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Part of the job of a framebuilder is to address their client’s concerns and for shorter riders, having a bike that rides like it should can be a challenge. At the Philly Bike Expo this year, Bilenky took hold of one such challenge, managing to build a bike with ample standover while not sacrificing geometry or, most importantly, the ride quality.
Philly Bike Expo isn’t just about high-end custom, builds, it’s also home to some pretty fine production steel bikes as well, albeit this one is made by Crust bikes out of a Reynolds 831 Tubeset. It has some special parts, special paint, and some one-off parts that haven’t existed ’til this moment. Matt built this romantic Romanceür with a Campagnolo shifter setup friction 11speed that make it through the whole 11speed SRAM X-Dome cassette. The only René Herse cranks set-up with a Made in Maine narrow-wide ring by Derrick Girard and it even has an old Shimano Sharkfin, a new 0deg Nitto X Crust stem, and a set of carbon clinchers. This steel bike is real…light even loaded. If you’re in the market for a new Crust hit them up, you may even be able to beg for that ring, but probably not.
For the tenth anniversary of the Philadelphia Bike Expo, PBE introduced a diversity and inclusivity scholarship to support women, trans, POC frame builders who have been underrepresented at bike shows and the industry at large. SRAM is stepping up to sponsor the PBE Inclusivity Scholarship inaugural class consists of Moth Attack, Pedalino Bikes, Schon Studio, and Untitled Cycles.
Path Less Pedaled takes us inside the Philly Bike Expo to look at some of the superb bicycles on display.
For the tenth anniversary of the Philadelphia Bike Expo, PBE introduced a diversity and inclusivity scholarship to support women, trans, and POC frame builders who have been underrepresented at bike shows and the industry at large. SRAM is stepping up to sponsor the PBE Inclusivity Scholarship whose inaugural class consists of Moth Attack, Pedalino Bikes, Schon Studio, and Untitled Cycles.
For the tenth anniversary of the Philadelphia Bike Expo, PBE introduced a diversity and inclusivity scholarship to support women, trans, and POC frame builders who have been underrepresented at bike shows and the industry at large. SRAM is stepping up to sponsor the PBE Inclusivity Scholarship whose inaugural class consists of Moth Attack, Pedalino Bikes, Schön Studio, and Untitled Cycles.
SRAM has backed the Philly Bike Expo’s Inclusivity Scholarship, which supports women, trans, and POC frame builders who have been underrepresented at bike shows and in the industry at large. The inaugural class consists of Moth Attack, Pedalino bikes, Schön Studio and Untitled Cycles. This is an exciting announcement and for the full press release, click on below.
Philly Bike Expo 2018: Joe’s Last Breezer Built Lightning
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Nineteen ninety-two, SPDs were finally becoming accepted in lieu toe straps, Joe Breeze welded his last Lightning, and I was 8. I didn’t have an appreciation for mountain bikes until later in life, but when I did I still remember reading about Joe. Fast forward from twelve-year-old me to now, as I was loading some friends from Bicycle Revolutions into Philly Bike Expo, I got a text letting me know Joe brought this and was around, with the weather for Saturday looking a lot like rain I was happy to be able to spend a moment talking with Joe about this bike.
This is the last bike built entirely by Joe Breeze, this 92 Lightning was made with Ritchey Logic short butted tubing according to Joe. The headtube is the first iteration of Joe’s diffusion tubing which placed material around the headtube and tied back into the downtube with a gusset evenly distributing, or diffusing that force to the downtube. This design allowed for use of the Lawwill Leader fork. Around this time Joe was in Moab experimenting with new ideas and concepts, one of them was the diffusion tubing concept, Lawill forks, and fairly modern (for the time) geometry.
Ritchey WCS components had just launched, so Joe built this bike with a smattering of those parts as well as his backdraft rims made by Ukai in Japan, there are even some early generation Paul Component levers that were used on the build. This bike was on display briefly before retiring into Joe’s collection, thanks to Joe for the time to talk about this awesome piece of MTB history. I was able to meet someone who created my vehicle, my escape from daily routine, the entry drug to all other types of cycling for me, the mountain bike that certainly made PBE special. Oh and according to Joe those zip ties belong there.
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Philly Bike Expo 2018: Coast Cycles Randonneur
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Brooklyn’s Johnny Coast knows a thing or two about traditional randonneuring frames, as evident in this year’s Philly Bike Expo bike. Thin lugs, light tubing, custom stem, and all the appropriate accouterment. Built from Tange lightweight tubing, Johnny designed this bike to be light and responsive, offering a lively feel.
Coast Cycles offers bikes like this, as well as touring bikes, city bikes, mixte, road bikes, and even track bikes.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Chapman Cycles Bi-laminate Light Road Bike
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
The marriage of working with metal and crafting bicycles has kept Brian Chapman on their quest to create the best integrated-bicycle that they can. I feel like Brian’s love for their craft really shines through with this light, bi-laminate road bike. Clever details such as the Velogical rim dynamo and the integration of the Campagnolo downtube shifter to apply or remove it from the rim really stood out to me.
