Portland turned out to be an excellent host city for the Handmade Show.

We flew in to Portland from LAX first thing Saturday morning, walked out the airport doors and stepped on to the waiting Max lightrail. A quick 40 minute train ride costing only $2 and we were dropped off at the Convention Center, home of the Handmade Show for the weekend. The glaring differences in the two cities’ mass transit infrastructures were already smacking us in the face. Portland had just provided the first of several pleasant surprises to these jaded out of towners.

On to the show! Our first stop was to check in with the Roadbikereview / MTBR booth. Francis, Gregg and new-guy Thien were already cranking, bringing some of the custom bikes into their booth for photo coverage, as well as bringing the builders themselves in for personal one-on-one interviews on video.

At first glance the venue looks fairly small. Much smaller than Interbike in fact and you assume, falsely, that you can see the entire show in a couple of hours. Its not until you’ve seen the work of only two builders in an hour that you realize its going to be a much longer day that anticipated. At the Handmade show, the amount of “filler” exhibits is almost non-existent. That is, there are hardly any booths that you pass by from lack of interest. Everything warrants stopping. Whether its something that halts you in your tracks such as a frame made of wood, or maybe its a small crafted detail that registers in your subconscious as you pass by and makes you stop and backtrack to determine what it was that you think you just saw. In most cases you’re left gawking at some cleverly designed detail. A lugged stem, a unique fork, a pump peg, a dropout. Or something radical like a drivetrain-mounted disc brake from California’s Sycip.

Or a custom made stem face plate from Colorado’s Moots that doubles as headlight mount.

NAHBS is a show about detail. You will waste your day by observing bikes solely as a whole machine. Yes you will see beautiful bicycles, but overlook the fine details and you will have missed the creative nuances that set the framebuilders apart.

Hammered & polished lugs from Florida’s Villin Cycle Works.

Double chain stays from Portland’s own Ahearne Cycles.

*******

Beer Break

Time to take 5 and sit down with a cold one to process everything that has been in our faces so far; far too many amazing bikes, gracious and approachable framebuilders, celeb sightings such as Lance Armstrong and Robin Williams - both cruising the booths along with everyone else, and getting a peek at cool production components like the new Shimano 29er mtb wheelset.

Also scattered about the show were creative bits like this belt buckle from White Industries, designed for you to mount your favorite cog or freewheel to, cowboy.

Also spied at the White Ind. table was their swanky new set of track hubs. Note the splined cog/hub interface.

We checked back in with the RBR guys and as usual they were still hustling builders into their ad-hoc studio, seen here with the guys from Austin’s True Fabrication.

detail of faux pitting and rust on a new True Fab mountain frame

We were officially overwhelmed. We had met Richard Sachs, Jeff Jones and Dario Pegoretti. We had left our fingerprints on countless glossy tubes. We had snapped camera shutters and popped flashes until batteries ran dead. It was time to go.

Portland now offered us a spectacular range of options for nightlife and we dove right in. Getting around town was once again a piece of cake. Walking, riding or taking the Max (free in the Business district!). There are bicycles everywhere in town. Weather be damned, these people are riding. Several places we hit after the show, all withing walking/biking distance were the Rogue Brew House for beer, the Yamhill Pub and Plan B for more beer and another Lance sighting, Clyde Common for dinner and Voodoo Donuts for dessert. We eventually crashed at the uber-hip Ace Hotel, drifting off to sleep while trying to remember which builders were going to be a must-see on Sunday.

Sunday morning brought a hot shower, recharged camera batteries and a hot cup of Portland’s Stumptown Coffee. We caught the Max and were off to the show in no time.

Curtlo-built commuter frame at the Rohloff booth, utilizing a belt-driven drivetrain. Note the single S&S coupler used to separate the chainstay for belt installation and removal.

Custom-molded-to-your-butt carbon fiber saddles offered by California framebuilder Ybarrola.

A make-shift shrine to our recently lost comrade Sheldon Brown.

We took several more laps of the venue, catching things we had overlooked the day prior and re-appreciating things we had already stared at and smiled. We left the show with enough time left in the day to visit River City Cycles, home of the handmade Full Wood wooden bicycle fenders. What a beautiful shop!

Next up was lunch and beer at Lucky Labrador Brewing and catching the amazing bicycle photography exhibit put on by Rapha clothing and Rouleur Magazine.

