Budnitz bicycles

Most high-end bicycles are designed exclusively for racing. These bikes are very fast, but are impractical and uncomfortable for city use. On the other end of the spectrum, nearly all commercial city bicycles are either made with low-end components or are poorly modified versions of race bikes. Inexpensive city bikes are built to ride exclusively on flat ground, and are quite heavy and tend to rust or fall apart in just a few years. Paul Budnitz (also known from the creation of Kidrobot) began creating titanium bicycles for his own use in 2002. Almost immediately people began stopping him on the street to ask where they could buy a bicycle just like the one he was riding. In 2010 he started Budnitz bicycles.

Budnitz bicycles, according to their makers, incorporate only top-end components. Frames, forks, stems, and handlebars are handmade in the USA out of rust and corrosion-proof titanium, a super-lightweight and extremely strong metal originally developed for the aerospace industry. Frame design, geometry, and every component have been thought out to provide an exceptional ride. Instead of traditional greasy bike chains and gears, Budnitz offers a high-tech and lightweight carbon belt internal hub, which requires very little maintenance, lasts a very long time, and most happily cannot stain your clothing. Budnitz bicycles also feature integrated cables that run through the bicycle frame, but they do not incorporate any shock absorbers. Their trademarked "Cantilever Frame" absorbs road shock. Titanium also absorbs shock, as do the wide-slick tires which they put on all of their bicycles. Wider tires are chosen because under normal street conditions they are much faster than the skinny tires found on fixies and race bikes.

The above is an artful promotional video for Budnitz bicycles, where a recalcitrant bicycle thief falls in love with bicycles he's stolen, only to return it at the end of a great ride. You can see all their bicycles here.