With the construction of the frame, fork, rack, and stem all in-house Chapman can create a bicycle with details that carry over throughout the entire build, such as the quill-stem that flows into the headtube. A build of mostly Campagnolo Athena with Grand Bois Chouette center pull brakes to clear the 32c tires and fenders ensures that this bike can roll in all weather. The culmination of materials, labor, and talent are apparent, and they really pop under natural light.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Pratt Track Bike
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Sometime after Red Hook Crit this year, Jocelyn Tipton had her race bike stolen, luckily for 2019, they found a new ride, this Pratt. Joining Dani Moreshead and Sam Fox this year for a new all-women team Pratt/Phil Wood will be competing at Red Hook Crit Brooklyn and Milan, Mission Crit, Redbull Last Stand, and a few others in preparation for 2020 fixed gear nationals.
The build features some nice touches from Phil Wood, including their hubs, headset, and seat collar as well as tires from Challenge and rims from Princeton Carbonworks. The paint was a mix of spray-bike and the graphics were designed by Still Life. One thing for sure this bike will turn your head at breakneck speed during the races, so take a moment and check the gallery above and good luck to the new team!
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Hanford Cycles Randonneur
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Hanford Cycles, based out of Philadelphia had this Randonneur bike tucked away in their booth, upon closer inspection I noticed it had a lot going on with it. I hadn’t heard of Hanford Cycles prior to the show, but from what I gather, Simon of Hanford Cycles had worked for Bilenky for 14 years, before stepping out on their own to create Hanford Cycles.
With ornate hand carved lugs, hidden wiring to a very unique mount for the Compass Taillight, and some fresh paint by Chill Cycles it’s easy to see why even hidden in the final aisle of the Philly Bike Expo it still garnered a runner-up in the peoples choice award. Flip through the whole gallery, this bike is full of details
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Altruiste Plump Watermelon Pump Track Bike
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Altruiste made quite the splash at NAHBS this year with their Best MTB and Best In Show for their Fundy, but I remember seeing this bike hanging from a stand wondering where the rest of the parts were, it turns out they were getting dunked in the anodizing tanks of Asheville. Paul Component, White Industries, and Industry 9 came together to create some very special faded parts that compliment this plump pump track bike.
If you’re able to check out Industry 9’s facility you may see the lucky owner shredding the pump track on their lunch break.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: JP Weigle Randonneur
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
For over 40 years JP Weigle has been crafting functional artwork. This bike is a culmination of those years, his hand cut and filed lugs in themselves are art. They pull you in and capture your attention.
These functional bikes aren’t just gorgeous show bikes though, each one gets ridden and tested to make sure it passes the ride quality that a Weigle is known for. Every shape and line of this bike flows together, as the construction and build of the bike are done together creating something gorgeous and refined. The build is comprised of Compass parts including René Herse cranks, Loup Loup Pass tires as well as Campagnolo Chorus. This modern Randonneur is ready for anything Connecticut weather can throw at it.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: MAP Cycles 650b Disc Rando Bike
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Mitch A Pryor of MAP Bicycles, make all of his bikes in Paradise, CA one at a time. Although this bike doesn’t fit into the typical Randonneur Project Mitch took this project. For me the detail of the tapered bi-lam headtube and just how clean the dynamo wiring is, stopped me in my place which happened to be Rando Alley at the time.
Mixing the traditional with the non-traditional this build includes a Rodeo Labs Spork, Paul Klamper CP calipers, Rene Herse Cranks, and Campagnolo Centaur checks all of those boxes for a versatile modern rando bike. Mitch made the front rack and stem to compliment this bike and they pair together perfectly.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Fat Chance Yo Eddy
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Chris Chance brought a newer Yo Eddy to Philly Bike Expo this year, the new Yo Eddy 2.2 had a triple butted stainless top tube and downtube, as well as some new dropouts, and a clever chainstay yoke. These Yo Eddy framesets are produced by Chris Chance and Steve Potts, and the rest of the Fat Chance line (Slim Chance, Chris Cross) are built by Commotion.
With the frame and fork being produced in the USA, the next logical step was to ring White Industries for a Headset, Bottom bracket and Cranks with matching blue extractors, Which look great on this bike. It’s rolling on Praxis AL32 wheels, which are stopped by the revered Paul Component Klamper brakes. Nostalgia aside the Yo Eddy 2.2 checks all of the current MTB boxes, with a finish to make you swoon.
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2018 Philly Bike Expo: Groovy Cycleworks 26″ Homage Rigid Tourer
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
In ’95 Rody of Groovy Cycleworks was commisioned to make a bike for this same customer, the customer loved the bike so much that 23 years later they commissioned this bike, a more modern version that’s still built around 26″ wheels but shod with a slightly updated geometry. A Groovy built bike wouldn’t be complete without their Hot Rod cranks with a 24mm spindle meticulously painted to match the 5-color fractured mosaic paint, that alludes to the customers love of architecture and stained glass. The fork is an homage to the old Grove Innovations Hardcore with a scalloped end and box crown, while the Luv Handlebars give the rider an updated posture that they hadn’t had prior.
This homage wouldn’t be complete without a more current 1x drivetrain, White Industries hubs and headset, as well as the limited gold, anodized Paul Components that can be found all over this bike and are proof that someone still believes in death before discs.
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Bryan Hollingsworth started Royal H Cycles in 2008. It’s now his 10-year anniversary of the company and at the Philly Bike Expo, he brought just the bike to celebrate, a deep purple sparkle-painted disc all road with elegant lines and modern functionality.
While the SRAM Red eTap, Easton Wheels, Zipp components, a Columbus fork, and Cane Creek Headset make for a completely balleur build, the detail in the wishbone seat stay steals the show. What a way to celebrate 10 years of framebuilding!
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