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North American Hand Made Bicycle Show
Portland, Oregon, USA, February 8 - 10, 2008
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Part 5 - Local builders come out in force
By James Huang in Portland, Oregon
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It could easily be said that NAHBS organizer Don Walker couldn't have chosen a better location for this year's show. In fact, many people did say exactly that given Portland's status as a hotbed of the frame building world right now. Out of the 156 total exhibitors (not all of which were frame builders), roughly two dozen were based in Portland or in nearby surrounding areas of Oregon, including Tony Pereira, Sacha White, Joseph Ahearne, Mike DeSalvo, and Ira Ryan.
White has built an enormous head of steam with his Vanilla Cycles brand since NAHBS 2006. White said his waitlist spanned about 13 months at the time, ballooned to about four years by the next year's show, and after hitting the five-year mark shortly thereafter he stopped taking deposits for full-custom bikes, at least for now. One doesn't have to look too closely to understand why this is the case and we'll let the images speak for themselves.
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One customer who managed to nudge her way to the top of the list, though, was White's oldest daughter, Cybelle. The eight-year-old outgrew the award-winning tricycle her father created for her two years ago (which currently resides in a museum in San Francisco) and now pedals to school on a beautiful mixte bike complete with the full Vanilla Cycles treatment. Think back now: what did you used to ride to school on? Must be good to have one of the world's best frame builders as your dad!
That five-year waiting period weighs heavily on White, though. While the security of knowing he has work for the half-decade must be at least somewhat reassuring it does also place some restrictions on pursuing other creative interests (and he has many). It also doesn't always sit well with him that his full-blown Vanillas are now financially out of reach for many buyers (including a lot of his close friends).
Creative abilities aside, White still holds a strong passion for 'cross racing and created the Speedvagen line last year to help feed that hunger as well as offer customers a shorter waiting period and more accessible price tag. Built in cooperation with another local builder, Mike DeSalvo, each Speedvagen is a purpose-built racer with few of the purely aesthetic embellishments that grace the Vanilla line and White is careful about whom these go to; these machines are built for racing and he'd like to have some reassurance that they will be used as such.
For 2008, White has added a Speedvagen road racing line but interested parties should line up quickly. There will only be fifteen made this season and ten are already spoken for. We'll freely admit to truly lusting after very few bikes ourselves these days, but this is absolutely one of them. Where do we sign up?
Portland compatriot Joseph Ahearne has thus far chosen to concentrate on everyday lifestyle bikes but his creativity and workmanship has drawn many admiring eyes and multiple awards. His split chain stay design has evolved into somewhat of an Ahearne trademark and each of his bikes profiled here feature it. At this year's show he also showed off a split fork blade design as well. Ahearne readily admits that he's not ready to offer that to the public yet before giving it a good go himself but it's a striking design feature nonetheless.
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One of his most fetching works also happened to be his own personal bike. Paired tubes abound from top to bottom on this one, and the split top tube was specifically sized to hold Ahearne's U-lock as he pedals from place to place. The unique seat binder configuration is unlike any we've come across in recent memory and the custom front rack is as functional as it is beautiful.
Newcomer Ken Wheeler came to NAHBS with what were possibly the most unconventional bikes of the show. Nope, they weren't steel, titanium, or aluminium, nor were they carbon or even bamboo. Wheeler's material of choice is hardwood.
Each front triangle member is essentially created in halves. A CNC mill hogs out the interior of each frame member half and then the two are bonded together to create what is then essentially a hollow tube. Hard points are glued and bolted into place and solid hardwood reinforcements are used at the head tube and seatpost. Carbon fibre rear ends are also bonded in place.
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According to Wheeler, one of his maple down tubes beat a commonly used brand name aluminium MTB tube in out of place bending and torsional stiffness and the smoothness of the ride quality is unmatched by any other material he's encountered. Moreover, wood's toughness and overall damage tolerance bodes well for long-term durability. He can also use a number of different varieties of wood to deliver particular characteristics or even a particular aesthetic. Surprisingly, the frames are even reasonably light as sub-4lbs complete.
Want more? Come back tomorrow!
Also be sure to check out additional coverage from Gary Boulanger at our BikeRadar.com partner site
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by James Huang/Cyclingnews.com
- Sacha White offered upthe usual array of showstopping bikes including this randonneur model.
- How far did you say you had to go , and how much stuff did you have to carry?
- The rack is functional but the detailing is beautiful in its own right.
- If you want some of this Vanilla you'll unfortunately have to get in a very, very long line.
- There's a lot going on here.
- Fixies were as prevalent as ever and White certainly had one on hand at his Vanilla Bicycles booth.
- White's signature dropout shows the mark of a steady paintbrush.
- Yikes, that's tight!
- A stainless steel top tube protector has got you covered if you inadvertantly let the bars swing around.
- White's oldest daughter, Cybelle , gets to ride this mixte to school every day.
- The mixte frame is a nod to classic frame designs and looks great to boot.
- Comfortably bent bars are covered in Brooks leather tape.
- Cybelle certainly does use this everyday as these panniers were full of papers when we stopped by the workshop one night.
- White has also began to delve into the world of prints.
- These frames hanging up high didn't garner too much attention but the leather chain stay guard caught our eye nonetheless.
- White launched his Speedvagen line of race bikes last year and added a road model for 2008.
- The Speedvagen bikes are still breathtaking to look at but their intent is all business.
- Deeply arced stays get the job done.
- White's own interpretation of the prancing horse.
- Speedvagen bikes are fitted with a unique take on the integrated seatpost. Does that seatpost top look familiar?
