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.