NAHBS 2008 Part 2

Here are some more photos from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland this weekend:

Need lugs and tubes, you could find them at the show! Columbus Spirit tubes seem to be very popular with many builders.

A very nice track bike from Townsend Cycles.

Pegoretti is about more than just artsy paint jobs as this elegant lug shows.

A couple of very nice women's bikes - by women builders. top photo is a 24" wheel Sweetpea, the bottom is from Luna Cycles.

Kirk cycles does some very nice work!

Ornate Baylis head lugs and fork crown, and paint of course!

I haven't seen Zullo frames (from Italy) in many years - but they are apparently producing framse, and nice stuff it is!

Richard Sachs always has nice clean bikes. This example is a modern road bike.

And a vintage model!

There was more to see than just frames - the two photos above are from Sampson's new Stratics group. The road group wars are heating up!

There is even competition for the venerable Phil Wood Spoke Machine. Ric Hjertberg of Wheel Fanatyk demostrated this impressive Morizumi Spoke Machine!

Wheel Fanatyk is also distributing Ghisallo wood rims. I have owned a pair of the fantastic and beautiful rims for many years and it is great to see them available again. The ride of wood rims is truly amazing. They even have a clincher rim now!

And a company called Renovo evan makes a hardwood frame!

The folks at Vanilla Cycles in Portland have been getting a lot of attention these days, and deservedly so as these two photos attest!

I hope you have enjoyed the photos! It was a great show, and it is clear that the craft of custom bicycle building is still very much alive and well in North America!

Jim Couch

NAHBS 2008

Friday February 6, 2008

I played hooky from the shop today and headed down to Portland for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS). It was a lot of fun to go to a trade show, not as an exhibitor, or even really as a buyer, but just to look!

Today was an industry only day at the show, so there were not a lot of crowds. It made it easy to really see things, take photos, and visit. I had plenty of time to see all of the booths and visit with many friends in the industry that I see all to rarely.

There was a lot of nice eye candy at the show. To give you a little taste, here are some of the photos I took today. I will try to post some more tomorrow. The NAHBS runs Saturday and Sunday this weekend in Portland. NAHBS 2008 website.

Colorful Pegoretti Paint!


Richard Sachs shows off one of his creations.

Some builders are still pinning & brazing. This head tube is from a Palermo frameset.

Palermo seat cluster.

Check back tomorrow for more NAHBS photos!

Jim Couch

Leaving Las Vegas...

It's over! Interbike is done, and I am writing this while awaiting out flight home. Not a lot of time to post pictures, so most of that will go up tomorrow. For now, here is a photo of me updating the website (courtesy Epiphany) at the airport:



Ok, so it has taken a week or so, but here are a few photos from the lat day of Interbike 07. Epiphany and I spent the last day in appointments and looking at the last times we wanted to see. We also had a bit of time to see the Modern Masters exhibit at the Guggenheim museum before heading to the airport and our flight home.

One of Craig Calfee's bamboo composite bikes.

Amidst all of the red, white, and carbon me-too bikes we found this nice gold Tommasini.

Epiphany finds her namesake in the ellsworth booth.
The legendary Ernesto Colnago at work.

Live from Las Vegas (or nearly so) Interbike Day 2

Another long day in Vegas. A quick breakfast at Tintoretto to plan out the day, then off to work in the convention hall! Today I had Epiphany with me.

We spent some time looking at a number of new lines and items, but much of the day was spent with current suppliers. We met with Richard Schwinn at Waterford/Gunnar, Sheila Moon, Mike at Bikemine (Vittoria Tires and San Marco saddles) as well as a long meeting with Chairman Bill at Torelli, and the his new right hand man Todd. There are a lot of good things happing at Torelli, some of which I talked about in yesterdays blog. A lot of the real good stuff is behind the scenes. On big thing is that we will once again see a steady and reliable supply of both Torelli and Mondonico frames.

We had lunch with Mike Pruitt of Axley eye wear and Dinner with some of the gang from Edge Technologies (who provide us with our point of sale software.)

We also attended the Outdoor Industry Women's Coalition gathering.

Tomorrow promises to be a very long day as well as we still have a number of meetings, and a lot left to accomplish before we fly home to Tacoma.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from today:

Epiphany shops for clothing.

Epiphany checking out the latest saddles from Brooks.

Salsa is building some neat stuff, including the Casseroll, a real sport touring machine that is available as a complete bike or a frameset.

The Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition gathering has grown over the years into a vibrant event and networking opportunity. The OIWC is a group dedicated to fostering women's leadership and supporting their growth in the outdoor industries.



Ariadne Delon Scott Director of Advocacy and the Enviroment for Specialized accepts the 2007 OIWC Pioneering Woman Award. This award recognizes a woman in the industry who has furthered the OIWC vision by menotring female colleagues.



SAbine Dukes co-founder of the Velo Bella womens' cycling team accpets the 2007 OIWC First Acsent Award. this award recognizes a woman who is new to the industry and demonstrates strong potential for leadership.

That's it for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow for another 'Live from Las Vegas' report!

Jim

Back in Vegas, again.

Yes folks, once again it is the annual bike industry pilgrimage to Lost Wages and I am once again in the land of bad hotels, crummy service, mediocre food, and high prices. At least I have found a decent place to get coffee - Tintoretto at the Venetian (conveniently located at the Sands Expo center) serves Illy Cafe!

After a wonderful (NOT) flight late Tuesday night and a restless night in the crummy Motel 6 in Vegas I headed off to the show. It has been a long day, so I am not going to write a lot, but here are a few photos from the show today with comments:

Badges, yes we need stinkin' badges - the lines on Wednesday morning at show opening!

Torelli's new full carbon frame along with the Mondonico Futura and the Torelli Cortona aluminum.

The popular Corsa Strada now has a sibling - the new Corsa Pista fixed/track frame.

Speaking of the Corsa Strada, here it is in a very stunning full chrome version! This is a new option for this year!

Speaking of stunning - Gary Fisher and Sheila Moon certainly made a stunning couple today on the show floor, don't you think?

And finally, Greg Lemond still pulls in the crowds. Even after all these years Americas first Tour winner is a big hit.

That's it so far today, check back tomorrow for more from Las Vegas!

Dr Spoke

Floyd makes history

Yesterday Floyd Landis made Tour de France history, but I am sure not in the way he wanted to. Floyd Landis now has the dubious honor of being the only rider in the Tour's entire history to actually be stripped of the Yellow Jersey after the end of the race.

With the long awaited decision on his guilt from the Tour doping test finally made the UCI officially has stripped Landis' Tour title and handed it to former 2nd place Oscar Pereiro. While Landis could still appeal to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, I don't see that as likely. Who knows, maybe with the 2006 Tour finally behind the sport, and following the scandal ridden 2007 season the sport will really begin to clean up it's act.

Pressure is already coming as sponsors either pull the plug or turn the screws in an effort to bring some credibility back to the sport. The UCI, ProTour, riders, and team managers have all been put on notice, perhaps they will begin to really make some changes.

While still a dubious honor, maybe, just maybe Floyd Landis will be seen as the catalyst for real change in the sport, or not. It is obvious that the testing procedures need to be completely overhauled (just read Genevieve Jeanson's recent comments) in order to catch the cheats and be able to quickly prosecute them. Still nobody seems to be talking much about specific changes to the testing protocols. But perhaps, when the flow of mney begins to dry up, the sport will llok at real change.

Everybody cheats - or how NOT to pick a hero

I think we in our culture have lost some sense of perspective regarding sport. This has been driven home to me in the wake of the recent doping revelations in cycling during this years Tour de France.
Many of my customers are becoming disillusioned with the sport of cycling and their cycling 'heroes.' Our shop cycling club has an e-mail discussion list and this has been the topic of discussion the past few days. When one rider was bemoaning that every time he picks a cycling hero, the rider turns out to be dirty I posted this reply. I think it bears wider repeating:

"Everybody cheats. I just didn't know."

Dennis Christopher (As Dave Stoler) in Breaking Away.

If you want true heroes, don't look to professional sports. I don't think our society really knows what a real hero is any more. Athletes - even the best - are not heroes, the are athletes, and human beings. they may be exceptionally talented and good at what they do, but they are often time as flawed as the rest of us. People like Ghandi, Mother Theresa, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr are heroes.

Doping in sport is nothing new, even cycling. Doping and cheating has been going on as long as there has been competition. If you are curious about the history of doping in cycling I can recommend Les Woodland's book: The Crooked Path to Victory.


On the bright side, we may well be turning the corner on doping and cheating in cycling. Both Astana, and Cofidis have pulled their Tour teams in the wake of positive dope tests, and Robobank today pulled Yellow Jersey rider, Rasmussen from the tour for lying to the team about his whereabouts during the off season. It seems like we are finally at the point where even the appearance of impropriety will not be tolerated.

Jim Couch