Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bike Porn: NAHBS 2012

Quick note: Sorry for not having a famous Friday post up. I'll make it up to you I promise. All the bike porn I've been looking at coupled with sickness has made my motivation for all but the shear necessities in life almost nil. But here is a freshly baked new post for you. Thanks for waiting! 

Well it is that time again. That time of year when all of us bike geeks need to draw the curtains and grab some tissues. Lock the door and warm up the computer. Because the North American Hand built Bicycle Show (NAHBS) has once again come to fruition. And once again I wanted to grab a hand full of bikes and design ideas to talk about.

This year seems to be the year of the go-anywhere road bike with big tires and clearance for fenders. The kind you would want to take on a gravel road or a smooth piece of single track. Along with monochromatic color schemes with hints of stainless steal. It's also a fairly big comeback of a fillet brazed joint versus sculpted lugs. And as per usual there is also a phenomenal amount brilliant custom solutions to custom problems. All in all a pretty bang up year!

So ease the seat back and get comfortable. Here we go.


This MAP Bicycles townie was one of our favorites for its unabashed industrial style.
This bike from MAP is probably the heaviest and simultaneously the coolest bike in my opinion.

MAP Bicycles is based in Portland, Oregon so they know a thing or two about riding in the wet. Check out the awesome coverage of these custom wraparound fenders.
The awesome custom fenders and the disc brakes glide between retro and modern flawlessly.

Framebuilders have started moving the rear triangle split away from the dropout on belt-equipped bikes such as this Shamrock Cycles city bike.
These integrated fender mounts and bolts to allow the replacement of a belt drive on this Shamrock Cycle are great examples of custom solutions to custom problems.

Shamrock Cycles integrates a lock holder into the back of the rear rack on its awesome city bike.
As well as a U-lock holder and a beautiful "tiger" maple insert on the rear rack.

Internal routing cleans up the lines on this Shamrock Cycles city bike.
The internal cable routing on this bike made it look exceptionally clean. If it weren't for the lime green paint job this would probably been my favorite...

Ira Ryan says this bike-and-trailer combo was built for a Portland-area restauranteur who wanted to use pedal power to transport groceries and supplies.
Portland's own Ira Ryan had some particularly sweet bikes at this years show. One of them with the nicest trailer I've ever seen. You know it's a custom job when it has waxed canvas and leather.

How many Chris King headsets are required to provide the necessary degrees of freedom on Ira Ryan's bike-plus-trailer combo?
And you can't forget about Chris King hubs. Gotta have those...

The 1888 Whippet was an incredibly complex design with seven suspension pivots in total. The seat tube, top tube, and upper head tube all move as one unit. This remarkable recreation was built by Paul Brodie, who teaches Frame Building 101 at the University of the Fraser Valley in Canada.
This replica of an 1888 Whippet by Paul Brodie deserves an award for the most work put into a single machine category.
 
Bishop Bikes won 'Best Lugged Bike' at NAHBS with randonneur machine.
Here is a classic example of a go-anywhere bike. Although I would think them a fool if the owner took this on a gravel decent.
 

The Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 wire is fed into the Eriksen tandem frame just behind the head tube.
The thing that gets me about Eriksen's titanium work are the welds... They look like a role of dimes on their sides. Just beautiful.




Cyfac showed off this ultralight carbon fiber road tandem at this year's NAHBS.
It's probably because my better half and I are going to be purchasing a tandem soon. But this Cyfac carbon tandem with the Enve wheels made me have an accident in my pants.

Dave Wages built this impossibly shiny KVA stainless steel travel randonneur frame for himself.
This stainless steel Dave Wages randonneur bike is something I wouldn't kick out of bed for eating crackers. Di2, generator front hub and pretty polish everywhere.

This Cielo road bike boasts a timeless aesthetic.

This Cielo is classic and beautiful.

If 29ers are faster, then 36ers must be way faster, right? Whether or not that's true, this Black Sheep sure is stunning.
29'ers are sooooo 2011. 36'ers are whats in now.

Rob English says he actually regularly races this ultralight steel road bike. How light, you ask? Try 4.9kg (10.8lb, claimed).
Anyone feel like riding an 11 lbs steel bike? I would but I'm afraid of what Rob English would do to me after I took it off some sweet jumps.

Yet another gorgeous themed head tube badge from Black Sheep Bikes, this time adorning the front of a snow bike.
I'll give you one guess on what type of bike this awesome head badge is on...

This welded-on hydraulic splitter allows a single lever to actuate both front calipers.
This is another necessity is the mother of invention kind of things. A hydraulic splitter for a Sycip utility bike. Very slick.

The Enve Composites tapered 'cross disc fork is painted to match on this Independent Fabrications rig.
Can I have this for next cross season please? Please!?

Check out the details on this custom painted Independent Fabrications hardtail.
This paint design is on a rigid mountain bike by Independent Fabrication. I somehow doubt this will ever see any real hard trail use. Just sayin'....

Japanese builder Cherubim never fails to impress at NAHBS and this year was no different.
Cherubim brought this track concept bike to the show.
That's it! I can't take anymore. My hands are chapped. The computer screen is starting to look all blurry. And my ass fell asleep long ago.

I hope you all enjoyed looking at this together. I know it feels kinda dirty. But don't worry. A couple showers, some good scrubbing and you'll be right as rain.

Thanks for reading!

Rubber side down,

Big E



4 comments:

  1. Looks like people have some pretty cool ideas for bicycle design. I currently ride a folding bike that I'm really happy with - anyone at NAHBS doing anything with folders?

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    1. Hey Chris,
      To answer your question. Yes and no. Brompton has had a booth at the last couple shows. So yes there are some folders present. But to get a folding bike out to the market takes some serious R&D. So you generally won't see the smaller custom shops take that challenge on. Now just wait and see. There will be a bunch pop out of the wood work and call me a liar... Thanks for reading!

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