The unofficial award for “best guerrilla marketing” at NAHBS undoubtedly goes to Speedy’s Hot Sauce. The Virginia natives showed up to the big show in Richmond with messenger bags full of hot sauce samples and a passel of stickers that ended up all over the show—even on the awards stage.
Visit www.speedyshotsauce.com for more info.
It’s obvious that the Japanese have a great appreciation for handmade bicycles. So it makes sense that so many people made the long trip from Japan to Richmond, Virginia to attend the Handmade Bicycle Show. Among those in attendance was Shinya Tanaka, manager of the world renowned Circles bike shop from Nagoya. Starting with issue #18, you’ll be able to pick up copies of Urban Velo at Circles.
Visit www.circles-jp.com for more info on Circles, and also check out their blog.
In case you haven’t had a look in a while, we’ve updated our merchandise department a little, adding a new shopping cart system and generally streamlining our offerings. There’s now just three categories: subscriptions, clothing and print copies/back issues.
Visit www.urbanvelostore.com or just click the merchandise link at the top of the site.
Although the Handmade Bicycle Show is mostly for consumers, there are a number of framebuilding suppliers that come to exhibit their lugs, tubes and of course, frame jigs.
Don Ferris makes the jigs that most framebuilders either want or already have. They’re not cheap, but some say they’re worth their weight in gold. He also offers a whole slew of framebuilding accessories, including these Feng Shui disc tab fixtures. Designed to work with Anvil’s dummy axle, they’re said to give framebuilders complete clearance on both sides of the mount so they can install disc brake tabs without warping or misalignment.
The fixture is $100 with an Anvil 135mm dummy axle or only $75 if you’ve already have the dummy and just want the fixture. Visit www.anvilbikes.com for more information.
“What isn’t counted, doesn’t count.”
These are the opening words of the Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmark Report published late January by the Alliance for Biking and Walking (www.peoplepoweredmovement.org). This 196-page tome is perhaps the most comprehensive report on all measurements related to bicycling and walking ever published in this country in one place. The report is truly amazing, and tracks an incredible amount of information and trends related to bicycling and walking in all 50 states and the 51 largest cities. This is the second Benchmarking Report released by the Alliance. Plans to publish updates every two years (the next being 2012) are in the works.
Good Habits, Clean Living is a zine by Chris Piascik based on Major Taylor’s 12 good habits for clean living. The limited edition of 50 full color zines are each hand numbered and signed by the artist.
Link via Tracko.
A recent newscast reports that the San Francisco police have their eyes on Critical Mass:
Critical Mass may be at a critical juncture in its history. The San Francisco police chief is talking about cracking down on a monthly bike demonstration that often ties up traffic. This Friday night, however, police could not be happier.
Kimori’s fixed gear adapter is designed to turn an existing cassette hub into a fixed gear hub. Sure, it’s a bit of a niche product in that most people would just as soon buy or build a new wheel before converting an existing one, but say you’ve got something like a sweet old 9-speed Dura Ace rear wheel just laying around? This could be just the thing for you. And because the cassette body can accommodate several cogs, it opens the door to other options, as well.
The adapter is Kashima coated and retails for 10,000yen ($112 US) Cogs and spacers are sold separately. For more information visit www.kimori.info.
Philadelphia will be hosting the 2010 Brompton US Championship on Saturday March 20th, 2010 at the Memorial Hall in West Fairmount Park (in conjunction with the Philly Phlyer collegiat bike race). The winner gets round trip tickets to the Brompton World Champs in England. Racers must use Brompton folding bikes, and business attire is required. There is a 100 rider limit.
Visit www.bromptonbicycle.com/busc for complete rules and regulations.
Don Walker asked me to snap a photo of this spoke card at NAHBS. And who am I to say no to the big man?
For anyone who doesn’t know, Don Walker is the man behind NAHBS. If you’ve been enjoying all the coverage we’ve been bringing you (which will continue to in the coming weeks) you can thank Don for putting on the show by spreading the good word about NAHBS (or maybe buy one of his frames).
For more of Don’s bikes, visit www.donwalkercycles.com.
Steve Garn is a well-known and highly respected framebuilder in both the bicycle and motorcycle world. He’s also a writer who regularly contributes to several motorcycle magazines. Though he’s a custom builder at heart, his bicycle company, Brew, eventually became more of a production facility than a custom frame shop. But since then Steve’s scaled back his operation and he says these days he’s back to building bikes one at a time, and having the time of his life.
In his first appearance at the Handmade Bicycle Show, Steve brought Ol’ Rusty. A classic singlespeed off-road cruiser with a two-speed kickback coaster brake hub. He was also displaying a bike built by a student of the framebuilding class he offers.
For more information, visit www.brewracingframes.com.
Samurai Cycle Works’ chief framebuilder, Koh Annoura, is an ex-keirin racer from Fukuoka, Japan. He raced professionally for 18 years and was a memeber of Japan’s national cycling team in 1992, representing his country at the World Cup Championships in Copenhagen. In his professional career, he raced frames by Samson, Nagasawa, Shimazaki, 3Rensho, Bridgestone, Vivalo and Nambei, and still maintains a close relationship with most of the major framebuilders in Japan.
Annoura’s logo is actually his family crest—a motif consisting of hearts and swords. Although he does in-fact come from a line of samurai warriors, don’t worry, Koh is one of the nicest people in the bike industry. Visit www.samuraicycleworks.com for more information.
Check out www.cykelmageren.dk.
Click here for the entire gallery.
Check out fixedgeargirltaiwan.blogspot.com, and for more of Ellen Big’s photos, visit flickr.com/photos/ellenbig.
For two years in a row, the NAHBS President’s Award has been won by Shin-ichi Konno, chief builder at Cherubim. Shin-ichi comes from a prestigious family of bicycle framebuilders. His father, Hitoshi Konno, started Cherubim in 1965 and built bikes for the 1968 Olympics. Shin-ichi’s brothers built frames under the brands 3Rensho and Miyuki.
Not only is Cherubim the only NJS certified builder at the show, Shin-ichi’s concept bikes display an unrivaled level of creativity, craftsmanship and ingenuity. Show attendees could not stop talking about his Speedmaster concept bike last year, and this year people were left speechless when they saw his retro-themed road bike.
Interestingly, Cherubim’s frames are not all that expensive—at least not in the world of custom bikes. An NJS keirin frame will set you back about $1400.
Visit www.cherubim.jp for more information.
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