Attila Bekes from Bekes Wooden Bicycles shows us a bike he built for his wife that’s made out of mostly 1/4″ laminated plywood with a metal dropout, headtube insert and a metal fork enclosed in wood. The bike even features a hidden beer compartment!
Mark Kargol from Ventus shows us the first bike he’s ever built, a titatium lugged carbon fiber, 11-speed Campy touring bike. Mark has been painting frames for 5 years and this is his first year in the frame building market. The bike features a Whisky Parts Co. fork, Curtis Odom hubs, Wheel Fanatyk wood rims, 2012 Campagnolo Athena, King Cage toe clips, Crud fenders, and custom made toe straps and bar tape from Busyman Bicycles in Australia, that match the Brooks saddle.
Every year, there is a pilgrimage of some of the country’s best bike builders to a city selected by NAHBS to showcase the best hand made bikes. This year, the city was Sacramento and it attracted a ton of builders from around the country and around the world. The halls were jam-packed each day with cycling enthusiasts eager to see the what the best builders had to offer.
The interesting thing about the Handmade bike show is it not only showcases traditional design and craftsmanship but it also exhibits some leading edge design. Builders are always looking for the best solutions to many of cycling’s needs and this show not only shows where cycling came from but also where it is headed.
Check the links below to view our coverage of some of the best builders at the show. And see our impressions below of what the biggest trends are in this year’s show.
Trends:
NAHBS is a great indicator of where the bike industry is going. For example, a few years ago most of the builders were showing 29er and commuter bikes while they were still an oddity with big manufacturers. But now, that is clearly the growth segment of the bike industry. This year, we did see some common themes that we feel will have a bright future in cycling: Continue reading
Tom Ritchey stops by to talk 40 years of building bikes. Starting out as a 15 year old who just wanted to build a bike on a whim, he started professionally building road bikes for years before venturing into the new category of mountain bikes in 1979. This year, Ritchey will be launching a new Road Logic triple butted steel bike. Available as a frameset for $1199 later this year in late July.
For more information visit www.ritcheylogic.com
Garrett Clark from Vendetta shows us a lugged steel, ultimate commuter bike that features hard carved lugs, Schmidt Generator hubs, front and rear disc brakes, Rohloff hub, custom made stainless rack and chain guard, internal lights and cable routing, a liquid color paint job by Harry Phinney with custom pin striping by Jim Carmickle, and a silver brazed, lazer cut, stainless steel logo, head badge and stem badge.
Dave Levy from Ti Cycles shows us a custom rando bike that won 3rd place in the Gates Belt Drive Competition.
The bike also features TRP Parabox hyrdraulic disc brakes, custom anodized red levers, Light On! battery light system that can run for up to 10 hours, an iPhone mount with a Supernova USB plug for charging while riding, custom Ti Cycles titanium stem and seatpost, custom front and rear racks, and a titanium fork.
Dave Ryther from the full custom Alchemy Bicycles Co. shows us an all-terrain, round tube carbon cross bike that is ridiculously strong, lightweight and can withstand anything you can throw at it. It is a more durable and high performance carbon cross bike that should last a rider 3-4 solid seasons. The bike also features 1⅛ – 1½ tapered fork, 1½ Chris King headset, WickWërks chainring, Enve tubing, a hand painted lion design, and weighs in at around 16.5 lbs.