TAKE FLIGHT
Kite Bicycles was born in a bike shop in Saint Petersburg, Florida in 2023. The Kite name is derived from the beautiful, fast and sleek Swallow Tailed Kite we often see soaring over head at our home in Florida.
How it all started
Our shop staff has been deeply involved in working with and riding premium titanium bicycles for more than ten years. We love the superior characteristics of a well designed titanium frame and saw how titanium retained value better than any other material. We have rebuilt twenty year old titanium bicycles that look and ride like the day they were built.
After years of experience riding, racing and working on titanium bicycles our team decided to explore what it would take to design, build and sell the bike that we all wanted to ride. Our goal was to design, build and sell a full titanium road bike that would be the equal to the very best custom bicycles but at a price that made titanium accessible to a wider range of riders.
Using years of experience as a bicycle fitter and avid rider our own Taylor Norton began the process of designing a modern titanium road bike that would become the Kite Solus. The Solus had to be fast, light, take dvantage of titaniums natural springiness and work with all the best current components. By February 2024 we had our first prototype bicycle ready for testing. This bicycle provided valuable insights in to where our design was working well and where improvements could be made. The prototype also helped make clear how crucially important the quality of the craftsmanship would be in the final product.
Brad Accettella joined Kite Bicycles in June 2024. Brad brought years of experience working with major bicycle brands in developing and launching bicycles across a wide spectrum of styles and categories. Creating a new bicycle from scratch was nothing new for Brad.
In July 2024 Kite identified Ora Engineering as one of the foremost companies in the world with the ability to work at the leading edge of titanium bicycle frame construction. Ora had 30 years experience building titanium bicycle frames and employs some of the finest craftsmen in the field. Taylor and Brad took the Solus design concept to Jim Hsu at Ora and commissioned the second and third prototypes of the Solus road bike. The second prototype was to be a more traditional premium road bike with round double butted tubes and the third prototype was a more modern design with a shaped top tube and lowered seat stays. Each prototype would be matched to various wheelsets and groupsets in order to determine what works best in differing conditions and price points.
A lifetime of riding adventure
The Solus is a road bike with the soul of wanderer and the heart of a racer. How can we sum up the Solus? Integrity.
