The Frame Builders: Nobilette

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Don’t shut the door too soon on something.

High-end steel bikes have benefited from decades of research and development, and they now offer a performance that is difficult to equal with other materials. By “performance,” we don’t just mean speed—although the best steel bikes have no trouble keeping up with Ti or carbon racers. Steel is also terrific at handling, reliability, and all-weather, all-road capability. Plus, steel tubing is available in many diameters and wall thicknesses, so it’s easy to fine-tune the bike’s flex characteristics for optimum performance. 

More than a cherished centerpiece of an aficionados collection. 

Mark Nobilette is one of the most respected steel-bike makers in the industry. Nobilette frames are admired throughout the frame-building world for their clean lines and flawless machining and intimidating beauty. Awarded the Best Fillet-Brazed Bike in 2009 at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, Mark has helped to reshape the way we approach steel-frame production and performance. He is the benchmark for high-end steel frames. Frames with a liveliness and legendary smoothness combined with an unrivaled durability and low weight. 

When companies and people like Rivendell, René Herse, Lennard Zinn, and GT want special bikes created for them, they call on Mark Nobilette.

Mark has spent his entire career building custom steel frames. He began building them in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today, Mark and his shop reside in Longmont, Colorado. His work is the epitome of “handmade,” with Mark often using his tools to make each individual part by hand. Road bikes built off Nobilette frames are top of the line, and Mark is once again demonstrating steel’s versatility by creating gravel bikes that are proving to be highly popular since the forgiving and stable nature of steel offers an ideal choice for riders on technical, uneven trails.

Handmade collector catnip. 

More than 40 years of knowledge and experience run through each and every tube. Nobilette road-bike frames are as iconic as any Italian brand and as rich in accolades as any steel road-bike frame on the market. Each and every Nobilette road-bike frame is the result of Mark’s never-ending quest for innovation. Ride one of his bikes and you can see what makes owning a Nobilette a pleasure with every pedal stroke. 

Finishing school, or the state of stunningness. 

Despite its performance and functional credentials, a Nobilette frame retains the subtler amenities, like the perfect lugwork, the signature “fastback” seatstay, the square shoulders of the steel crown lugged fork (hundreds of hours of work show in the craftsmanship of the frame and fork), the classic single-bolt quill-style stem, paint that swells with rich color and depth and clear coat to preserve the color layers and add shine and gloss, and the matter-of-fact simple lines—all of which make these frames just pop. Constructed with craft and skill and heritage, Nobilette frames are unique. You might say the closest you can get to the beauty and craftmanship of a Nobilette frame is some of the traditional steel frames from Japan, where there’s a reverence for the quality that goes into everything hand crafted.