taking.

Crum
Crum
13 years ago

I just feel I need to add that the “hammered” lugs above are not actually hammered…. They are standard lugs with the look of hand hammering.. It is all done with a Dremell….. The Demascus (white mixtie) Is however real, and really cool…. I am building a touring frame with “hammered” lugs. I plan on a more subtle Forest green with parchment panels… I am concidering coper plating the lugs too…

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.