Tylers new ride

finally rec'd some brakes that we've been patiently waiting for which allowed us to finish Tyler's new Knolly Endorphin.

ENO

ENO projects.....J Bela's new crankset

and eventually Marks new ENO hub for a singlespeed 69er project.

David's new ride

Congrats to Dave on his new 21# Ventana El Toro single speed.

a link

Brian (aka bdiddy) posted a few pictures from Portland on his Bdiddy Blog.....check'em out HERE

Voodoo commuter

here's another bike build born from a box of old parts. 4 Sale....$400

Voodoo Wanga one frame with sliding drop outs

(slightly scratched from UPS)

Specialized chro mo fork

Cane creek headset

Shimano Nexus 7spd drive

w/ drum brake

Sachs front drum

Fizik saddle

dura ace seatpost

Shimano LX crank

110 X 74

Kalloy Dexter bar and stem combo

cork wrapped grips

parting shot

Multnomah Falls, along the Dalles

the show itself is a good time...i'd recommend it to anyone with an appreciation of fine details within the craft of frame building. It's almost easy to take for granted what's going into each of these bikes when you see them lined up in this format. If you ever go to one.....take your time with each frame and study the details and subtle differences from one builder to the next.....they're all different and the builders character really shows up through their work, and styling. We're lucky to have a show like this... Isn't it a great thing being a bike geek ?






The location of next years show has been set to Indianapolis, i doubt we'll be making it to next years show. Two years in a row is fine....we'll catch the show on the rebound when it lands in Minneapolis, or Denver, Or maybe even Missoula Montana.

a few more pics from our last evening in Portland:

and two more pics....

Keith Anderson

and was introduced to Strawberry Frames by Noel, who just put a deposit down on one of these fine beauties.

Naked had a good showing....not only did they win 'Best of Show', ' Peoples Choice' and 'Don Walkers Choice' but the bike also stole the heart of none other than Lance Armstrong who reportedly purchased the bike for display piece for a measely $12,000.

Chris Igleheart, formely of Fat Chance which is why the fork resembles the 'Big One' forks of the past. Beautiful bikes...and matter of fact Chris had a Columbus tubed road bike for sale that almost came home with me...for sale with Ultegra group for $2600 !

Blackcat chain tension

Chris King is starting to get the itch to build frames again after conversation regarding his first incarnation started to build buzz. We welcome the thought of King lugged frames....

brothers...Jay and Jeremy from Sycip looks like they had alot of fun building bikes specifically for the show.

fixed gear bike with a disc brake on the crankset:

townie type bike with beer taps as the shift levers

a cool suicide shifter for the front derailleur done by Pereira Cycles, fillet brazed together no less.

Rock Lobster

Inglis & Retrotec

Soulcraft

Steve Garro, the man behind Coconino....not sure if any of you know Steve but you should at least know the name. Steve was hit by a car a few years ago, lost use of his legs and now uses an offroad hand pedal cart. He's got major cajones, has more passion for cycling than we'll ever begin to know and also just happens to build a very beautiful, yet practical bike. I'd recommend his blog for good reading.

Rick Hunter....genuinely cool guy. Helped Brian out with a flat tire on sunday morning, and then later in the day showed us his bicycles. One of the only builders at the show that had a custom fabricated full suspension bike (with his own linkage design). I think all of us bikes on display really highlighted his diverse abilities as a frame builder. I was mucho impressed with the array of creations...all were fascinating.

word on the street was that Brian put a deposit on a rigid 29er with Hunter...so see folks, it pays to lend a helping hand when you see another in need.

Brian Baylis....his frames are beautiful. Brian, in my opinion is one of the best painters in the biz. Check out the lug work...he thins the material to damn near paper width.

Signal Cycles.....i really liked these bikes. I poured over the brazing and the work was about as fine as any that i've seen, plus Matt is originally from stink'n Lincoln so that's a plus. Signal is based out of Portland.

more pics from the show

more custom bike photos:

Pegoretti...italian flair

if you squint really hard you can see Fidel Castro

later on in the evening we re-grouped with Rob, Eric, and Lewis and rode around a bit more.

the bikes.

about it for the first day of the show.....how can you blame me for leaving early as it was in the mid-50's outside and i was chomping at the bits to soak up the nice weather on bikes. So Brian, Brett and myself went on a little tour of the bike shops and visited 4 different bike shops that were within a few miles of the convention center. We also managed to find a really good Italian Beef sandwich shop too !


River City was a really nice high end shop known for their wood inlay fenders. I came close to getting a set for my Bruce Gordon but chickened out at the price tag.

cool neighborhood bike shop, lots of nice restored bikes for sale and a ton of used parts laying around.

Ahearne Cycles....i admire the looks of these bikes. Just visually stunning and one of my favorite builders.

check out the fork blades on Ahearns personal green bike....wild huh ?

Lynskey titanium frames

check out the spiral twist in the ti tubing.

