Check out our first behind the scenes update from “Factory X” where Invincible is being made!
As you’ve likely determined by now, we really, really like bikes. Some professionals might even call it an “obsession,” but we’re not into labels : )
You know what else we really love? Building cool bike gear and showing you all how we do it.
Here’s our first update from “Factory X” - stay tuned for more!
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Dec 3: launched Invincible on Kickstarter and it took off. We immediately bought plane tickets to Hong Kong for Tivan (co-founder) & Bruno (Director Of Operations)
Dec 4: We partied
Dec 5: Hungover Tivan & Bruno flew to Hong Kong. The journey was treacherous.
Dec 7: Arrived at what we’ll call Factory X in Shenzhen. This is where things get interesting.
Factory Backstory: Factory X has 17,000 employees on a campus the size of MIT make 4 million bikes per year. If you’ve ever owned a big-brand-named bike, there’s a good chance our factory made it. Fortified isn’t a small fish in a big pond - we’re Nemo in the Pacific. We chose Factory X because:
1. They’re an elite factory that we’re fortunate to be working with
2. In the bike world, big factories = more experience = better quality & work conditions.
Dec 9: To make sure it’s perfectly dialed in before production, we asked them to build one more Invincible sample.
Normally samples take 2 months. We pushed Factory X to do it in 1 week.
Dec 11: Invincible 1Speed assembled in foreground, 8Speed in background.
How’d we do it? Whiskey. Really.
Tivan (left) went shot for shot with Big Boss. And Big Boss agreed to our production schedule.
Dec 16: We dialed in the final details - paint finish, decals, security hardware - and Invincible is ready for mass production.
Stay tuned for our next update when we’ll do a deep-dive into design.
Love,
Tivan and Team Fortified