Tag Archives: NAHBS

Here comes NAHBS

It’s that time of year! In honor of the upcoming show, we’ve posted this video (a film by Ben Ingham in association with Ridley Scott Associates & Rapha) celebrating the handmade frame builder Dario Pegoretti. ENJOY !

Chris Harris' visit to Ellis Bikes

It seems as though we have a documentarian in our midst.

Our very own Chris Harris just flew out to Waterford, Wisconsin for a visit with David Wages of Ellis Bikes. As it turns out, Chris’s 3rd (and maybe 4th) Ellis bike is in production. We’re going to guess that it’s a pretty beautiful bike, as it will be on display in the Ellis booth at NAHBS this month in Austin, TX.

For those of you who won’t be making it to Texas, we will surely be conducting a full photo shoot when the bike arrives back in NYC proper. While visiting Ellis, Chris logged some footage and put this video together. Enjoy!

BOTW – J. Peter Weigle

Our new friend Peter Weigle brought down this amazing randonneuring bike just for our preSPOKE party last week.

Other shots of the bike in production can be found on his excellent flickr site.  We’re grateful to Peter since he worked all of the previous weekend to get it painted and assembled in time for the show.

There are some really cool features on this bike: the rear light assembly is especially nice and not typically integrated into the frame on his other rando bikes.  All of the racks are custom made by Peter. The bars are taped with cloth, then shellacked.

Peter is a NAHBS judge and is extremely particular about framebuilding technique and build quality – he focuses on function as much as form.  We’re flattered that he donated so much of his time and energy to make preSPOKE a success.

You can see more of Weigle’s creations at BESPOKE: The Handbuilt Bicycle show, going on now at the Museum of Art and Design.

And look for a J.P. Weigle shop visit/ride on the blog in the coming months?!

Back From The NAHBS

Justin, Mike and Andrew have returned from the North American Handmade Bike Show in Richmond, VA, having narrowly escaped NYC during the snowpocalypse. We met and re-met lots of great folks, actually rode our bikes in temperatures above 45F, and had an all-around great time!

We’ll have a wrap-up post or 2 coming soon – in the meantime take a look at the show winners here.

Our list (which we assure you is much different), is also coming soon.

NAHBS-bound

We’re currently finishing up a few odds and ends before we pack into the family truckster for the drive down to Richmond and this year’s NAHBS. One of the last things we did was work on this nice IF for Rapha Continental rider Rich Bravo (it will be on display in the NAHBS Rapha booth if you’re there and want to check it out in person.)

We got to know it quite well during the build, and so we’re ready to take our relationship to the next level and call this bike our GF BOTW.

And yes, we are basically posting this to preempt any pictures you’ll see of it coming from Rapha on the twitter or the Interweb.

Because that’s how we roll.

NAHBS

Rapha Continental

We're Off To See The NAHBS

If you apply Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs to the bike industry, there is no doubt that a handbuilt bike would reside somewhere near the top of the pyramid. So it is with no hesitation that the NYC Velo crew is scaring up a convoy (ok, a couple of station wagons) and making a pilgrimage of sorts to Richmond, VA, home of this year’s North American Handmade Bike Show.

We’re excited to see what the world’s best builders have come up with for 2010, so we’ve asked a few of the devout to tell us the first 5 booths they are going to check out:

Andrew:

Blacksheep – Phenomenal Ti work, I have no idea how well they ride ’cause I can’t afford one, but certainly lust-worthy.

Independent Fabrication – Our Somerville, MA pals rocked NAHBS 2009 with the best work of any “big” builder, and their stainless steel frames are top notch.

Ted Wojcik – An old-school (relatively speaking) New England builder – we haven’t seen much from him the last few years but are really excited to see what he’s been up to lately.

geekhouse – We just received a single-speed cross frame from these boys, and we love it! We can’t wait to see which of their unique frames made the cut for their booth this year.

Curtis Inglis/Retrotec – Inglis is from the heyday of Cali bike builders whose work deftly combines “clunker” styling with true North American hand built artistry.

* #6, wishlist: Rick Hunter probably won’t be at the show, but he has been injecting CA style into the hand built bike market for 15 years, and I’d love to see a Hunter hanging in my bike room someday (have you seen his chainstays?!)

Justin:

Tonic Fabrications – This is one company I would love to see at NAHBS 2010. Out of Portland Oregon since 2004 these guys were at NAHBS 2008. I’m a big fan of their bikes and of Billy Spaceman.

Kelly Bedford – A Yoda of sorts, Kelly has been the man behind the brazed lugs at Serotta for years and is now crafting his own beautiful frames. I worked for Kelly while I was at Serotta… he’s an amazing guy.

Cicli Pegoretti – Always great… always wanted one !

Independent Fabrications – They have a way of blending performance with artistry – their bikes always stand out !

Sweetpea (wishlist) – Hell yes! Lets see more women like Natalie building beautiful bikes. I don’t think that she’ll be at the 2010 show – but she should be. I saw more of her bikes when I was living in San Francisco, but not too many in NYC. Come on NY – buy some more custom bikes!

Brett:

Independent Fabrication – Now the proud owner of two IF bikes, I look
forward to anything and everything by this lot. They always come up with a show stopper (or 2)!

Rapha – Rumor has it a pink stowaway lurks in the spring/summer line.
Hopefully my kit will have arrived prior to the show. Be sure to stop and
ask if I’m wearing it underneath my clothes.

Richard Sachs – I’ve had the pleasure of exchanging some lovely emails
with this exquisite frame builder. To meet him in person will be nothing
short of magical.

Vanilla – Sam & Laurel have sweet bikes from this PDXer. I’m going to take
notes for when I launch my competitor brand, Chocolate. Yes, I might be
taking a cue from Mark Gonzales here.

Kent Eriksen – My teammate Rich Bravo suggested an Eriksen seatpost to me as a lightweight alternative to carbon. A mechanic then pointed out the tender care required when using a Ti post in a steel frame. Final vote when I see it in person.

Feel free to send us your favorites, or something you want us to check out for you.