Velvet Cycles is a one man, one cat shop in Portland Oregon specializing in hand-built lugged steel frames. Over the years I have noticed a distinct lack of high quality bicycles for riding, not racing. The bicycle industry is dominated by mass produced products that are generally designed to look faster or more unique than they really are. And most of those bikes are not really right for many of the riders who purchase them. Such bikes tend to be hard on the wrists, neck and back due to the fact that they are designed to fit a theoretical person who can ride a race bike with a completely flat back. Then there are the so called "comfort bikes" which are generally comfy, but they steer like a brick, are made of low quality materials, weigh at least 15 pounds more than they should, and are really just horrendous for anything other than a 5 minute ride to the store.
Instead I build high quality bikes for all kinds of riders. If you are looking for bicycle that will shear 10 seconds off your next 40 mile ride, my creations may not be for you. But if you are looking for a beautiful, comfortable, high quality bike that will make you love riding, a Velvet Cycle is just what you need.
Because I run a one man shop, it is unlikely that I will produce more than 20 frames a year (at least while I'm still working the day job). The majority of these are custom frames. But I still build a small run of non-custom framesets just in case there's somebody out there that fits a standard size really well.
I take custom orders and can do just about any moderately sensible thing you desire. I build touring bikes, fire road bikes, even BMX bikes.
All frames, whether production or custom are hand built by me in my Portland, Oregon shop.
Dave