Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

This is the first Icarus to be exported to the Ukraine, but if he keeps producing work like this, it won’t be long before Ian Sutton is getting orders from all over the world. Roma Skripchenko is the proud owner of the Stealth Track, and I doubt there’s been a slicker machine seen on Ukrainian streets.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

Ian Sutton is a specialist in the art of the fillet-brazed frame. It allows much more freedom when it comes to tube sizes and angles. Having been trained by the legendary Koichi Yamaguchi, that’s an advantage. The influence of Yamaguchi on Ian’s work is obvious, both in the varied frame layouts and the design philosophy.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

Buttery-smooth joins are the mark of someone proficient in fillet brazing techniques, and Roma’s track bike is a testament to Ian’s skill. The junctions are seamless, the surfaces are even, and you’d never know for looking that these were ever separate tubes.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track
Icarus Frames Stealth Track

The bi-laminate seat tube junction is just one of many details on this frame that are only revealed upon closer inspection. The bi-lam junction provides a necessary contrast to the rest of the frame, which otherwise looks like black liquid, continuously flowing from one wheel to another.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

It is personalized details like the high-polished feathers above each axle that are only available from a custom builder, meaning that the customer will be the proud owner of a bike that is intrinsically theirs alone, like a tailored suit. A touch of gold coating the rear dropouts add a little touch of class.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

A custom fork also assures a unified look from one end to the other, disguising the fact that there’s bearings moving underneath the glossy skin. Roma has impeccably dressed his new machine in a well-fitting Mavic wheelset, the modern hub and spoke system offsetting the classically styled frame.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

Dark grey branding is revealed underneath the down tube, expertly applied by Brian at Circle A.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track

There may not be much point keeping an eye out for Roma’s Stealth Track around the Ukrainian streets, as you’ll probably miss it, but you can browse most of Ian’s latest builds on his website and Flickr.

Icarus Frames Stealth Track