Search Term – Change
Last year, a group of framebuilders converged on the bustlin’ little Montana town of Bozeman for what we called Home Grown Builders Camp. Each day, we’d take to the mountains around Bozeman to ride alpine trails. While driving to these trails is just something you expect, riding straight from town is always a treat and that’s why I really loved riding the local Townie Trails, aka the Gallatin Valley Land Trust‘s Main Street to the Mountains trail network.
Remember that Horse Cycles Shop Visit that Ian and Kevin from ENVE worked on for the Radavist last year? It featured Kevin’s Horse Cycles all-road that was an homage to the late Ezra Caldwell – may he ride in peace! Well, Kevin was just in Bozeman for the Swift Campout – which unfortunately got snowed out – so he made the best of the 7-hour drive up from Salt Lake City and spent the extended weekend riding MTB trails on his newly converted Horse Cycles.
Wow. We get a lot of emails from framebuilders, from all over the world, but rarely does something this interesting come across our inbox. Caminade is a French framebuilder and his latest project will melt your mind. The ChillEasy is a titanium full suspension mountain bike with a side-mounted rear shock, inspired by motos, which makes total sense since a lot of mountain bike technology has been adapted from motos over the years. Talk to Keith Bontrager about that one!
Check out more photos below and see the full spec sheet at Caminade.
Drew from Engin is one of the most thoughtful framebuilders. Everything he machines in-house is done so the highest degree of precision, while still nodding to the aesthetics demanded from today’s clientele. These seat collars are designed to offer the most evenly distributed clamping force over the largest possible area, reducing the stress on frames and sea posts. You no longer have to over-torque your clamps to keep your post from slipping. Doing so can crack your frame, or your post, and prevent dropper posts from working properly. These clamps are made from 6061 aluminum, are plated in three finishes, feature formed threads to prevent stripping, include 6-2-4-2 titanium fasteners, weigh only 29g and are available in 34.9 clamp diameter only. See more at Engin.
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop with Winneteaux
Words and Photos by Spencer Harding
Years ago a housemate of mine came back from SXSW with a tale of this person who they met rolling around on a tall bike while playing the accordion. He said, “I wish that kid from somewhere could be from LA.” Fast forward a year and Winn, the kid from somewhere, showed up on our doorstep. She had caught a ride back with some of my housemates on their way back from SXSW that year. So it had come true, the kid from somewhere had made it to LA.
For those of you who have been following along for a while, you may know that before all this bikepacking-cool-bike-stuff I used to build and ride freak bikes, in fact, up until recently a majority of my touring experience was done from the seat of a tall bike. After college, I chance happened upon a warehouse full of freaks and bikes alike, it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Winn had migrated to LA in search of the same place.
BTCHN’ Bikes, the latest chapter in Chico Framebuilding
Photos and words by California Travis
The small college town of Chico, California has been home to a few very notable framebuilders over the years. Jeff Lindsay starting out building road bikes is 1972, and was one of the first pioneers to create mountain bikes under the name Mountain Goat in 1981. Bob Seals (inventor of the Klean Kanteen and Cool Tool amongst other things) took modern geometry and quality materials, combined them with classic curvy steel cruiser aesthetics and founded Retrotec Bicycles in 1992. Mitch Pryor of MAP Bicycles took custom randonneuring frames to the next level of meticulous perfection in Chico and then Paradise.
In 1890, the European starling was released into New York’s Central Park by the American Acclimatization Society. They were an organization that believed European flora and fauna should be present in North America for cultural reasons. The head of the AAS was a fella named Eugene Schieffelin, who decided any bird mentioned by William Shakespeare should be in North America and he pushed for 100 of these birds being released into New York City. Thus, the invasive species has taken over. You’ve probably seen them, en masse, as they fly in a tight flock, moving like a black mass across the late afternoon sky. This swarm is called a murmuration.
You see where I’m going here, right?
Unlike the European starling, the Starling Murmur, a full suspension, steel mountain bike was a welcomed species in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles.
“As I was posting process photos of this bike on Instagram, people kept saying, oh it’s so Art Deco, and I didn’t know what that even was. I finally opened a book and said, yeah! It totally is. I was so inundated with it being everywhere in New York that I didn’t even know it had influenced my work so much. Art Deco is in the buildings, the subway, the gutters in the street. It’s everywhere.”
I hate to throw quotes around that saying because I’m sure I got some of it wrong but it really resonated with me. Tom Porter is a sculptor in Brooklyn, New York. His brand, Porter Cycles is a side gig for him. As a full-time sculptor and fabricator, he began building bikes in 2010 and this year at NAHBS, he brought this beautiful townie that presents an interesting dichotomy.
What does a 1997 Chevy Lumina, a whoopee cushion, and Planned Parenthood have in common?
You might have caught this in this weekend’s NAHBS coverage but No. 22 have launched a new composites line dubbed No. 6 and with that launch come three new fork options: an all road fork, a disc road fork, and a rim brake road fork. Each fork has minimal branding and a sleek profile to fit your frame, but their all road fork really caught my eye. With clearance for a 45mm tire, 50mm rake, 382mm axle to crown, fender mounts, and barely there branding, these forks will be a surefire hit with builders. See more at No. 6 Composites.