Groovy cycleworks seemed appropriately named after checking out his paint job on this bike below.....frame, forks, handlebars, and a soon to be released 4130 chro-mo crank that will work with shimano's external BB bearings looked really nice. You can see them too in the pic below.

i was curious about the brakes so struck conversation with Rody about the linear pull Avids...i never knew they made such a creature and at first thought he adapted some type of extension at the top of each brake, but Rody went on to tell me that they were on loan from First Flight Bicycles....and that Jeff had a whole box of them but swore not to sell any since Avid themselves never brought them to market. Pretty cool. BTW.....that fancy Flite saddle came from Jeff too.

the Wheel Fanatyk......having seen quite a few wood rims here at the barn for restoration projects and older track wheels i can honestly say that i have never seen any built as fine as these. These rims have layers of wood that are beveled end to end and then shaped as you see in the photo creating a layered finish. Unlike wood rims of the past that were rolled to a finger joint. Impressive stuff and i was surprised at the 460g weight and how many small builders had them built on to their show bikes. Make sure you check out his website....cool stuff.

in all honesty, it was the trueing stand that originally brought me into his booth.

woven copper by Villin

Fred's fillet brazing skills are absolutely stunning. I liked his thru axle fork and post mount brake mounts.

Wolfhound Cycles

Moots snow bike.

Carl Strong giving us his opinion on just about everything. Thanks for the hoodie Carl !

Bilenky seatpost, what a cool seatpost and a unique fella. I've got just the most killer Bilenky story, but you've gotta call to get hold of it though.

Engin also had a really nice stainless seatpost.

they also made a beautiful ti frame

and a steel frame that had Pacenti fork crowns up front and on the seat stays.

The new Ventana El Bastardo...650b.

Blacksheep utilitarian style.

lugged beauty

Sasha White's ... Vanilla frames. You gotta look really close for the details...they're everywhere.

DeSalvo had a SE Racing tribute that was a 29er replica of their old quad angle bmx racing frames

inside NAHMBS

as for the posting of these next few pictures i'm goingto post them in order as i came across them on the floor. I may throw in a little opinions here and there but mostly i'll just post pictures so that you can see some of the finest crafted machines ever assemebled under one roof. I spent most of the entire day dragging my jaw around...it was that good, and the talent these builders possess is truely incredible...we've got to give thanks to Don Walker for making it happen.

Renovo Hardwood,

i marveled at the construction of these frames. Regardless of what your personal opinions on prefered frame materials are it's very easy to appreciate what went into these beauties.

Rue Carbon track bike...check out how the drivetrain is recessed into the frame. Streamline.

saturday show

after a late night out on the town and a short 4 hour rest our small gaggle threw down some edible food from Denny's and headed across the street to the convention center.

Portland

got to Portland on friday night, checked in at the Red Lion, threw our bags in the room and headed up to the 6th floor to wet the whistle, eat a few appetizers and talk shop with some of the faces that were also on the same mission.....i managed to get hold of Teresa and Sherwood who were also staying at the same hotel and they decided to come on up and join in on the riff-raff also. I also happened across a couple from Lincoln Ne. who recently purchased the shop where i purchased one of my first 'true' mountain bikes from...Bike Peddlers, how coincidental ?? It was cool to catch up with the local Lincoln hub-bub, and also cool to see that the shop was in good hands with some damn good folks.






We hung out about as long as Don Walker could stand and i could tell that the general roar of our small group kept getting a little louder and louder so we figured it was best to take the party to the streets of Portland, on the bikes.

yyymmmm, tasty says the captain

driving

not much to see in eastern WA., but a helluva lot better than driving on snow covered roads.

the guilty

you'll know if you've been there before

the snow, the trip, the show

prepare for major photo overload as i share a few pictures from our trip out to Portland to take in the city and to geek out at the NAHMBS. Yes, i like to take pics.






Obviously since you didn't hear from me directly after the last post made it was a sign that we made it out of the Bitterroot. Lots of snow fell the day before we headed out but honestly it didn't deter a single soul of our group. We were all pretty much on a mission to get the heck out of town.

yeah...it snowed a bunch, quickly.

NAHMBS

Well, the shop closes tomorrow for a few days while us bike shop guys and bike junkies go to attend the Handmade Bike Show in Portland. But as i write this i'm starting to get a little skeptical if mother nature is going to be letting us go.....right now it is absolutely snowing buckets. It's 9am and i've already scooped snow off the walk and honestly you can't even tell because it's coming down so hard. 

I've also heard the stretch of hwy closest to home...I-90 is closed currently to only emergency traffic at Look Out pass. I'm not sure if the bike show counts as emergency or not, but i'm sure Brian would agree that it certainly does. It's going to be sketchy driving at best.....from the news desk:

Lookout Pass closed on tuesday for avalanche mitigation

Avalanche traps snowplow at Look Out

It's going to take a few hearty souls to make the trip....but i know out of the five of us we're still thinking positively and planning to head out in the AM. So hopefully you don't hear from me tomorrow. 

over and out.

we'll all miss ya good buddy

man-o-man.....i'm super bummed to hear the news this morning about the legendary Sheldon Brown, the walking encyclopedia of a bike mechanic over at Harris Cyclery  passed this morning and the cycling community is sorely going to miss this man very much. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

 I personally have relied on his expertise many times, i remember using his website as a resource the first time that i overhauled a Sturmey Archer hub, and have always instinctively gone back to his site for good information. Gear inch calculators, Schwinn/Raliegh serial number data base, dyno hub information.....you name it and the man has covered it and allowed us to learn from his extensive knowledge of all things bicycle. We'll miss ya pal !