Archive for February, 2008

The long journey home from NAHBS

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

This travel to and from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show has been exhausting. Because of the storm last Wednesday, I decided to leave the Bicycle Forest corporate jet in the hangar and take a commercial flight for a change. I had a rather convoluted itinerary involving a quick stop in Detroit and a long layover in Dallas, but I did make it into Portland in time for the show.

The way home has not been so easy. Last night, I took the red-eye out of Portland and landed in Orlando this morning. From there, I flew to Detroit. After a weather related delay, I took off in a small prop plane for the final leg of the trip. We hovered over the Waterloo Airport waiting for the weather to clear, but it was not safe to land, so we had to fly all the way back to Detroit which is where I am again tonight. I’m crossing my fingers for better luck tomorrow.

I shouldn’t complain though. I didn’t have it as bad as Tyler Russell of Nice Bicycles who was snowbound in Wyoming for most of the show. Tyler epitomizes the spirit of the Handmade Bicycle Show. Not only was Tyler’s bike handbuilt, his posters were also hand drawn.

As I sit here snowbound in Detroit, I’ve put together a small gallery featuring the work of a few more BikeCAD Pro users at NAHBS.

Nice Bikes
Nice Bicycles
Dean
Dean

Caletti Cycles
Caletti Cycles formerly known as Cloud Nine Design

Vicious Cycles
Vicious Cycles
Marcroft
Marcroft Cycles

Sweetpea Bicycles
Sweetpea Bicycles

Vanilla Cycles
Vanilla Cycles had another classy booth, as always. These two bikes are from Sacha’s Speedvagen line which features the work of guest builder Mike DeSalvo.
Margo Conover
Margo Conover from Luna Cycles seemed to be constantly occupied with inquiries, possibly thanks to a recent review in Bicycling Magazine.

Bilenky
Bilenky Cycle Works’ booth was full of interesting bikes including the Viewpoint semi-recumbent tandem.

Igleheart Cycles
Igleheart Cycles
goodtimes
GoodTimes Bicycles
Pereira Cycles
Pereira Cycles
Jeff Jones
Jones Cycles
Grognard Bicycle Company Grognard Bicycle Company
Grognard Bicycle Company

NAHBS 2008 finale

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Sam Whittingham

No one was surprised when the President’s Award, the People’s Choice Award and the Best of Show Award all went to Sam Whittingham of Naked Bicycles and Design.  Sam’s fixed gear bicycle was the talk of the show. It features old fashioned elements like beechwood rims and grips, polished lugs and a sculpted handlebar. The bike also has modern elements such as state of the art hubs and a front disk brake with cool internal cable routing. Another neat touch was the hole through the top tube for securing the bike with a U-lock.

Since there were no awards that BikeCAD could have fit into, I had to take satisfaction in seeing owners of BikeCAD Pro winning awards. Besides Sam Whittingham, who’s been a long time BikeCAD Pro user, the following award winners also use BikeCAD Pro.

Ahearne's best city bike
Ahearne Cycles won Best City Bike
Mike DeSalvo
DeSalvo Custom Cycles won Best TIG Welded Bicycle

Nick Crumpton
Crumpton Cycles won Best Carbon Fiber Bicycle

Calfee Tandem
Calfee Design won Best Tandem
  Engin Cycles
Engin Cycles won Best Off-Road Bicycle (not shown here)

Here’s a photo of my booth neighbour from NAHBS, Tony Maietta.  Tony used to work at Hot Tubes, so not only does he weld his own frames, but he also paints them too.

Tony Maietta

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