The North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) was held in Sacramento, CA this year and was bigger than ever! Mtbr and RoadBikeReview strive to provide you with as many video interviews and photos as possible. We setup a video/photo booth on the show floor and schedule appointments with the builders. Some are brand new guys just starting out and others are old friends. During the 3 days of the event, we talked with over 50 builders and shot over 70 videos! Check them out here and let us know what you think in the comments section.

Trends:

NAHBS is a great indicator of where the bike industry is going. For example, a few years ago most of the builders were showing 29er and commuter bikes while they were still an oddity with big manufacturers. But now, that is clearly the growth segment of the bike industry.  This year, we did see some common themes that we feel will have a bright future in cycling:

1) Big Tire Road Bikes – Many manufacturers brought their best bike to our booth and at least six of them brought road bikes with big tires. Some called it an Adventure Road Bike or Dirt Road Bike  but the concept was a road bike that can go on trails or broken pavement.  It is similar to a cyclocross bike but a cross bike typically has knobby tires, high bottom bracket, steep head angle and bad brakes.  These Fat Tired Road Bikes use long reach caliper brakes to make room for tires up to 34c or beyond.  Some of them use disc brakes as well.   The geometry is similar to a road bike so it can handle and descend like a the best road bikes.  They key difference really is the big tires allow the rider to explore  and keep going as the good pavement ends.  The rider can punch through trails and parks and keep going on long day rides or multi-day excursions.

Technologies that have made this possible are: disc brakes or long reach caliper brakes and high quality big road tires.

2) Fat Bikes – Fat bikes are mountain bikes with tires almost as big as a motorcycle’s. These bikes float on these big tires usually at 10-12 psi and they allow the rider to handle almost any terrain.  Initially popular for the snow and beach areas,  the range of fat bikes as increased  to any terrain available.  When a normal mountain bike tire is stopped by terrain that is soft and ungroomed, a fat bike is able to float through and roll over with ease. And despite looking slow and difficult to maneuver, fat bikes are usually able to keep up with normal mountain bikes in cross-country terrain. Even without any suspension, fat offer a comfortable ride in rough terrain because of the huge tires with low pressure. Most fat bikes right now are hardtails but NAHBS showed us front suspension bikes and rear suspension bikes as well.

3) Bamboo and Stainless Steel Bikes – These new materials were very common at the show.  Bamboo is used because it is sustainable, attractive and it delivers a supple ride quality.  Bamboo wood absorbs a lot of the shock and vibration from the road or the trail so the rider benefits from a smoother ride. With advanced wood selection and manufacturing, builders are able to keep the weight down and build high performance in these frames.  Stainless steel was common too as builders dubbed it the ‘cheaper titanium’.  It is durable, rust proof, light like titanium but it is about $500 less for a comparable frame. It has an attractive finish too that can be maintained easily to look like new even after several years of riding.

Awards:

Every year, NAHBS gives out awards to the best bikes of the show. 2012 showcased an selection of winners.