Originally Posted by
unworthy1
well I know his name.
And don't think Ibis made these just Scot got the gig from REI to consult and design for their Mtn. Bike line, then the building of Novara frames was in Japan (and/or later in Taiwan).
I don't recall if the builder(s) were ever nailed down for certain, of if they remain a mystery (like the Japanese Bianchis).
I was on the original product development team for REI on the Novara bike line from year 1. The initial bikes were built for us by the Diamondback factory partially because of our success selling thru the first production mountain bikes from them Outback 1 and Outback II. Dave the corporate buyer had a great relationship with them and we loved the quality of the bikes. The deal was finalized at the BDS show in Long Beach. By year 3 the sales volume we were doing thru all 11 stores back then was becoming more than Diamondback could build for us and meet their own production demands so Dave bought our own factory in Taiwan for Novara. The project with Scot Nicol happened after I left REI but I do not have any reason to believe these frames were built by anyone other than the top master builders at the Novara factory. As in every factory I have been involved with Novara had 5 or 6 frame builders that had been hand brazing frames for 20+ years and these men were responsible for overseeing and mentoring all of the younger frame builders in the factory. When special projects were handed to them like building prototypes or testing new lightweight tubing etc it would always be handed off to them. PS The Novara name has absolutely nothing to do with the racer Sheila Novara Young. The names were all chosen from Europe for the models and the brand name was chosen from the Italian province in North West Italy called Novara. BTW I was also attached to the re-boot of Ibis in 2001 by its new owners but I wont go into that now. Ciao