- Stainless plates are secured to the underlying dropout with tiny screws. Edge Composites is also making some for White in carbon fiber.
- A custom-painted saddle perhaps isn't the most practical but damn, does it look good.
- Even the cable stops display an unyielding attention to detail.
- Speedvagen 'cross bikes have been raced throughout the U.S. and abroad by sponsored riders such as Molly Cameron.
- Speedvagen frames are built in cooperation with another heralded Portland builder, Mike DeSalvo.
- This dropout design was striking enough…
- …but wow, this one is even better.
- Brake lines run directly through the seat tube for a straight shot.
- Speedvagen 'cross posts are fastened a little more securely.
- White also had some new wool jerseys on hand in his booth, recently introduced by another Portlander, Harth Huffman.
- Huffman is a long-time wool jersey user and created his line to embody everything he's ever looked for (but apparently couldn't find) in existing offerings at the time. We'll keep an eye on this one but the quality looks superb to us so far.
- The Vanilla Bicycles workshop sits in an unobtrusive building in Portland.
- Frames start out as this…
- …and eventually end up like this.
- White spends a lot of his time shaping metal with cutting and hand files.
- How many files are on your bench?
- Maybe this is the inspiration for White's work.
- A dedicated alignment table sits at the back of the room.
- Wooden stairs lead up to a fitting studio and 'professional' area.
- Portland is rife with top notch builders and Joseph Ahearne is another one that has forged a well-earned reputation for himself.
- Ahearne's personal townie bike includes a split top tube that fits his U-lock perfectly.
- Split chain stays have become an Ahearne signature feature.
- This clearly took a long time to make.
- Ahearne's townie also boasts a unique seat binder arrangement.
- Anyone want to go pick up the pizza?
- Ahearne also displayed another townie at this year's NAHBS.
- The rear end is purposeful yet elegant at the same time.
- Again, Ahearne's split stays feature on another machine.
- The shifter is cleverly integrated into the stem.
- The custom-built front rack holds plenty of stuff…
- …but sometimes maybe just a single flower will do.
- When standard U.S. coins just won't do.
- Ahearne doesn't limit himself to just townies, though , as demonstrated by this randonneur model.
- Any guesses who built this one?
- Ahearne also introduced the split concept on this fork although he wisely wants to test it first before offering it to the public.
- The front rack is custom sized…
- …for this bag.
- The elegant pump holder is neatly fitted on the non-drive seat stay.
- Shifters are again cleanly integrated into the stem.
- Drink, anyone?
- Ahearne does road, too.
- Yup, here again.
- A small scallop in the seat stay offers extra chain clearance.
- We'll take one, please.
- Portland builder Ken Wheeler showed off his Renovo line of wooden bikes.
- Each front triangle is built out of a number of hollowed-out pieces of hardwood.
- The bottom bracket shell is bonded and bolted in place.
- "Air hardened"!
- Hardwood rings reinforced the head tube.
- It looks heavy but is actually quite reasonable.
- Ira Ryan only started building frames recently but has quickly forged a name for himself in his Portland community.
- We saw this bike at last year's show but the rack has since gained some 'embellishments'. Mmm… cupcakes.
- We're sure we'll see more of Ira Ryan in the near future.
- Have we mentioned that Portland is a bike-crazy town?
- Ryan isn't just a framebuilder ; he's also an accomplished racer.
- Mike DeSalvo showed off a number of bikes and frame , including this clean-looking singlespeed.
- Sliding dropouts were everywhere in the Oregon Convention Center.
- Almost too pretty to ride.
- DeSalvo also does titanium.
- Does this bring back any memories?
- Dropouts are clean and purposeful.
- Ah, right, we figured there was a story to be told here.
- Newcomer Aaron Hayes of Courage Bicycles won this year's 'Best New Builder' award.
- With details like this we can see why.
- Courage takes advantage of Paul Components' direct mount post design.
- The rear brake cable is routed directly through the seat tube but it's not an integrated seatpost design; the bottom of the post is slotted.
- The symbol of Courage.
- The front brake cable is routed through the stem.
- Local builder Vertigo showed off the preferred bicycle genre of the region.
- Vertigo also showed off this nice titanium mountain bike.
- The most eye-catching Vertigo bike on display was arguably this road bike.
- Vertigo builder Sean Chaney equipped his road bike with a 90mm-wide shell and milled its interior to directly accept the bottom bracket bearings.
- A small notch makes for chainring clearance while maximizing room for big tires.
- Brake lines are run internally.
- Chaney says he can comfortably fit 28mm-wide tires in the single-bend stays.
- UK clothing company Rapha announced that it would be basing its U.S. operations in Portland.
- Andy Hampsten fans can pick up this replica jersey from his Giro d'Italia win…
- …which comes complete with a pin-on number if you're so inclined.
- Co-Motion is best known for its tandems…
- …but also does singles as well.
- Portland builder Vendetta Cycles…
- …came to NAHBS with some clean-looking machines.
- Signal Cycles does road…
- …and townie, as well as just about anything else you can think of.
- Goodtimes is another Portland builder…
- …and its frames sport some neat-looking dropouts.
- Hufnagel showed off this mixte bike…
- …and also sponsors the local road chapter of Organic Athlete.
- Marcroft Cycles offers road and mountain bikes.
- Marcroft is adopting the philosophy of 'race it on Sunday, sell it on Monday.'
- These jerseys might be a common sight in the Portland area.
- Portland builder Strawberry Cycles has been around for some time now…
- …and also offers a range of superb-looking frame tools.
- Many builders learned the mechanics of their craft at United Bicycle Institute.
