Handmade Bike Show

Boo is a bamboo bike and the owner is a pro racer.  He does cross and his bikes takes a beating but is very comfy.  I would love to test ride one.

Cielo cyclocross.  It even looks fast.  Only bummer is they don't do custom sizing.

Ira Ryan cyclocross.  He's another big time racer and sponsers a small cross team.  I love builders that have sponsered riders.  It's the best way to get feedback.

Dean was using an Exagrid which are titanium tubes that have cutouts and filled with carbon.  It makes the bike more rigid yet have the durability of ti.  The best of both worlds.  The singlespeed 29er in the background weighs 18 pounds.  Wow.

I took pictures of this Eriksen but not a full shot.  One of the best looking bikes at the show and it even had Dugast 45c tires.  Incredible welds and just all the touches.  

This year the North American Handmade Bike show was back in Northern California.  The last time was about 6 years ago in San Jose.  This time it was in Sacramento and we timed it with a visit to Grandma.  There were so many incredible looking bikes there.  After getting my Rock Lobster cross bike, I realized that custom is really the way to go.  Nothing like getting a bike designed for you.  Amazingly, custom bikes in some cases are still less than the higher end production bikes.  A good fitting bike trumps a lighter bike every time, in my opinion.

The new trend is for the large head tubes with inset headsets.  They are said to be stiffer but who knows?  If I was to get another bike (cyclocross or road), it would be another Rock Lobster.  Why go to anyone else when Paul nailed the geometry on my bike?  If I got a full suspension mountain bike, I would likely get a Waltworks or Curtlo since they both do custom full suspension 29ers.  If Paul did full suspension, I would have him do that too.

One of the cool things at the show was running into my climber friend Rob.  I don't remember going on a trip with him but we knew the same friends and he's a cool guy.  He's now working for Moots so the next time he's in So Cal we're going to ride in the Santa Monica mountains together.  While talking to him, there was another guy that looked familiar.  Turns out to be Steven who sold me my road bike when I started riding again and he's a climber that Linh knows.  He now owns a very nice bike studio in Santa Monica.  At a bike show and the people I run into are climbers.  Such a small world.