NAHBS: New materials, traditional craftsmanship
- By Zack Vestal
- Published Mar. 1, 2009
- Updated Mar. 2, 2009 at 1:51 PM UTC
One striking juxtaposition (among several) that I’ve noticed at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year is the use of cutting-edge modern materials and design mixed with old world craftsmanship and utilitarianism.
Hand built carbon fiber bikes are dressed in fenders and racks. A hand welded single-speed town bike is built with an integrated seat mast and carbon fiber fork. No matter what the blend of exotic materials, wheels and components, the most common saddle on bikes in the show is a classic leather Brooks.
Here’s a sampling from some of the best and most creative builders in modern materials that I saw on in Indianapolis Saturday. Keep checking for more from these and from the rest of the show.
Parlee Cycles
Bob Parlee has grown his carbon lug and tube frame business from a one-person operation at the close of 2000, to a multi-model, full-scale business in 2009. In addition to the fully custom, top of the range Z1, he’s offering an off-the-shelf Z4, a time trial bike, and a cyclocross bike. To this family he can now add a track bike, an all-purpose road bike and even a belt-driven commuter bike.The all-purpose touring/road bike is an evolution of the cross frame. Substituting seatstays from the Z1 creates both fender clearance and space for rack mounts. Fender mounts are added just above the dropouts, and rack mounts are added on the upper seatstays. A third set of bottle cage mounts on the underside of the downtube. Sales manager Tom Rodi says that the bike weighs around 17 lbs and could easily be raced, minus the fenders.
Also on display was a track bike built for Jackie Simes IV, and that belt driven commuter bike. Both bikes demonstrate the versatility of carbon.
“It’s kind of a misperception about carbon,” said Rodi. “We have as much flexibility with carbon fiber as anyone who works in steel, titanium, or aluminum,” he continued.
The commuter bike featured fender eyelets on the frame and fork—no small feat considering the fork eyelets had to be fabricated to the Edge Composites fork. A 2-piece dropout and just enough flex in the stays permits the belt to pass into the rear triangle.
Black Sheep
Black Sheep Bikes out of Fort Collins, Colorado, specializes in curvaceous titanium bikes. In business for 10 years, the company won the honor of Best Titanium Bike at the 2008 NAHBS, and appears to have no plans for losing that title in ‘09. Their booth was a maze of artfully bent titanium tubing married to intricate detail work and thoughtful touches.Dominating the space was a “yarder,” a mountain bike with 36-inch wheels. A 29er standing next to the yarder looked like a standard 26-inch wheeled mountain bike. All the Ti mountain bikes shared swoopy strut-style rigid forks and one-piece bar/stem combos. The yarder had an adjustable tubular titanium chain guard that exited the rear triangle, almost looking like an exhaust pipe.
Black Sheep also offered a stunning curvy road bike for the new show. Media etching on this and another bike is used in place of paint or decals, and lends a subtle yet striking appearance. First the frame is polished, then durable plastic masking is applied to the frame as desired, to preserve polished portions. Next, the frame is lightly bead-blasted with a plastic pellet media, which dulls the surface shine of the polished frame. When the masking is removed, the polished frame sections that remain stand out from the rest of the bike, as would a decal. The road bike was media etched to give a faux-lugged appearance, and was completed with a custom head badge by Jen Green.
Another cool bike from Black Sheep is a 29er single-speed mountain bike built for endurance racer and all-around industry ambassador Jake Kirkpatrick. Black Sheep owner James Bleakey said the bike weight is around 17 pounds, built with Stan’s wheels and Magura brakes. Perhaps the coolest feature is that the rear triangle is bolted to the front, and as such can be completely removed for travel. The bike fits into a suitcase-shaped travel box for airline travel, and does not trigger oversized baggage fees. Another benefit of the telescoping chainstays is that they replace horizontal dropouts as the chain tensioning method.
Rounding out the Kirkpatrick single-speed are a pair of white-colored aluminum disc rotors from new company Scrub Components. Made from ceramic matrix aluminum, they are as light as aluminum, but are claimed to wear like steel. We’ll try to get a set and report back, because lightweight rotors are hard to find since Stan’s no longer sells them.
Vanilla Bicycles
Always a favorite at NAHBS and held in high regard by the community of frame builders, Vanilla Bicycles again has plenty of beauties on display. Most notable to me was a Speedvagen track bike: the most clean-lined bicycle of any kind I have ever seen. An integrated seat post and a one-piece bar/stem/headset cap make for an almost seamless frame. It is covered in an army green and with a relieved Speedvagen head badge.Also striking was a single-speed town bike, built with an integrated seat mast and painted clear/baby blue. A distressed “Vanilla” logo lettered from the head tube down the carbon fork adds a touch of color, and fenders painted to match add a utilitarian touch. My favorite aspect was a very svelte, custom built chain guard.
Builder/owner Sascha White’s passion for cyclocross is well known, and on display at the Vanilla booth were several black and white photos of the muddy brothers-in-arms of ‘cross culture. Also on offer were Speedvagen rubber pit boots, brass knuckles, caps, and tee-shirts, for promoting the brand, both on the streets and in the muddy trackside bike pits.
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FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech
Zack Vestal
Zack joined VeloNews in 2009, bringing 15 years of industry experience to the Tech Editor position. Most recently manager and mechanic for the Trek-VW mountain bike team (2004-08), he has an unused geology degree from Whitman College (and a well-worn Ph.D. from the school of hard knocks). Vestal covers the latest in cycling gear online, and brings in-depth perspective to the magazine.