Standard Features Overview

(Photos and examples below)
  • Anti-Corrosion Treatment: All frames are delivered with the inside of the frame treated with Rust Inhibittor to prevent internal corrosion.
  • Replaceable Derailleur Hanger: The mount for the rear derailleur is designed to intentionally break in the case of a crash to avoid damage to the frame and derailleur.
  • Stainless Steel Mounts: All water bottle mounts and many other fittings are made of corrosion resistant stainless steel.
  • Forward Facing Seat Tube Slots: Seat tube slots are made facing forward, to help prevent water that sprays up off the tire from getting inside your frame.
  • Reinforced Seat Tube Slots: The bottom hole of the seat tube slot is reinforced to protect against clamping forces, to endure a lifetime of use.
  • Reinforced Water Bottle Bosses: All water bottle bosses are reinforced to protect the thin center sections of the frame's tubes against possible crash damage.
  • Reinforced Head Tubes: The ends of every head tube have brazed-on reinforcing rings to increase strength where the inside of the tube is reamed for the headset.
  • Down Tube Gussets: A gusset reinforcement custom cut from tubing is welded at the top underside of the down tube to protect against hard front impact stress.
  • Special Shift Guides: Designed & machined in-house stainless steel cable guides hold cable adjustment barrels.
  • Headtube Badge: Cast Bronze Head Tube Badge designed by Rhys May Jewelry
  • Fork Blade Gussets: ​Designed & machined in-house, strengthens a high stress area of the fork.

Examples & Descriptions

Replaceable Derailleur Hanger

All PVF frames, whether using quick release or thru axle dropouts, feature replaceable derailleur hangers. In the event of a crash, a stick on a trail getting caught in the drivetrain, or even the bike simply falling over on its drivetrain side, the derailleur mount of the frame can easily get bent or broken, causing damage to the frame. Replaceable derailleur hangers are designed to intentionally break in the event of a crash or other mishap, which prevents the frame and derailleur from getting damaged. The derailleur hangers which PVF uses are made by Paragon Machineworks in California, and are common on many bikes. This means that for many, many years if you ever need a replacement derailleur hanger for your PVF, you'll be able to get what you need to keep using your bike. If you need a replacement hanger, you can buy it through PVF, or can get it directly from Paragon Machineworks. 

Forward Facing Seat Tube SLot

When riding in wet conditions, water often sprays up off the rear wheel and will hit along the whole length of the seat tube. With traditional, rear facing seat tube slots, the water can make a direct hit right to the slot, and get an easy entry point into the frame. For this reason, all PVF frames use a forward facing seat tube slot. This greatly helps limit the amount of water that gets into the seat tube of your frame.

Reinforced Seat Tube Slot

Over a lifetime of hard use, the bottom relief of seat tube slots end up getting a lot of stress from the clamping forces of tightening and loosening the seat collar which holds the seatpost in place. All PVF frames feature a stainless steel, silver brazed boss reinforcement to protect this area. For frames using the standard, thin 1-1/8" diameter seat tubes found on most PVF frames, the slot is reinforced with a boss, and a custom shaped reinforcement underneath. On PVF frames with a larger diameter, 1-1/4" seat tube with a thicker lug top section, just a round boss is used. These small details help make your frame last for many, many years.

Stainless Steel Mounts & Hardware for COrrosion Resistance

All PVF frames feature many stainless steel items to help prevent corrosion to areas with threads, or where paint may be susceptible to chipping away to bare metal after years of hard use.
The following are some of the items that are stainless steel: all water bottle bosses and their reinforcers, all full-cable housing guides, down tube shift guides, flat mount brake mounts, and many of the dropouts used.
All bolts sourced and used for water bottle bosses, fender mounting, and rack hardware are also all made from high quality, corrosion resistant stainless steel. 
Some examples of the stainless steel bosses, reinforcements, cable guides, brake mounts and dropouts that PVF uses.

Reinforced Water Bottle Bosses

In the event of a crash, it is possible for the water bottle cage to get snagged and exert a lot of stress on the water bottle mounts of the frame. Water bottle mounts are also located in the thinnest sections of butted frame tubes (the wall thickness of butted tubing varies and is thicker towards the end of each tube than in the middle). This can make it so that un-reinforced water bottle mounts are vulnerable to failure. To combat this, all PVF frames feature silver brazed, stainless steel, diamond shaped reinforcers which add a great deal of strength around the water bottle bosses.

Down Tube Gusset

Hard front impacts can cause a lot of stress on all bike frames. To help reinforce and protect against stress caused by front impacts, all PVF frames use a specially made gusset reinforcement on the underside of the down tube, joining the head tube. The gussets are made from tubing, and welded in place. They provide a great boost in strength, yet add very little weight. 

Head Tube Reinforcing Rings

The inside ends of the head tube are reamed out to be able to precisely fit the headset. PVF frames reinforce the thinner end portions of the head tube with rings that are silver brazed into place. The rings help protect the head tube from losing its press-fit tolerance or failing, from removing and reinstalling headsets multiple times over many years of use. 

Unique Stainless Steel Shift Bosses

These shift bosses are designed and machined in-house from corrosion resistant stainless steel. These mounts are silver brazed to the underside of the down tube to allow cable adjustments to be made with the included barrel adjusters. The aesthetics of the design are unique, and unlike many other shift bosses, the use of stainless steel helps ensure smooth, rust free operation.

Fork Blade Gussets

All PVF forks use special reinforcing gussets which are silver brazed to the upper, inside of the fork blades. This helps add strength and safety to a highly stressed, critical area. These gussets are 100% designed and made in-house.

HeadTube Badge

Bike racer and jeweler extraordinaire Rhys May handmade a beautiful PVF head tube badge, which we've had cast and is now included on every PVF frame. The design shows Mount Tom, which is visible right out of PVF's back door and is a gorgeous state park and riding spot. In addition to Rhys's jewelry, she also makes completely custom headtube badges as well- check out her work at rhysmayjewelry.com

Internal Anti-Corrosion Treatment

All PVF frames are delivered with the inside of the frame treated with an anti-corrosion spray. This treatment helps prevent internal corrosion, and especially when re-applied yearly (or more frequently for those who ride in wet conditions often), is an essential part of ensuring your frame will last you for many decades of tough use, in all conditions.

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