It was a short weekend, jam packed with goodness. The weather was kind to us. Our luggage was stuffed with brochures, business cards, pint glasses, decals, clothing and other miscellaneous swag. And our bank accounts were given reprieve from what could have been a disastrous weekend for our financial stability. There were plenty of opportunities to justify the need for “just one more” bicycle in the stable.

Thank you Portland! See you all next year in Indianapolis.

Rick Hunter is Hunter Cycles (Watsonville, CA). Here, Rick show us his own personal bike - a 29er singlespeed “Hot Rod”. It is a 3-speed with True Temper tubing, custom pin-striping, and custom hand bent handlebars.

website: www.huntercycles.com

Mtbr and RoadBikeReview had a chance to chat and interview Sean Walling of Soulcraft (Petaluma, CA). Unfortunately the video interview we did got hit by gremlins and turned out too poorly to post. We did, however, salvage some studio photos of a couple of his bikes.

This is the Soulcraft steel singlespeed hardtail - The Plowboy.
Features
» Custom fit
» “Selectron” rider specific custom tubeset
» Sloping top tube
» Designed around customer’s fork choice
» Reinforced seat collar insert
» DKG removable seat clamp (with QR Option)
» Externally butted head tube
» Gusseted head tube/downtube junction
» Internally relieved BB shell
» Sealed tubeset (no vent holes)
» Fits Panaracer Rampage 2.35 tires
» Requires XT 750 front derailleur
» Requires compact crank/chainrings
» Requires XT 750/LX 570 bottom pull front derailleur
» Available with Paragon sliding dropouts for use with disc brakes or standard horizontal Paragon dropouts for use with canilever brakes

For photos of the Soulcraft cyclocross bike (Dirt Bomb), check out the NAHBS coverage on our sister site: RoadBikeReview.com.

website: http://www.soulcraftbikes.com/

We chatted with Tom Milton of Selle Anatomica saddles and he showed us his interesting array of products.

Their main product is the Titanico LD saddle for $175. The leather is very soft and very waterproof. The distinctive feature is a cut-out in the leather that optimizes comfort by through better understanding of the human anatomy.

The saddle has many fans among the mtbr and roadbikereview users. Many manufacturers as well sing its praises. Another advantage is no break-in time required unlike the popular Brooks saddles.

The saddles are reinforced with a laminate for strength and durability.

Read the rest of this entry »

True Fabrication Bicycles (Austin, TX) is:
Cody Baron (sales, fit, design), Clark Davidson (welder, fabricator) and Cole Thompson (miter guy).

These guys were the Mtbr/RoadBikeReview neighbors at the Handmade Show and we couldn’t have picked a friendly bunch of guys to be next to.

Here the guys introduce themselves and explain what True Fabrication Bicycles is about. Also shown here is their “Rat Rod” bike, a bike that is new, made to look “old”.

website: http://www.truefabricationbicycles.com/

Mtbr was very busy at the Handmade Bike Show this year…since it was the first year that we decided to do video interviews with as many of the builders as possible. Given our resources, we’re pretty happy with the way things turned out. We took a ton of photos and videos, but even better, we got to meet a bunch of great people. The Portland bike scene is just incredible, and it is no wonder that it is the city that many others are trying to emulate, when it comes to bicycle commuting, riding, safety and awareness.

Unfortunately, not everything was perfect…some of the videos ended up on the cutting room floor due to technical difficulties (sorry Steve and Sean!) and we were not able to meet with everyone. There were also some big names there, that were hard to nail down…Bruce Gordon and Sacha Whilte (Vanilla Cycles) were probably the two busiest guys IMHO.

We also just flat out missed a couple of opportunites…one of these was Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles. Now, it may seem a bit odd that a company like Ellsworth would be at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show….I got a chance to ask Tony about this after the show, via email.

Mtbr.com: “Tony, it’s interesting to see such a “big” brand (big compared to the average bike builder at the Handmade Show, that is), at this show….what is the goal or intention of Ellsworth being here at the show?”

Tony Ellsworth:“Wow–LOVE that Question–there’s so much there! Thanks for asking that.

If Ellsworth is a “Big Brand” it’s only because we have been an industry bench mark for innovation and performance so consistently for so long.

Ellsworth currently makes just 15 bike frames a day in our Vancouver Cottage Fabrication Facility.

These 15 frames are handcrafted by a team of 7 men and women, lead by Mike Hagstrom, the world’s leading bicycle frame craftsmen. Mike started with Gary Klein and together they pioneered large diameter, Shaped, Tapered tube bicycles that Cannondale, and other Big Brands built empires on-then exported the look, but not the art of that overseas to cut costs. Notably, all going bankrupt racing each other to make the cheapest products… Not good for the industry or the US economy. Certainly not good for their investors who enthusiastically invested in cycling, in the United States.

