NAHBS -- Part... Last

Whew, it's Friday. I made it through the week of NAHBS. Today, I'm wrapping up my images of the show with a smattering of what's left on the ol' memory card -- at least, what's left that didn't come out fuzzy.

First up a couple of hard tail frames from SW Frameworks.


The most expensive toe clips I have ever laid eyes on were made by Bruce Gordon.

Wood was very much present at NAHBS this year, taking the form of fenders...


... and frames!


If you can read the scale, above, you'll see that this bike weighed in at about 18lbs, sans pedals. Not bad for hardwood.

Luna bikes had this cool looking 'cross bike. The wheels are 26-inch, with Schwalbe 26x1.3" tires.
And speaking of 'cross bikes, Soulcraft was showing this very clean bike with 700x45c tires. And there was enough clearance for mud, too. I think I found my next bike -- all it needs are disc brakes.

Speaking of disc brakes, why bother having a brake at the wheels on a fixed gear, when you can just stop the cranks, like Sycip did.


And that's a wrap, see you Monday with a new arrival and a new review.

NAHBS - Part 4

It wasn't just the little guys that were showing off new product -- FSA, SRAM, Ritchey and Shimano were all in attendance.

Shimano was on hand showing off their new 29er wheel. Fitting, really, since the 29-inch behemoths wouldn't exist without the smaller custom builders instigating the whole thing.


And, yes, these wheels use the CenterLock rotor mounting configuration. However, Shimano does, now have an adapter -- it's similar to the DT Swiss one -- that is available should you want to run some other brand's brakes. The catch? The adapters are about $30 each! But, rumor has it that they come with the 29er wheels.

SRAM had this cool 9-speed internal hub -- complete with disc mounts -- at the show. While not exactly new, it wasn't previously imported to the US. This just shows that commuter bikes, and the like, are gaining in popularity.


One of the cool things about this hub is that the jumps between gears are even -- each one is 17%. I wonder if it's retrofit-able with the belt drive...

Ritchey was showing off their new unidirectional carbon fiber bars and seatpost. These things are LIGHT. The bars are available now, but the post is not... yet.


Come back tomorrow for a final look at NAHBS -- the fun stuff.

NAHBS - Part 3

Spot bicycles developed the belt drive system and now it's offshoot, Carbon Drive Systems, is running with this. Builders were showing the system on everything from single speed road bikes, like the blue and white Lynskey I showed yesterday -- close up below...


... to a geared soft tail mountain bike by Moots -- gears provided by Rohlhoff.

There are a couple of really cool things about the belt. First, it's pretty much silent. Second, it is about equal to a chain -- a clean, new, well lubed chain -- in terms of efficiency, about 98%. Third, the efficiency doesn't drop off like a chain does when dirty. Finally, the belt is good for 10,000 miles. Downsides? You can't take a belt apart, so there has to be a way to split the rear triangle to get it in there. Again using the Lynskey has an example:

On the drive side you see that the seat stays are mated to the track ends via bolts. Pull the bolts and you can separate the stays enough to slip the belt in. All belt drive bikes need something like this.

Another drawback is that there are only a few gear ratios available right now, and since they are CNC'd aluminum they are rather costly at the moment. Now, if you run a Speedhub, then the lack of ratios isn't a problem, per se, but it could be if you are running a single speed.

The belt drive wasn't the only innovation there. Schlumpf Innovations was showing off it's two speed crankset. You shift it by hitting the button with your heel -- the button is where the crankarm fixing bolt usually resides.

On the other side, there is another button to allow you shift back. Inside the crank resides a planetary gear system.

Overall, it's a pretty slick system, now you can have a two-speed fixie! Now that's progress.

NAHBS - Part 1

Saturday, T. and I made the trek north from our village to the big city to check out the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. After finding parking at the Convention Center, hitting the registration booth and pushing through the crowd we were in!

Before I jump into the pictures, though, there was one memorable moment that is worth repeating. You see, since this was a bike show -- in Portland, OR, nonetheless -- folks like to ride to it. Valet parking was provided to deal with flood of bicycles. There were signs posted indicating that cyclists should not lock their bikes to the railings, or anywhere else for that matter. Someone ignored these signs, and the frequent PA announcements reiterating the bike parking policy. Someone thought that the rules didn't apply to them. Someone's bike wasn't where he left it. As we wandered the aisles, we heard an announcement that they were "cutting the lock and removing the bike" from a railing. This cracked me up. Seriously.

The first thing that struck me -- and I mean that figuratively, I wasn't really hit by a malicious rack -- was the shear number of very large front racks -- something ANT started last year. While I can understand some of the appeal, I just can't see using one of these. They were pretty, though.





These builders know their stuff, that's for sure. Whether their creation was something I'd use was irrelevant, it was still cool. I'll be back with more in Part 2.