NAHBS'd
So last weekend I took an eleven hour bus ride to Portland to attend the fourth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show. For three days straight the Oregon Convention Center was packed to the gills with the dorkiest bike nerds, the biggest small frame builders, and the most interesting things on two wheels; the bike racks outside were piled high like some promethean offering to a cyclical deity.
If anything, the massive gains in attendance and the number of exhibitors since NAHBS ‘07 is a sign of good health for both the small and big end of the bicycle industry. Sure, Portland is a hotbed/brothel of bicycle activity on its own, but attendees came from near and far to look upon the bike works.
If you want real reporting on what can only be described as the best trade-show in the industry, read up at BikePortland.org or VeloNews.
It dawned on me pretty quickly that such an abundance of overwhelmingly nice bikes can glaze over your eyes and burn a hole in the back of your skull. I was only at the convention center for Saturday, and I so wish I could have had one more day to recuperate and revisit some of the exhibitors. Looking at galleries online I’m still finding cool things I missed as I wandered about the show in a drunken stupor, eyes rolled back into my head and jaw hanging slack.
Here’s what I can remember:
Ahearne Cycles - “handbuilt with love and fury in Portland, OR”
Combining traditional steel frame building with inventive new designs, Joseph Ahearne’s bikes are smartly built and packed with interesting and unique details. His custom racks and integrated frame designs set Ahearne Cycles apart. He won the award for “Best City Bike” (a very popular style this year) with the orange commuter shown below.
(Photo via BikePortland.org’s photostream)
A.N.T. - “Alternative Needs Transportation”
Committed to building bikes that improve the mindshare of bicycle commuting, A.N.T. is a small Boston area bike shop run by Mike Flanigan and Betsy Eckel Scola. Mike Flanigan has an amazing mustache. His commuters won my heart over a year ago, but it was great to see them in the flesh, so to speak. Classic designs, dauntless utility, and a solid philosophy make A.N.T. one of my favorite small builders.
(Photo via BikePortland.org’s photostream)
Bruce Gordon Cycles
Based in Petaluma, California, Bruce has been building custom steel lugged frames since 1974. His small company is famous for his touring and racing bicycles. A regular of NAHBS, this year Bruce took home the awards for “Best Road Bicycle” and “Best Lugged Bicycle”. Shown below, some of his titatanium lugs are just beyond comparison. Well, maybe not beyond comparison, it just wouldn’t be fair to anybody else to compare them with Bruce’s work. My friend Lindsey rides on of his older touring bike, and she is a very, very lucky lady.
(Photo via BikePortland.org’s photostream)
Frances Cycles - “fabrication & repair, trackbikes to cycletrucks”
Awesome bikes out of Santa-Cruz, California. Joshua Muir’s lugged and fillet-brazed bicycles follow a “rich tradition of hand drawn, hand built steel bicycle framesets”. His booth at NAHBS offered up a few very unique designs, including his immensely popular cargo bike “cycletruck” with a cool steering mechanism, pictured below. Also on display were his custom designs for a track bike with a pass-through seat-tube (for an extra tight wheelbase) and a slick commuter with integrated custom fenders.
(Photo via Cranked Magazine’s photostream)
Hufnagel Cycles
Jordan Hufnagel is a charming boy, freshly transplanted to the Portland bike scene from Indiana. One of my favorite parts of the show was spotting “Go Vegan!” emblazoned on a chainstay of his “Organic Athlete” road bike, pictured below.
(Photo via BikePortland.org’s photostream)
Ira Ryan Cycles
Another Portland Builder, Ira Ryan has been building lugged and fillet-brazed framesets and racks since 2005. Classic randonneur styling with some very insightful modern touches, Ira’s bikes speak of a builder who is a rider first and foremost. As with A.N.T. and Ahearne, it was awesome to see some classy bike with upright bars, racks and eyelets aplenty, I guess we’re calling that a “city bike” now? His fast bikes are wicked sweet too. Props to Ira for taking in donations for Bike To Rwanda, a worthy cause if there ever was one.
(Photo via BikePortland.org’s photostream)
And then of course there’s Bilenky Cycle Works, Courage Bicycle MFG., DeSalvo Custom Cycles, Pereira Cycles, Retrotec, Rock Lobster Custom Bicycles, Signal Cycles, Soulcraft, Townsend Cycles Ltd., Vanilla Bicycles, Villin Cycle Works, and Waterford Precision Cycles. But like I said, my eyes have kind of glazed over.
All in all, it was a great trip. It was really cool to see the sweetest American-made bikes with my own eyes, and to talk to some young and enthusiastic builders.
I also got a new bag, hand delivered by Elias of Lemolo bags!
(Photo via Elias’s photostream)