Quite a shame. So for this reason, I dislike being compared to a Big Brand.

Mike Hagstrom and two other key associates, Dan Paris, and Troy Garza in Vancouver comprise the “Three Musketeers of Ellsworthia”.

Last year, we sold approximately 3,000 frames globally. Including the Project Pink bikes (show photo) which we contribute $50 per unit to women’s cancer research. That’s how we personally support women’s cycling and the fight against cancer. and we challenge the Big Brands to contribute $50 per unit sold of their women’s models too.

Every suspension innovation is based on the system originally drawn by me on a napkin over dinner with a mechanical engineer buddy. That today is the only internationally patented bicycle suspension in the world.

Each bike design is the obsessively efficient and optimized brain child of me, with contributions from the other 15 members of my staff who all ride, and enjoy cycling and the outdoors, and the environment.

We make everything in the USA, and we do it in environmentally conscious ways. Our facilities are clean green powered with the Sun, and soon with Wind power.

We believe in making things in our country instead of exporting the environmental irresponsiblility and the expense of improving the human condition of workers to China–where there is no environmental responsibility, and workers earn less then $70 a month–with no benefits.

We believe in keeping it clean green and friendly right here in our own neighborhood, and believe this is the ultimate statement to the environment, the people who comprise the “big brand” that Ellsworth has the image of being, and to the trade deficit that weakens our dollars here domestically, and long term weakens our economy and standard of living.

By Big Brand..you mean we TAKE ON A LOT?! Yes. We set our goals lofty and do our best to achieve them–you bet. “Go BIG or go HOME!”–we live by it! But each bike frame is unequivocally designed by me, a passionate cyclist since I was 12 years old, and the each design meticulously handmade by experienced bicycle craftsmen right here in the United States, a handful per day. We’re tiny man! But we hope to leave big foot prints for the big guys to fill with regard to environment, and contribution to Cancer Cures, Curing rather then contributing to the Trade Deficit, and improving the general health of the US economy– All with a product that has set the industry standard for over 17 years. Be sure to let the Big Guys know what is expected of the BIG BRANDS…”

Some Photos from the Show:

Oscar Winner Robin Williams owns an Ellsworth Truth and stopped by The Ellsworth Handcrafted Bikes booth to share a few laughs with Ellsworth’s Aimee Rocheleau.

Ellsworth’s momentum in the industry continues to
climb as Tony Ellsworth’s desire to produce the best quality bike in both craftsmanship and scientifically proven increased efficiency for the rider.

Drew Guldalian from Engin Cycles (Philadelphia, PA) shows us this custom 29er, built from the new Reynolds 953 stainless steel tubeset.

website: www.engincycles.com

Drew was also showing this unique seatpost with a mother of pearl inlay in the Engin Cycles “E”. Information from Drew’s website states:

“This version was created by Dave Bohm of Bohemian Cycles. it is a beautiful jewelers version with a mother of pearl inlay. this will also be on display at NAHBS. I believe this is the first I.C. seatpost lug that will allow builders to complete their ‘made to fit’ bicycle theme. ”

(note: With such a high gloss finish, it was not easy to shoot a photo that would do the craftmanship justice. I have included a better photo from the Engin Cycles website at the bottom.)

Christoph Sawitzki (Product Manager from Conti, Germany) gives us info on the latest 2008 road and mountain bike tires from Conti.

Road:

-new 2008 versions of the GP Attack (front specific, 22mm wide) and Force (rear specifc, 24mm wide) with Vectran puncture protection and Black Chili Pepper compound
-Gran Prix 4 Season with double Vectran breaker and special sidewall protection, available in 3 sizes (23,25,28mm wide)

Mountain:
-Mountain King (2.4 and 2.2 wide) Protection version with Duraskin or Supersonic version which is the light weight version for racing (also available as UST or 29″)

Website: http://www.conti-online.com/

Christopher Igleheart from Igleheart Custom Frames & Forks shows us this Columbus steel 29er singlespeed, dubbed the “Guilt Trip”.

website: www.iglebike.com

Matt Bracken from Independent Fabrications (Sommerville, Mass.) shows us this titanium, singlespeed 29er version of the Roadster. Matt also delves into the advantages of having 3 wheel sizes to choose from (26″, 27.5″, and 29″)

website: www.ifbikes.com