The North American Handmade Bike Show is coming up at the end of February. I had the opportunity to help out with Carl’s booth last year. This year I will be attending NAHBS as an exhibiter. I will be displaying a bike in the new builders section that was recently added. My page on the NAHBS website can be found at:
http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/2009/12/alliance-bicycles/
Only one bike is allowed in the new builder section at the show. It was really tough to narrow it down to only one frame because I like so many different styles. I decided to build what I consider to be the quintessential Bozeman road bike. Around here, the paved roads are straight and flat, as they surround large farm plots. We jokingly call the most popular loops “around the block” or “the Bozeman track”. If you want to make a ride longer you just make a bigger square. However, we do have quality fireroads and footpaths as far as the eye can see. The in-town singletrack and dirt roads don’t excite the mountain biker in me, or really require a mountain bike for that matter. However, a bike with a pair of 28c tires allows me to ride all preseason long without going crazy. I just link all the good dirt sections with the pavement roads. There are awesome mountain logging roads and singletrack trails with some good high-speed sweepers to keep it interesting. It’s also about the only way to get some elevation gain.
The bike will be a built with a lighter tube set for me (about a 6 on the stiffness scale). It’s based around long reach calipers to clear 28c tires with fenders, or 30c tires without. I will be building two of the exact same bike and will take the better of the two.
The bike will also get the full treatment from spectrum powderworks, which I’m really happy about. It has been hard not to paint any of my bikes because they look and feel unfinished. My Dura-Ace 7800 grouppo, Ritchey/Bontrager cockpit, handlaced wheels mated to Challenge Paris-Roubaix tires, and a pair of Berthoud fenders comprise the tentative build. The first bike is about half done.
#1 by Christine Rolf on January 6, 2010 - 4:15 pm
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What an incredible opportunity for you to be an exhibitor at this year’s show. A plethora of information will be available to you as you network with the masters, other exhibitors and the public and the learning possibilities are endless. Good luck and have fun. The energy of the whole experience will be exhilarating. . . why it all gives a person goose bumps! Absolutely could not be prouder.
#2 by CD on January 7, 2010 - 9:56 am
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Ah …, Mom.
Anyway, you had better get busy – Spectrum is going to be backlogged with all of you guys getting ready at the last minute. And back to those unanswered questions from Christmas Eve – what applies here? Where’ve you been, we’re going through withdrawls here. No soup for you. Tubing choices? Bends, crimps or sways? We need stats – stat!!
#3 by Erik Rolf on January 11, 2010 - 12:28 pm
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A few people have asked me about these mysterious pave bikes. I’m going to dedicate a whole post to those bikes and questions, just give it a few days.