ArtBike! returns at 2012 NAHBS

ArtBike! the popular bicycle-themed street art project first held in support of the Indianapolis NAHBS in 2009 will be held once again in the run-up to the Sacramento show.

Artists, cyclists, school students and others are invited to participate in this free event, which runs for the month of February 2012.

Bicycle-themed art objects will appear in locations around Sacramento, both indoor and outdoor. Handmade bikes will appear in art galleries and other popular venues, and the event will culminate with a party on Thursday March 1 at Hot Italian, and an exhibition in the NAHBS show hall.

More info...

Sacramento Tweed Ride (with 2-minute video)



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Rick Houston, bike activist and NAHBS regional manager, organized the Sacramento Fall Tweed Ride, on Sunday, November 13.

Riders met at OneSpeed Pizza on Folsom Boulevard for breakfast, before assembling at at East Portal Park to start the ride. At the very civilized hour of 11:30 the group, almost 150 riders, many attired in pink for the occasion of Pink Week, rolled out into the pale warmth of the fall sunshine.

After a couple of stops at watering holes along the way, and with a pace that lay somewhere between leisurely and sleepy, the 8-mile ride concluded at around 4 p.m. at Pangaea Brewpub.

Thanks to It's a Gas Productions for the neat video. aVlQy03Ov2g[/MEDIA]]click to play

Online Ticket Purchase Update

For bargain hunters and all those of you who would rather not spend many lengthy minutes waiting in line on show day, next week we will open online advance registration.

Not only does online ticket purchase make your entry to the show a lot faster, but also it costs about 10% less.

So if you would like to take advantage of the super-duper new online registration system, visit the NAHBS website as of next Thursday (December 1st).

Shiny new terminal at Sacramento International Airport

After going into operation on October 6th, 2011, the new terminal at Sacramento International airport will offer NAHBS travelers a pleasant welcome to the March 2012 show.

Airlines operating in the new terminal are: Aeromexico, Alaska/Horizon, American, Frontier, Hawaiian, Jet Blue and Southwest.

More than 150 non-stop flights per day arrive and depart from the terminal, which, refreshingly for California, offers free wi-fi. Best of all, it's only a 15-minute drive from the Hyatt Hotel and Sacramento Convention Center. Or maybe having those budget airlines is the best thing. Tough call.

NAHBS volunteer news

To everybody who is thinking of stepping forward to volunteer for the show this year, first of all, Thank You! Now here's a brief update: We are about to get the full volunteer form launched. It should be ready to go in the first half of December. In the meantime, if you would like to get your contact information to us, so we can email you when reg opens, please do so using the form now on the website.

Low riders from the old school

Spotted at the San Francisco Bicycle Expo mid-November.

This is one of five identically-designed choppers that were built cooperatively in 1994 and 1995 by a group of experts in the handmade bicycle industry. One was exhibited at the 1995 Interbike show, and David DiFalco won an award for his at the Oakland Roadster Show. Will any of these bikes show up at NAHBS? Unlikely, which is why we're posting the story here.

Mark Norstad (Paragon Machine Works): original design and machine work.
Chris Paretich: tube bending.
Mo Pardhan: welding.
Bruce Gordon: mitering and shop space.
David DiFalco: powder coat and build.

From the blogs

Zullo posts photos from his worldwide customers ... Matt from Signal Cycles reports from his Cross Crusade weekend in Bend, Oregon, and he has a neat video of a robot riding a bike ... Tim at Shamrock Cycles is another who posts his build list online. See the video of his 'Superman' cyclocross/commuter bike, which changes in the blink of an eye to a commuter with racks and fenders. Randonneurs take note ... Still on a high note, go and check out the Rock Lobster blog, this is another reason we love the handmade industry ... Rolf Prima have an impressive list of the recent accomplishments of their sponsored athletes ... Richard Sachs has named the builders he considers the flag bearers of the frame building tradition ... For an eye-pleasing gallery of custom bike pics, visit Steve Rex's website ... Movember is over now, but here's a belated shout out to Mo Rebolledo, who adorned his philtrum for winter in support of prostate and testicular cancer ... This is a nice video of Italian singlespeed aficionado Allessandro Pizzuti, who was in San Francisco this November, competing at Sheila Moon's singlespeed 'cross world championships. Sheila, who brought the event to San Francisco, raced too, as did Curtis Inglis and quite possibly some other NAHBS exhibitors who we didn't spot in the start list.

Source: Paul Skilbeck