Handmade Bicycle Show - Part 2

Ok, so it took me a little bit longer than a day or two to write part 2... But no worries, I haven't forgotten.

I'm going to kick off this post with a review of an oft overlooked part from many mainstream bikes: fenders. Wood fenders were all the rage at the Handmade Bicycle Show this year, and its easy to see why. They are beautiful and stylish


These photos are of Inglis Cycles (from Napa, CA), Keith Anderson Cycles (from Grants Pass, OR), and DeSalvo Custom Cycles (from Ashland, OR), respectively. All have a slightly different style to their wood with graphic designs, inlays and custom stains. There were several others as well, including from Naked Bicycles and Design and Rich Adams.

Continuing down the component path, I talked last time about the slick new electronic shifter from Shimano. Well, SRAM's not about to be outdone by Shimano and they were showing off a slick new HammerSchmidt internal front gear from their Truvativ group. There's only one chainring on the front and the internal gears give you the feel of a higher gear. On the lower gear, the gear spins with a ratio of 1:1, shift it and the gear spins 1:1.6 (you pedal around once and the gear goes around 1.6 times). They had a demo bike set up and I can tell you, this was a really smooth gear and it would be GREAT in muddy or snowy environs.

The rep was explaining that once a year you do have to take the thing apart and regrease the gears (depending on how much much your ride through, I'm guessing), which seems like a lot of maintenance to me. But I suppose your shop could probably do this for you without too much of an extra charge. I'd hope, anyway. At about $700, this won't be cheap, but it was so slick that for a tour or race where flawless operation was required, I think this definitely could be worth the money.

Another cool bike/component combo (note the sequey back to bikes...) comes from Kimori from Japan, with their very unusual suspension system.


The bikes themselves don't have 26" wheels, so they look a little, um, delicate for someone of my, um, stature (I'm not a diminutive guy). But they are definitely interesting.



Finally, let's get back to those bikes with a few of my other favorites from the show:



Bilenky Bicycles who does a lot of tandems and tandem recumbents was showing a very slick long-wheel base utility bicycles. I'm partial to these to begin with, so its no surprised I liked it. KirkLee had a road bike that they had incorporated hand painted canvas onto the top layer of the carbon fiber. Up close it was easy to tell that it was canvas and it made for a very unusual and stylish appearance on the bike. It was really not like anything else at the show (in a very good way). And finally on the track bike side of things, Vanilla Bicycles was showing a couple of very cool Speedvagen track bikes that were so light, you would think they were carbon (but they weren't).

Again, lots more to see from show on my flickr.

2009 Handmade Bicycle Show - Part 1

I enjoyed the Handmade Bicycle Show in Indianapolis this past weekend. I was relieved to hear from almost everyone that the recession has only been a minor blip in the world of cycling. Most builders that I talked to were positive about their year so far and were looking forward to the spring. As Lon Kennedy's wife at Nova Bicycle Supply said, "This spring will be our stimulus package."

I was unable to connect to WIFI at the convention center (didn't feel like paying the extra charge for it). So, here's a rundown on the highlights, post event...

Mark Nobilette of Nobilette Bicycles used to live here in Ann Arbor, MI, but now resides and builds in Longmont, CO. He has been building for about 30 years. His bikes were very well put together. He was showing steel bikes, mostly road/racing bikes.



I spent a lot of time talking with the production manager, Lloyd, of Independent Fabricators from Boston. IF has been building since the mid 90's They were showing a wide range of bikes including this very stylish “Year of the Ox" Track Bike.


IF was showing the only stainless steel mountain bike that I saw at the show with some very cool etchings. There were several titanium bikes that were polished with no paint so they had a similar appearance, but this was the only stainless steel that I saw. Lloyd told me that one of the great features of stainless steel is its durability. It won't rust and it won't dent in a crash.

My next visit was to Alchemy Bicycles from Austin.

I spoke at length with builder James about his bikes and learned that he launched Alchemy about 3 months ago and he’s been have some pretty good success. You can see why, his design is well thought out with some very small but important unique touches - like how he has inverted the stabilizing bars using “holes” on the chainstays instead.

I was looking forward to talking to Calfee Designs about his bikes. I was not disappointed. He has developed a program of building bamboo bikes in Africa and selling them here to fund more bike building education in Africa. A very ambitious program to improve the conditions in the third world. The program is called "Bamboosero". The bike he was showing was built in Ghana (buyers will eventually be able to request which country their bikes come from).
One of my favorites (who also won a People's Choice award at the show) was Naked Bicycles and Design from Guadra Isl, BC Canada (north of Vancouver). Builder Sam Whittingham talked for quite a while about how successful he's been. He said that he's facing a happy problem - his sales have grown to the point where he's needing to expand, but expansion at his level is big and expensive. He wants to make sure he's still able to build, and doesn't want to be relagated to "managing" other builders. That's a problem that a lot of entrepreneurs would love to have. But unfortunately for Sam, it's a real problem too. Hopefully he can get that balancing act worked out, because his bikes are very creative and interesting. One touch that I found particularly brilliant is that he uses headsets (where your handlebars attach to your bike) as the hinges on the rear suspension. Makes them easy to maintain/replace, and they are durable. Pretty ingenious.


Serotta had a huge display at the show. Ben Serotta has been building since the 1970's and has built a successful business through contract frame building. Currently, Serotta is partnered with the Carmichael Training Systems to provide carbon fiber bikes for their training program. Serotta was showing several carbon fiber and steel racing bikes.




ANT (Alternative Needs Transportation) builds bikes for urban riding and commuting. Their bikes featured built in racks and generator hubs for powering lights. The philosophy behind how Mike builds his bikes is fantastic (again a builder since the 70's), but I found the designs to be a little too utilitarian for my taste. Don't get me wrong, utility is great, but if I'm going to spend that much on a bike I want it to stand out... dramatically. But that's just me.












I also got my opportunity to try out the newest tech from Shimano and SRAM. Shimano's new Dura Ace Di2 is basically an electronic shifter for road biking. It is very quick shifting and requires almost no effort to make the shift. It's basically like pushing a button, rather than pushing/pulling a lever that pulls a cable. I got to test it out and for me, it was good, but not worth the extra $750 or so extra that it will add to the price. I suppose if I were racing I'd be more interested.




There's plenty more to see on my flickr set from the show. I'll have more details on the show tomorrow as well.

Handmade Bicycle Show

I will be at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year. I'll provide some updates and pictures from the show floor. Urban Velo had a pretty good photo summary from last year's event in Portland, OR. This year promises to have just as many interesting frame builders as last year, and I can't wait to meet them.