The Radavist

You might recognize this bike from the profile I did on Seth Rosko and Johnny Coast a few years back. The Atavistic Urge was a video Sara Kinney and I worked on, showcasing the two Brooklyn framebuilders. At the time, Seth had just gotten this bike back from paint and was anxious to build it up. Now, almost two years later, Seth’s been putting in miles on his bike. This simple street fixed setup is one to drool over, especially when it comes to that paint!

Check out more by clicking the photo above or here to open in a new tab and if you haven’t seen the Atavistic Urge, I embedded it below.

I am beat and tired of NAHBS coverage, as I’m sure you are. This year’s event was lot of fun but still, I need to find a better way of cataloging it. Already, I’ve got new ideas for Denver. While I recover from this coverage, here’s the last group of builders, beginning with Ventus and their polished and engraved modern Campy group. DeSalvo‘s nice road bike, Peacock‘s booth and a few shots from Ellis. I wanted to get more from Ellis but every time I went by, his bikes were being photographed or the booth was swamped!

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This grouping just worked itself out without any planning on my part. Turns out, I met all three of these builders when I was in Portland attending the Rapha Gentlemen’s Race and Steve Rex isn’t even from Portland. You might recognize Tony Pereira‘s magenta machine from this year’s Oregon Manifest. He took home first place there, partially due to his use of an electric-assisted drivetrain and at the 2012 NAHBS, it was the center piece of his booth. Tony had a great point, saying most electric-assisted bikes aren’t designed by bicycle designers, so it leaves a huge gap in the industry. Also on display was a touring bike, a MTB (which won best MTB I might add), new lights he designed and a raw frame. Overall, it vibed!

Steve Rex‘s booth had the fortunate location of being right by the front door. Good for him, bad for me. I could barely get enough time with a bike without someone coming up and squeezing the brakes, dinging the top tube or lifting it up to see how light it was. This one guy must have been squeezing the brakes for 5 minutes straight on Steve’s gorgeous touring bike. Meanwhile, I was trying to get a shot of his shiny stainless track bike with front AND rear brakes. It’s not every day you see something as practical as that displayed on a track bike.

Ira Ryan‘s cargo town bike for Ned Ludd was insane. I counted four Chris King headsets and four Chris King hubs. It was detailed everywhere and took up his whole booth. I couldn’t stop staring at it and had to force myself to look elsewhere in his booth, particularly at his cross and road bikes. But still, just check out the cargo bike already. He won best city bike with it and I still can’t stop thinking about it. See for yourself below.

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This year, more than any other year at NAHBS, I got to talk face to face with the builders and their assistants. I took more time listening to their process and their pains. It’s not easy building bicycles in the States and sometimes, things get a little rough financially.

Earlier this year, Bruce Gordon put out an SOS (shop on stress) and the framebuilding world responded. Now, I’m not saying their shop is slammed, but business picked up and Bruce has some new products on the way. Cantis, toe clips and even a nice, 700c gum wall touring tire, made by Panaracer in Japan. It looks like Bruce Gordon is doing a lot better. His booth’s pride was a carbon road bike with details for days.

The townie and commuting bike contingency was rather large this year. More and more people are ditching their cars for handlebars and Ahearne Cycles showed off a few recent builds. My favorite was the blue townie, complete with bamboo lock box and rotating child seat. It even has foot pegs. Other goodies included his Sheldon Brown flasks and shirts.

DiNucci Cycles‘ bikes included a raw road frame and a classic road bike with Curtis Odom tri-arm sport cranks. Sharing the same booth was Vendetta Cycles, who returned with their ever-so-popular Columbus MAX track bike. This bright green beast had everyone drooling. I always love seeing how people use MAX on track bikes and this bike’s custom pinstriping just takes it over the top!

See all this in the Gallery.

Back to the 2012 NAHBS coverage here on the site. These three builders really killed it this year.

611 Bicycle Co displayed some very original bikes as well. Aaron’s cross bike, with its brazen mud splatters won best cross bike in show and his commuter with its almost zenomorphic lugwork was stunning. And for everyone who loves track bikes, he delivered a delicately-curved race machine. The thing to note here is that the seat tube mimics the curve of the fork: it bends almost right from the seat tube cluster. 611 always has the best merch and this year, they delivered on that front. Patches! EVERY BUILDER SHOULD HAVE PATCHES.

Anderson‘s stainless road bike and touring bike were, as always, top notch but the booth favorite was his orange grass track bike. It was one of my favorites in the show (I keep saying that, don’t worry, there’s more). A customer races grass track and got Anderson to make one, just in time for the show. The 73 head tube angle, 74.5 seat tube angle enables the bike to achieve stability while still being able to sprint like a track bike. So sick.

Finally, Naked really stole the show with their bikes. While some people put show bikes on a pedestal, Naked, um, ride theirs. They rode the bikes hundreds of miles to the show from their facilities in Heriot Bay, BC, Canada. The long-reach caliper road bike and off-road dirt cruiser were dialed in every definition of the word. Integrated lighting, internal wiring and just plain style. These bikes were beautiful in their birthday suit.

See the Gallery below.

To help break-down the doses from a few of these builder-specific NAHBS posts, I’ve began grouping three builders in together. The first one is comes from Rock Lobster, Cherubim and Igleheart. Each of these builders had something special to offer. Whether it’s experience, experimental design, extravagance or a mix of the three, they work quite well together.

Igleheart‘s booth was impressive. Chris displayed a few framesets with rather unique details, a dirt-kicking expedition bike and a rather clever step-through city bike with a top-cap switch for the high-power lamp, powered by a SON hub. It was one of the more compelling bikes at the show and not for any over-the-top finishing (aside from that Keith Anderson carbon-weave downtube decal on the road frame), just plain functionality.

Cherubim, once again wowed the crowds with their swooping and seductive lines. Their track bike was the Best in Show and the President’s Choice for the 2012 NAHBS and it’s easy to see why. Classic lines were exaggerated and yet, we can still see the track bike’s form present.

Rock Lobster‘s owner, Paul Sadoff brought a time-capsule of the work that he has made in his 30+ years of framebuilding. Present was the original Rock Lobster, a PBP rando, a modern cross bike, a road bike with a rather interesting drive-side downtube and many others. Walking into Paul’s booth was an experience in of itself. Each bike had a placard, telling its story.

The Gallery speaks for itself.

This bike has been floating around the Bishop Bikes Flickr for months. The amount of time that builders spend on randoneur bikes goes above and beyond the normal price for a frame. Not to mention the pain of getting Shimano Dura Ace to work with Suntour, Campagnolo and TA. All of this was precisely fused together in one complete Beautiful Bicycle, with more details than three or four frames combined. Did I mention it has a Campagnolo Portacatena? Talk about a show bike.

Each of Chris’ bikes at the 2012 NAHBS were painted by Bryan Myers in his wet paint shop, Fresh Frame and Ahmet’s 650b randonneur was the prize of the booth. It won best lugged construction bike and was in the running for the best in show. As I wheeled it out of the 2012 NAHBS, I could barely take photos without someone coming over to ogle it. This has to be Chris’ finest work yet. Shear beauty! Check out the gallery for more details.

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The second day of the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle show was a madhouse. Walking up to the convention center, I was shocked to see the line wrapping around the block. Inside, the booths were crowded with bell-ringers, brake pullers, tire kickers and top tube tingers. As someone who tends to obsess over frame details, it was easy to document some bikes but the overall frame shots were a real pain. I managed to document a good number of builders, as well as some friend’s bikes. For now check out a photo gallery, featuring Richard Sachs, Yipsan, Mosaic, Rebolledo, Della Santa and Sycip.

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