NAHBS this year has a lot more vendors this year than years prior – or at least it feels that way – making it a bit easier to see all the builders and what they brought to Sacramento, showcasing their talents. There are a lot of familiar faces in the crowds, yet what these talented frame builders brought with them are anything but.
For the past few years, NAHBS has been covered quite extensively here on the site but going into the show this year, I felt like I needed a change, so leading up to the event I had already mentally planned on covering it a bit differently, I just didn’t know how. When the show opened yesterday, I quickly found that covering it in a different manner wasn’t just an option, it was mandatory. My usual methodology of shooting and documenting bikes was not going to work. The show in Sacramento feels bigger than in years prior, maxing out space, and thus not giving me any options for shooting on the floor, so I had to think quick.
Finding a small alcove just outside of an exit, in a less than ideal location, I was able to document some bikes but found myself enjoying walking the venue talking to builders and attendees, something I rarely had time for in years prior. This allowed me to really enjoy the show and mix the coverage up a bit, providing a more well-rounded viewing experience. I’ll be presenting the show in a series of galleries this year, with most information in the gallery captions and complete bikes broken down below, so enjoy!
NAHBS is back in Sacramento this year and having only walked around the hall during setup yesterday, I can already tell the convention center is jam-packed with builders and brands from all over the US, yet it’s hard to deny the strong California presence. While Stinner Frameworks is not showing this year, Team Dream and Mavic Cycling are.
NAHBS is coming this weekend and with it quickly approaching, I cannot deny the anxiety that comes with it. For me, it’s an insane amount of work and stress. In recent years, I leave the tradeshow feeling underwhelmed in terms of the benefits for hosting such an in-depth look at the framebuilder showcase. I truly believe we provide the best NAHBS coverage. Period. If we do one thing right on the site, it’s covering NAHBS. That said, with so many media venues covering the show now, with Instagram, and our good friend Brad shooting studio photos of the bikes, free to other outlets to use (many of which aren’t even in attendance), we have lost a huge chunk of the “market share” in terms of traffic from the showcase. Previously, it was worth it, but after last year’s effect on my body, I can’t help but question if it’s worth it. Plus, I’m never free to enjoy the company of friends and to meet new people…
Not wanting to disappoint the readers, or the builders for that matter, I wanted to ping the audience and see how you felt about NAHBS coverage. I’m proposing something a bit different. A bit less overwhelming in terms of the content produced and the physical exertion required. A lot of what goes into the selection of bikes comes from my own personal taste, or what I would think the readers would respond to. NAHBS is a showcase of very expensive bikes and that in its own can be very alienating, so while I do focus on some of the more balleur endeavors, I always have my eyes peeled for more practical, less financially polarizing builds. Still, at the end of the coverage, the website is overrun with high-end bikes. With the infinite scroll format, it’s very inundating and personally, depicts cycling as a rich man’s sport.
What I’m wondering is would one massive gallery featuring a drive side shot and a few details do the trick? Or a series of small gallery groupings – i.e. best mountain bikes, favorite drop bar builds, kookiest creations, etc – satisfy the coverage for this readership? Or should I just bite the bullet and keep doing it the same way? Please either comment below or vote using a simple HTML embed below. Thank you!
In huge news, two Portland powerhouses have joined forces under one roof. Sugar Wheel Works and Breadwinner Cycles will now occupy the Breadwinner Cycles space. Check out the whole press-release below and if you haven’t seen our Shop Visit to both shops, check them out in the Related Sidebar column.
This project from Easton features our local riding here in LA with one of our local personalities, Ginger from Machines for Freedom:
“Perspective. Easton joined Ginger Boyd, Brand Manager for Machines for Freedom, in LA to talk perspectives within the cycling industry, opportunities for growth and inclusivity in the sport, and the new MFF podcast – conversations with community builders to learn more about how to improve the diversity of our favorite pastime.”
This one is not to be missed!
Fans of framebuilders, or at least those who have been visiting this website for a few years might remember the work of Cycles d’Autremont landing on these pages in the past. We’ve featured Hubert’s shop, as well as a few of his bikes in the past. Well, Huburt turned a new page in his career, when he moved to Tucson, Arizona two years ago to open a new operation, Madrean Fabrication. I had the pleasant experience of hanging out with this wonderful human for a few days while in Tucson and got to look inside his shop, as well as check out a few of his new bikes.
Mattia from Legor Cicli Made this Beautiful Paganotti Classic Road
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley
I know you all of heard of Legor Cicli before, but I’m guessing you all haven’t heard of Paganotti. Well, Paganotti is the embodiment of all the Italian masters who taught Mattia Paganotti how to build. Gino Lissignoli, Pietro Serena, Tiziano Zullo, and Dario Pegoretti all played a very special role in the fabrication of this bike. Very few frame builders can say they’ve studied with a master, much less multiple masters. Even fewer can say they’re a direct link to their master’s style and craft, but this is something Mattia says with confidence. If you have ever rode one of Mattia’s bike you know he’s telling the truth.
