Kish Fabrication

Hi everybody. First off, a little housekeeping update on Road Hogs:

The complete 56cm bike is SOLD.

54cm frames are likewise SOLD OUT.

If you have your eye on a 52cm, 56cm or 58cm… Get On It!

There is one left in each size. As mentioned before, when they’re gone, they’re gone. Not just this particular model, but most likely ANY steel bikes from us. We  stopped building custom steel bikes at the end of 2014, and don’t plan to start again, so this is your chance to get one of the last steel Kish bikes ever built. Destined to become a collector’s item after I’m ironically gored to death on a True Temper chainstay in 2017 (according to my new steampunk Ouija board/magic 8 ball hybrid I’ve been working on).

Here’s a link to the RH section in the store: ROAD HOG SALE.

If you need sizes, info and pricing, just scroll down one post, it’s all in there.

Speaking of things I’m not doing, I’m also going to Not Go to NAHBS in 2016.

Every few years circumstances just line up in such a way that it makes sense to sit one out. This is one of those years! My apologies to anyone who was looking forward to checking out the bikes, or chatting, or serving me with a subpoena. I’ll miss seeing my builder pals, my frighteningly loyal customers who show up every year no matter where the show is, and new buds who always make it a great experience. Also, from the press I’ve seen so far, there will be some seriously weird bikes on display! Wish I could see them in the flesh.

If I were to go, I’d be tempted to bring this bike, just finished up:

I realize the bike is posing upon a bed of gravel, but this is no gravel bike. Nope. It’s a (paved) road bike. With disc brakes! And electronic shifting!

Wheels by our chums at Industry 9, of course.

If you haven’t already figured it out, I can build you one one like it (or not like it, whatever) for what turns out to be quite a bit less than an awful lot of offshore, boring production bikes are going for. Crazy, right?

Welp, that’s it for now y’all! See you in 2-25 weeks!

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Well my plan to update the blog every month certainly went off the rails, sorry ’bout that. It was either keep the bikes on schedule, or do absolutely anything else to remind the world that the mighty Kish Titanium Conglomerate is still an active concern. Every bike went out on time, so in that regard it’s been a great year! Everything else fell by the wayside, but that changes…today! Things are calming down a bit. It’s not 200 degrees anymore, the leaves are falling, and the gravel is ripe for grinding.

Here’s a recent example coming out of the gravel factory we’re running over here:

This is a killer setup! Ultegra Di2, Shimano hydro brakes, Industry 9 carbon wheels, Enve thru-axle cross pre-gravel fork, Brooks Cambium saddle, Paul seatpost. It just goes on and on. You should get one.

The low-key etched logos fit the mood, dontcha think? Me too.

This isn’t a standard thing, but we can put the etched state logo on too, to match your mason jar or whiskey glass.

Each frame comes already welded, no need for you to bother with that. It’s included in the price.

Also, FINALLY the no-longer-new grey and orange shirts are finally in the store. You can find them here. To make up for being so slack on this very easy thing to do, the shipping is free until I remember to change that setting in the store, which at this rate should be somewhere around 2017.

Here’s what they look like, they’re that ‘heather’ sort of fabric, where it’s not like a solid color, you know what I mean? Very comfy.

They do have the small Mason jar logo on the back, too:

Lastly, and this should be very exciting for those of you threatened to buy a Road Hog but snoozed on it, for once your lack of follow-through is paying off! Because they’re ON SALE! We are short on space, and want to get rid of the last of these fine machines.

This fabulous green is the only color they come in, because it’s the best color, obviously. If you check out the November 2014 blog post you’ll find a lot more nice photos of them.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. The original price for these steel frames, with matching painted Enve forks (the Enve logos are painted green to match, the forks are still primarily black, as they should be) was $1700. Already way too low, you say? Perhaps. Either way, they are now $1450 with the Enve fork. What?! You heard it right.

2. As of now, all 4 sizes are available, but there is only 1 of the 52cm and 58cm size. The only 56cm is the one you see above. That one is only available as a complete bike, exactly as you see it there, with our Ultegra kit. It was priced at $3650. It’s now an even $3000! It still has zero miles on it. Insane, I know.

3. It’s up to you to figure out what size will fit you, info is below:

4. Once these are gone, they’re gone. We aren’t building more. There are other things to focus on for 2016, so this is your last chance to jump on a Road Hog, maybe the last steel frames to ever go out of the shop. That’s weird to think about.

Anyway, if you’re interested in any of these exciting developments, send an email to info@kishbike.com, or call 805.574.0414. Cheers!

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Phew boy. July’s almost gone, but I’m sliding in under the wire for

THE BIG JULY UPDATE!

Not much time to write at the moment, but here’s a nice piece Time Warner Cable News did about your favorite frame builder and his trusty dog:

(resist the urge to click the picture below and click here instead)

See ya in a week or so when it’s August!

