About Us
Genuine. Innovative. Original. Craig Calfee is a pioneer in carbon and bamboo frame design, manufacturing and repair. The first to offer custom frames in carbon fiber back in 1987, Calfee continues to push the high tech craftsman envelope, exploring the possibilities of carbon with new materials such as hemp and bamboo. As this 25 year time line will evidence, we've a broad body of work. Along those lines, it was recently written that, "There is likely no other name in the bicycle industry that has attached to it as broad and significant an arc of accomplishments as Craig Calfee." Enjoy the complete article here. Towards further discovery of Craig Calfee and his namesake brand, you might also enjoy this radio interview that aired January, 2011 in a public radio program called the Outspoken Cyclist.
Craig has a form-follows-function philosophy and aesthetic that is shown in the materials selection and construction method. He chose carbon fiber because it has the best qualities for building bicycle frames: highest stiffness to weight ratio and comfortable vibration damping. The decorative aspects are limited to painting. He chose bamboo as the resultant bicycle frames are very stiff, transferring power efficiently; are durable, resisting damage from stress and impacts; are comfortable, surpassing aluminum, steel, titanium and most carbon frames in smoothness. Frame Design is governed by purity of purpose and they look good because they achieve the purpose. Frame and fork alignment are a particular focus as is long-term structural integrity. This approach is inspired by nature, where all living forms evolved to perform a particular purpose. If they don’t perform, they don’t survive.
Calfee’s carbon and bamboo frames are meant to be ridden for the long term at the highest levels of competition as well as for pure enjoyment. Frames are made to order, even the stock geometry frames. Rider weight and riding style are considered for stock frames as well as custom frames to calibrate critical characteristics like stiffness, comfort, handling and durability. Towards complete personalization, numerous frame options exist and custom projects allow even further flexibility. Every frame goes through hours and hours of precise measurement, workmanship and finishing. In our carbon frames, more than 51 million fibers are carefully oriented to put strength and stiffness exactly where you need it. Each of our bamboo frames require over 40 hours of labor to build. The result is frames that exceed the customer’s very high expectations and outlive their unusually long warranty.
Calfee’s product offering includes but is not limited to the following;
Carbon Repair Service;
From broken top tubes to severed seat stays, Calfee’s expert ability to repair damaged carbon frames, and select components, has enabled over 5500 riders to return to the roads and trails. Calfee’s Carbon Repair business continues to grow year over year driven by validation and authorization from the world’s largest bicycle manufacturers.
Internal Di2 Battery and Wiring System;
Calfee creates and offers an elegant solution for the impressive Di2 electronic shifting system. The innovation starts with a custom battery system housed inside the seatpost. This solution is lighter and longer lasting, eliminates all external routing and mounts and is available on many Calfee models and also as a retrofit on most carbon frames.
This product has already generated tremendous excitement in the cycling public, the cycling press and even among framebuilders; please consider the very recent evaluations by cyclingnews.com and VeloNews (including a video). Our solution has also impressed Shimano; we recently retrofit Wayne Stetina's 2011 HTC - High Road S-Works Tarmac SL3. Wayne is Vice President of the bicycle division of Shimano America. In addition to installing our battery and modified harness, we modified Wayne's SL3 to accept internal wiring, removed non-essential external cable stops and applied a fresh matte clear coat. He shares his thoughts and findings here, in this May, 2011 interview. You can enjoy photos of Wayne's bike with our Di2 product here in the All Hail the Black Market blog. We similarly optimized a very special Trek Madone for Steve Blick, Oakley's Sports Marketing Manager. It was discovered and photographed at the 2011 Tour of California. Enjoy the coverage here.
Full Carbon BarStem;
Relationship with ENVE Composites bears fresh fruit with the further refinement of the original Calfee BarStem. Calfee marries an ENVE carbon stem to any oversize carbon bar at any angle desired. The resultant BarStem is the lightest integrated carbon handlebar and stem on the market and is the only product capable of personalization.
Dragonfly Carbon Frames;
The Dragonfly tube set was designed to build the lightest possible single and tandem bicycle frames without sacrificing stiffness, durability and ride quality. Please read this review of our Dragonfly published in the June 2011 issue of Road Bike Action. This video captures a 15 pound Dragonfly with our proprietary Di2 Internal Battery and Wiring System. The bike also features our full-carbon BarStem, a PressFit 30 BB shell, painted logos as well as a new stock color for Calfee, pearl white. We use high modulus carbon fiber in all the tubes (66 msi) as well as the lug areas. Previously, a frame built with all high modulus fiber would be too brittle. We incorporated Boron fiber into the three main tubes to add some toughness and compressive stiffness. Boron is an attractive reinforcement because the resulting composite combines superior tensile, compressive and flexural strengths, high modulus, and low density in one system. Combined with the super high tensile stiffness of the carbon, the result is a frame material with the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio on the market.
Coupled Carbon Frames;
Calfee is the world’s first, and to this day only, bicycle manufacturer to couple carbon frames. Made by S and S Machine, these clever devices allow you to break apart the bike and pack into a suitcase for easier and much less expensive travel.
Carbon Adventure Frame;
Motivated by the increasing popularity of brevets and the call for a higher-performance bicycle in this “steel dominated” category, Calfee introduces a new carbon frame with “long road” geometry. This video shows a Tetra with our “Adventure” frame options (35mm tire clearance, 57mm reach brake calipers) perfectly at home on the gravel roads of Central Texas. This model is highlighted by increased tire clearance, full wrap fenders, critical accessory mounts, long reach caliper or disc brake option and, in keeping with every Calfee frame, is durable, comfortable, super-light and extremely efficient in power transmission. Randonees rejoice!
Carbon and Bamboo Tandem Frames;
You no longer have to compromise. Our tandem frames, as light as the very lightest aluminum, titanium and carbon frames from our competitors, set a new standard for durability, power transmission and lateral stiffness. We are doing for the tandem world in 2011 what we did for the single world in 1987; building a lighter, stronger, stiffer more absorbent frame that is faster and more fun to ride.
Calfee Sizer;
Craig Calfee started building carbon frames in 1987, when “plastic bikes” weren’t very popular. Greg LeMond discovered Calfee’s bikes in 1991 and that meeting introduced Craig into the world of fussy professional racers. Being a custom frame specialist, Calfee became familiar with the limitations of sizing programs and adjustable fitting bikes. Framebuilder Bernie Mikkelsen had been working on a better sizer for many years when Calfee proposed to help bring it into production. A deal was struck and now there is a steel fabrication corner in Calfee’s carbon fiber frame shop. That is where the Calfee Sizer is produced.
Now it’s easy to obtain the exact geometry needed for a custom frame. This sizing cycle is made for ease of use and ease of understanding by the person being fitted. The technician can quickly and easily adjust all the important dimensions with quick releases and a hand crank top tube extender. The top tube extender is especially handy for the rider to feel the effect of a longer or shorter top tube while the technician turns the crank handle.