Fouth of July Weekend

Fourth of July weekend is a vacation for most people, but for those of us who eat thanks to the tourism industry, it's a pretty crazy weekend. Despite some rather hectic, crazy, and upsetting moments over the course of the weekend there were fireworks, and I did have my camera.

Breaking the Habit

This is the last of my attempts at photo blogging. Today will be the most artistic shots that I took over the course of the show.




And finally my pride and joy.

Rag Doll

Today is going to start off with one of my personal favorites from the show. This bike's theme was music. There were notes, guitars, and even a treble clef on the bike to give it a definate one of a kind look. As if all of that weren't enough the lug work was also really well done.
This is a perfectly restored 1951 Cinelli. This bike was one of the coolest things I saw at the show, although it did make me seriously debate (and I still am) shelling out the cash to repaint the Peugeot.
Here's where things get a little different. This bike was made in Ghana as nothing more than a transportation device. All of the components cost $150 and the frame is real bamboo. It's strong, light, and cheep. I think it's a great project to bring transportation to under developed countries.

If it's done in the developing world for cost effective travel, you'd better believe that we can do it here for pure speed. This is a bamboo track bike. It's entirely, well except for a few moving parts, made of bamboo. Even the wheels are old school wooden hoops. I have to say that as far as innovation goes, this bike probably takes the cake. Even with all those body components it's light, thanks to all those cross members it's really strong, and it will certainly turn some heads.

Ball and Chain

Even when you're at a handmade bike show sometimes there are parts that have to come from a factory. Let's be honest here, many components on a bike are precision manufactured and the engineering behind them is a work of art in and of itself. Today I'm going to run through some of the cooler parts that I got the privilege of drooling over in between the bikes.
We'll start off with the original Brooks leather toe straps. Still going strong after all these years. I will one day have a fixie with brooks straps and saddle, it's just a question of funding.
Have you ever wondered where all those amazing Thompson components come from. On the left is the starting billet for a Thompson stem, next to it is the intermediate and finished product. The tube on the right is a seat post blank. Every post is machined down from that... as is my cool new key chain.
If that doesn't get you excited than why are you reading this bolg... that's a lot of Chris King components right there and in lots of pretty colors too.


I don't want to appear biased, so here's a shot of the insides of Cane Creak's 110. They are convinced that it's the best headset on the market and it has a 110 year warranty to back it up. Anyone out there actually spent the money for one that can tell me if it's really better than a King?

Ever wondered where cassettes come from. Here's the before during and after shots of Sram's Rival cassette. I was honestly disappointed that they didn't have the same for red, but lots of cyclocross bikes I saw were runing Rival casettes so these things must do something right.

We'll end today with a view of the future. I wasn't sold on this setup before, but I've seen it in action now and talked to one of the lead engineers on the project. All I can say is wow, it shifts fast and clean and he said that he hasn't gotten a battery to last less than 1500 miles on a single charge. Even though it is butt ugly (especially next to Red) and not the lightest component out there I would buy it in a heartbeat... you know if I had the money.

Every Little Thing

One of the best parts about bikes is that they are functional art. Some of the metal work at the NAHBS was pretty darn amazing and today I've got a few shots of it.

Yes, that's a raw unfinished Vanilla you see there along with some gorgeous lug work and an interesting sleeve design by Hunter.

Maybe I’m Amazed

The North American Handmade Bike Show was amazing. Roadie Steve and I have decided that we need to get back there next year.

Today's photos are designed to make you wish you were there with us, showing some cool stuff and a bit of the more unique things we saw.

First we see a completely non biking related picture (the last one for the week I promise you) showing the rubble of one of my favorite stadiums ever with the really really big, but equally ugly, replacement for it rising in the background.


I decided that Serotta was a good place to start in terms of gorgeous bikes, so here's a couple of there offerings at the show. Their booth was right inside the door, and it worked for them in drawing the eye in.
















Now here's a sampling of some of the cool innovativee touches that you really only find when the bikes are made by hand.