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Definitely seeing a pattern emerging. The monthly blog posts get a little later every month… Sorry, teeming hordes who can’t wait to hear what exciting things are going on here!

Onward!

Old Glory MTB has posted a nice interview that for sure has more content than this post, so maybe just go over there and read it.

I have not done a great job of photographing the most recent bikes out of here, although some are on our Instagram page, so follow us there if you aren’t already.

It’s been a very busy year so far, not sure why, but there is definitely something in the air. It sure as hell isn’t these blog updates. Whatever it is, keep it up, unseen forces! And thanks to everyone who is doing the busy-keeping by buying bikes.

It’s so busy, in fact, that I still do not have the new shirts and trail jerseys in the web store, but if you want one/both send a message and we’ll get you set up.

One other thing to share: Doug S. of Asheville, NC asked to have our state logo incorporated into his etching scheme, and it looks great if you ask me:

If you missed getting your paws on one of our be-logoed mason jars or whiskey glasses, you can get the same image on a titanium bicycle frame for only about three thousand bucks more. So keep that in mind. Doug wanted his right on top of the top tube, so it can serve as a fantastically useless map of his ride, I guess, but it can go anywhere on the frame. Go nuts!

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Happy Cinco de Mayo! It’s (past) time for the promised monthly update, so let’s get to it!

Like last month, I still do not have pictures of the new t shirts and trail jerseys, not have they been added to the store (don’t judge me). Email if you need either/both, we’ll figure it out.

Unlike last month, however, I do have some more Road Hog pictures, which is a good thing, as there is a new batch, and all sizes are in stock. The geo table and other pertinent info is below:

The price is still $1700, which includes a de-uglified Enve fork.

Here’s what they look with our Ultegra kit:

I know, right? Pretty damn nice! For a while, we’re doing these Ultegra Road Hogs for $3500. That’s another $200 off the already not-horrible price of $3700. BUY ONE.

Some more shots from staff photo guy/house philosopher Stephen Garrett:

(mucho better olive green Enve logo-ed fork)

(44mm head tube, of course)

(this is what it looks like when you’re getting run over by one, scary, but the details are still impressive)

And with that, I’m out! See y’all in a month (or so)!

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As promised, I’m back to update the world on the goings-on of Kish Fabrication. ‘Well sure’, you might say, ‘but you’re a day late’. To which I would say, ‘who are you, strange being that actually cares about my blog, and what can your civilization teach us?’ Then I would explain that the internet is absolutely awash with ‘humorous’ April Fools ‘prank’ ‘articles’ from bike blogs and every other filthy corner of the internet, and I took the day off from getting anywhere near an internet-accessing device. Now that we have a blissful 364 days until unfunny people try to be funny en masse again, let me tell what’s been going on ’round here.

As you no doubt have heard, NAHBS has came and went, and all in all it was a good time, as usual. If you weren’t there, let me sum it up for you.

A lot of people risked apocalyptic weather to deliver themselves and their wares to Louisville, Kentucky, a nice mid-sized, usually less-apocalyptic city. Not exactly Midwestern, and not exactly Southern, Louisville’s citizens appear to appreciate baseball bats, horses running in circles, and wearing the color red. Had it not been ass-freezing cold, I would have liked to explore the city more. Conditions being what they were, I was more or less forced to keep within the confines of the habitrail that connects the convention center, the hotel, and hotel bar that features 150 different bourbons. It could have been worse.

As for the show itself, there were A LOT of fat bikes, here’s one we brought:

And there were A LOT of gravel bikes. We brought this one:

And there some bikes that are not allowed on gravel EVER. This is ours:

You’ll be able to find plenty of other NAHBS bikes online, I bet. But I liked ours the best. Or at least that’s what my therapist said I should tell myself.

The remainder of the month was spent slowly  driving back from Louisville, stopping approximately every 5 miles at whiskey distilleries. There’s lots of neat stuff to look at, most of it filled up with liquor.

Lest you start feeling a little alcoholic-y, every once in a while you can pepper the non-stop boozing with a little art, like this Dale Chihuly ceiling at Maker’s Mark:

We wound our way back to North Carolina, dining in the finest eateries and resting our weary heads in the many-starred accommodations that befit famous framebuilders.

(No pre-drooled-on pillow cases for us)

And now we’re back, rested, almost sobered up, and back to work. Soon I may even unpack the boxes from the show that have some of our new t shirts and trail jerseys. Check back in a month. more or less.

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From here on out  (or until I get sick of it, most likely sometime around June) this blog is going to be updated once a month, whether there’s anything to write about or not! Why not, right? It’s not like the internet is already clogged with all kinds of boring crap no one reads.

So what’s going on this month? Well, for one thing the ol’ North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show is coming to town! Or, it’s coming to town if you happen to live in Louisville, Kentucky.

