NAHBS 2009 Friday Part 2

Get ready for another batch of images from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, some 70+ images in the below post. Keep your eyes peeled for the first stateside prototype of the new Sturmey Archer 3-speed fixed hub in this batch, a bike painted to match a canvas artwork, and two builders from Austin, TX along with other goodies spanning the spectrum of bicycle art.

Coho had this classic road bike on display, one of the few with friction shifters not for the sake of nostalgia but because the builder himself grew up with friction and never learned to love indexing. Like many of the unsold bikes at the show, this one just so happens to fit the builder’s own dimensions as a project build.

Engin won best mountain bike last year, and Drew is going for the win again with this ‘cross bike. Note the integrated seatmast and the stem mounted cable hanger, a blast from the past that works just as well today as it did back when.

Kent Eriksen is a veteran titanium craftsmen, having founded Moots and in recent years split to pursue custom, one on one frames in a small shop once again. Touring, road, mountain and some of the nicest seatposts around all come out of his shop.

Dean Titanium has the appearance of a much larger operation than they truly are, operating with only a handful of people in reality. The tall track pursuit bike came about with the idea of the bars first, built as a personal bike for the show and eventually the track. The disc brake long haul road bike just begs for the miles, with a comfy ti fork to even out the road ahead.

Alchemy is another example of a new name that is not really new to frame manufacturing, having broken off from a larger company. Note the tubes brazed into the fixed wheel’s chainstays for added stiffness rather than placing a bridge between the stays.

Co-Motion is known for their coupled bikes, especially tandems and more… While this is a bike built for two, they’ve been known to make tandems that can expand to accommodate 4 or 5 riders, or even switch into a single bike by removing the center section.

Parlee is one of the relative few people creating fully custom carbon bicycle frames, a rarity due to the relative complexity of the process. Yes, that’s a carbon touring bike with rack and fender mounts.

RR Velo is a family operation with Edgar Chavez at the helm of their carbon fabrication. The frames may look lugged, but they are not. That’s hand laid carbon, with extra laid around the joints and then carved away to appear like intricate lugs.

Carl Snarl of Vicious Cycles is never one to disappoint, neither in paint nor in craftsmanship. This snow bike is a perfect example of each. The touring bike appears to be ready for thousands of rough miles. Ride loaded.

True Fabrication hails from Austin TX and makes some very nice road and mountain frames, clearly from a rider’s perspective.

Another manufacturer from Austin TX is Kirklee, with some of the best paint I’ve seen at the show. The first bike is based on an oil painting by the ailing customer’s mother. With some 200 hours of paint work into it, it isn’t cheap but it is an amazing adaptation of a canvas oil painting on a bicycle frame.

Keith Anderson’s talented hands have touched many of the frames on display via his amazing paint skills. He’s no slouch with the torch either as evidenced by this kids bike with built in card holder for that motorcycle engine sound.

Eastern Woods Research is back. Through a strange twist of fate I personally own EWR #1 and competed in observed trials on it for a few years when I was younger and more limber. Now updated for the new era with big wheels and new geometry, EWR is ready to wrap another generation into the cult.

Chris Igleheart has been a long time supporter of us and is a long time freak bike maker. Check the two-speed fixed via the Truvativ crank… and more importantly the only stateside prototype of the long awaited Sturmey-Archer 3-speed fixed hub. It doesn’t work perfectly just yet, but it does exist. The hold up at the moment is the shifter, there just isn’t a working version with the correct indexing available yet. Look for more news after the Taipei show this year, but I’m assured by the Sturmey Archer rep that the hub innards are functional with the correct shifter. This hub will see the light of day!

Vincent Dominguez had this amazing blue bike with integrated rack on display. Sometimes too much matching paint can be a bit overwhelming, but in this case it manages not even with the matched levers and cranks. Nice work.

Velo Orange brought over this picnic bike, a great example of a park cruiser. And check out that chainguard!

That’s it for this update, with more pictures from Saturday and Sunday’s photo sessions to come as the days roll by. Thanks for viewing! I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I enjoy taking them. I’m honored to be able to document the work of so many artisans over the course of the show.