Kinfolk

“Japan has a very unique bicycle culture,” states Maceo Eagle, one of the four founders of Kinfolk Bicycles, a small, independent band of designers, illustrators and bike enthusiasts. “The builders are able to make only a few frames in a month, and yet are able to live a middle-class life. This seems to afford them the luxury of thinking about balance, and quality over profitability. Our main mission was to have every step of the process be as high-quality as possible.” Kinfolk’s tiny Kansai-based custom frame factory, run by a master bicycle craftsman they address as Kusaka-sensei, produces just a handful of custom-designed and -painted frames every month.

As part of a creative collective known as Ways&Means, Eagle runs both Kinfolk Bicycles and a bar of the same name in Tokyo along with partners Salah Mason, John Beullens and NASA mathematician Ryan Carney, despite their time-zone differences; the latter three are based in New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, respectively.

Ironically, the name Kinfolk refers to a camaraderie rarely seen in the bicycle world. The name came “from motorcycling in New York, where there are such a wide variety of people that ride motorcycles, yet when you pass another rider on the highway, they [usually] throw you a little wave, an acknowledgment. It doesn’t matter [what style of motorbike you ride], you always get that sense of brotherhood,” says Eagle.

The craft-minded folks at Kinfolk Bicycles aren’t hoping to go mass-market; rather, they are hoping that the quality-versus-quantity equation will leave them a thin sliver of the industry pie. We’ve seen the quality of these frames in real life and can certainly attest to the fact that Kinfolk have the Ways & Means to make a killer ride.

Custom Kinfolk bicycle frames are available at Chari&co. in New York, Orange 20 in Los Angeles, and online at Kinfolk (base frame & fork price: $1100).