I’m especially looking forward to the brazing demonstration by 2008’s Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, apparently named after what he will be leaving on the floor during the demo. So, come to our booth first, I don’t need that stuff tracked around, plus I can’t imagine what the thieving carpet rental company would charge to clean it up.

Speaking of booths, ours is #536. We’ll have bikes you can ride on snow, sand, dirt and even paved roads if you have those where you live.

Or you can ride them on tree stumps in metal shops, I don’t really care.

We’ll also be displaying a built-up version of our steel Road Hog production road bike among all the other titanium bikes, and a gravel bike with some nifty new parts from our friends at Zipp, so new and nifty in fact that there is an ’embargo’ on photos of said parts until the show, so no photos yet. Just use your imagination. You’ve seen bike parts before.

There will also be new shirts, and trail jerseys, and a special Kentucky-themed limited-edition money-loser surprise item. I know, right?! Wow!

Aaaand, we’ll have a bike in Campagnolo’s booth, too, it should be easy to spot being as it is not made of carbon fibers.

Once the Big Brown settles on this trip, all the new merch will be added to the site, as well as more pictures of the Road Hogs, sorry for the delay on that.

See y’all in Louisville!!

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 What else is going on? Are prices going up?

Glad you asked, imaginary question-asker.

The answer is: sort of. On January 1, standard titanium frames are going up $150, to $2950. SL frames are going up $100, to $3300. BUT, and this is used to be a $200 but (?), there will be no upcharge for 44mm (tapered steerer type) head tubes anymore. The frame prices will include whichever head tube you wish to use. So, for some frames, the prices are actually going DOWN. A shrewd business move, no doubt.

The reasoning is that the 44mm head tubes have become pretty much a standard on bikes with disc brakes, and it doesn’t seem fair to add a ‘yeah, but…’ to the majority of the frame prices. So there’s that. Otherwise, pricing is staying put for the foreseeable future.

OK, that’s all well and good, anything more interesting? 

Sure. You know that cool etching that you see on our bikes from time to time? Well, in the past, we sent the frames out for that work, since a lot of  it was pretty complicated. Which means it’s expensive, and adds to the time it takes the frame to be completed. A lot of people asked for simpler etching, just the standard logos, which we had been sending out as well. But no longer!

We’re doing the basic etching in-house now, and it’s coming out great. Instead of adding weeks and hundreds of dollars to your frame, it now adds only $100 and zero extra time! Hot d0g!

The logo can be etched horizontally along the down tube, like our typical decals, or vertically along the top (or bottom, I guess, it’s your bike) of the down tube. The ‘K’ logo is also etched on the seat tube. The standard stainless steel headbadge is still used. The whole package is understated and stealthy.

 (taa-daa!)

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We have a few changes on the horizon, here’s a little heads-up…

Thing the first:

In an effort to best use what time is available to us, we will not be making custom steel frames in 2015. It’s important that we keep our lead times reasonable (8-10 weeks), and the best way to do that is to concentrate on our bread and butter, titanium bikes. But all is not lost! Read on…

Thing the second:

We will be doing small runs of production steel road frames when time allows. Introducing the…

The first run of these fellas will be available right around the first of the year. Frames and Enve 2.0 forks will be painted in the very popular army-ish green seen here before:

(like this but a road bike)

Price for the first run is $1700, frame and Enve 2.0 fork. They can be preordered for delivery in early 2015. If you’re interested, just contact us at info@kishbike.com, or call 805-574-0414.

All other pertinent info is below:

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I’m selling one of my personal steel mountain bikes. It’s probably about a 2006 vintage. It sports 26″ wheels (remember those?) and  a 1 1/8″ straight steerer (whoa!) which is why it’s being offered for the laughably low price of $950.

It has a very nice Spectrum paint job, black and pink, with a little metalflake. logos are painted on, not decals. Brazed PMW dropouts.

It’s in very good shape for its age, BUT it did suffer some scratches when it made the cross country trip to North Carolina in a moving truck. The fork lowers and one side of the front rim got some damage that doesn’t affect anything, but does have the look of something abrasive rubbing against it for 3000 miles or so. I have pictures if you need them. Beyond that, the bike has no issues.

The frame specs are as follows:

seat tube c-c 17.25″

top tube effective 23.5″

head tube 4.75″

chainstay 16.5″

standover 32″

Parts:

XTR 970 3×9 drivetrain, 180mm crank

White Industries disc hubs/DT rims

Mystery Manitou fork, maybe a 7? Was that a model? It has a lockout & 90mm travel.

King headset

Thomson stem and post

Easton Monkeylite Carbon bar

Email jim@kishbike.com, or call 805.574.0414 for more info. If you are in the NC triangle/triad area you are welcome to check it out in person.

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