(Bruce Gordon and Chris King talking shop, smiling was optional.)

Chris DiStefano gave me a brief outline of the latest happenings with Chris King. Besides the exciting news of Chris King getting back to his frame building roots, DiStefano also explained that Chris King was at the Handmade Show to support the builders and to also try and push the industry back to standards that may have been lost in the increasing specialization of all the different mountain bike and cycling niches.

The Chris King frames will be built under his old “Cielo Cycles” name, and there was a placard on the display, giving a short history of the Chris King frame building background.

website: http://www.chrisking.com/

History of Cielo Cycles….and a very young Chris King in the pic.

Josh Reddoch from Cane Creek was at the Handmade Bike show, showing a custom 110 headset with wood inlays. It was a hot item, despite the high price tag ($650)! The initial run was very limited (20), the wood is maple.

Also on display were a variety of the regular 110 Headsets, as well. Durability is the name of the game with this product, boasting a 110 year warranty!

for more information: http://www.canecreek.com/cane-creek-110-headset.html

I had a chance to drop by the Thomson booth and have a short chat with David Parriot of Thomson Bicycle Components.

He had a prototype of the new Seat Clamp that they will be selling. This one was so fresh, it had no Thomson logo or markings of any sort yet.

He also hinted at some new products coming from Thomson, but that’s all I know….guess we’ll all just have to wait and see!

website: http://www.lhthomson.com/bikes.htm

(shown here sitting on a piece of aluminum that will eventually be a masterpiece seatpost)

The finale of the show is the NAHBS awards, made at 3 p.m. on Sunday. These have grown into a hot contest that provides valuable media exposure and industry status for an entire year. While some of these bicycles are pure show bikes, the idea is to demonstrate what a builder is capable of producing.

***NAHBS 2008 Exhibitors***

Exhibitors — 152 — came from far and wide to occupy 185 booth spaces. Once again, California
exhibitors dominated the numbers at the NAHBS, although that might change next year when the
show moves away from the west coast. But for this year, it shaped up like this:

***Record Year for NAHBS***

The fourh year for NAHBS has been said by many to be a coming of age year for the show. This
year has seen exhibitor records broken as well as attendance records. In total, more than 6800 people streamed through the doorways of the show, which at one point on Saturday exceeded capacity.

***NAHBS Volunteers Rock!***
72 volunteers from across the USA contributed to the success of the 2008 NAHBS. “I would like to say how gratefuly I am to these people, and in particular, to head volunteer Robert Mandelson. Without the volunteers we couldn’t possibly do the show, so we owe them all beers!” said Don Walker, the show director.

from the NAHBS Show Daily: Sunday late edition
source: Paul Skilbeck

Curtis Inglis (Napa, CA) gives Francis the low down on this custom 24″ wheeled cruiser….take THAT 29ers!

website: http://www.ingliscycles.com/

John Caletti from Cloud Nine Design is a Santa Cruz builder and here he shows us his small size 29er.

website: www.cloudnine-design.com

Carl Schlemowitz shows us this new 27.5 (wheel size between a 26″ and a 29″) Ti Hardtail with rigid fork. Carl also goes over the benefits of a 27.5 wheeled bike.

website: www.ViciousCycles.com

Brano Meres brings by a Bamboo bike he built 4 years ago and still rides today.

Website: www.bmeres.com