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NAHBS: And the winners are . . .
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More than 1,700 people attended Sunday's final day of the fifth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Indianapolis, bringing the weekend’s total to almost 6,500. Exhibitors commented on Saturday’s huge crowds, and many shared the feeling that this was the best NAHBS ever. Awards for the best bikes on display were announced near the close of the show.
Here is a rundown of the winners in each category, and also highlights from Naked Cycles of British Columbia, Canada, and Serotta from Saratoga Springs, New York. The awards jury, composed of Dale Brown, Steve Hampsten, Doug Brooks, Mike Barrie and James Huang, selected all the winners except for the President’s and People’s Choice awards.
The winners
Best Road Bike: Della Santa, by Roland Della Santa
Best Off-Road Bike: Goodrich Bicycles, by Curt Goodrich
Best Track Bike: Cherubim by Konno Cycleworks, from Shin-ichi Konno
Best Tandem Bike: Bilenky Cycle Works, by Stephen Bilenky
Best Titanium Bike: Eriksen Cycles, from Kent Eriksen
Best Carbon Bike: Independent Fabrication
Best Lugged Bike: Ellis Cycles, by Dave Wages
Best TIG Welded Bike: Strong Frames, Inc, from Carl Strong
Best Fillet Brazed Bike: Nobilette Cycles, by Mark Nobilette
Best City Bike: MAP Bicycles, by Mitchell Pryor
Best Paint Job: VéloColour, by Noel Rosen
People’s Choice: Naked Cycles and Design, by Sam Wittingham
Best of Show: Cicli Polito, from Dan Polito
For more on the winners, including photos of the builders with their bikes, visit www.handmadebicycleshow.com.
Naked Cycles and Design
Sam Wittingham pulled out all the stops to defend his 2008 NAHBS Best of Show title. He earned the People’s Choice award this year, which was almost a sure thing, given the spectacular full suspension 29er mountain bike that dazzled the crowds at his booth.
“I had two choices: It was either not show up at all, or go big,” he said, laughing. Apparently it took only about six weeks to create, and if he had any anxiety Sunday morning about the pending awards announcements, it did not show.
“I wanted to take the modern technology of a mountain bike, the lines, 5 inches of travel, 29-inch wheels, but put it together in a very non-plastic way,” he said. “Let’s take a nice modern mountain bike, but put some soul in it.”
Almost everything on the bike was built by hand. The main pivots are actually internal headsets that use angular contact bearings and are adjustable for bearing preload, just like any normal headset. A curvy handbuilt rocker link activates the rear shock, and the rear dropout is a concentric pivot on an eccentric dropout (for tensioning the chain). A one-piece bar/stem combo is just one swoopy element on a bike built with graceful curves everywhere. Internal cable routing keeps the curvaceous lines looking clean.
All over the bike, lacquered wood accents the high polish of handmade nickel-plated lugs. The pivot (headset) caps are inlaid with wood, the seatpost is maple, and wood clincher 29er rims are by Cerchio Ghisallo. The grips are hand-turned out of ash. Handbuilt wood pedals were topped with aluminum inlaid with mother of pearl.
Serotta
Serotta took an ultra-modern approach to the Handbuilt Show, bringing the most cutting-edge product the company has to offer. Carbon fiber was included in the construction of every bike on display, including a new aero road bike and a prototype ti-carbon cyclocross bike.
The Meivici AE road bike evolved from the Meivici AE time trial frameset. “We wanted to gain traction in the triathlon market, and also offer something in the emerging aero road category,” explained production manager Jared Porter. Using modular composite fabrication, Serotta is able to offer custom geometry in both of these carbon frames. Bladder-molded carbon “lugs” or frame modules compose large sections of the frame, including the top/head/downtube combination.
“Everyone on our staff does 10-20 jobs,” said Porter. “We keep our manufacturing really flexible, so we’re able to respond to market changes.”
The Meivici AE road bike is priced at $8500 for a frame, fork, and seat cap, and already 25 have been sold. “Our customers are very loyal, and always have faith in our products,” Porter said. “They know that if we offer something, it’s legitimate.”
Both the road and TT bikes feature modern design elements, including an extended aero seat cap on a short integrated seatmast, offering 4cm of height adjustment. A tapered 1 1/8-inch to 1.5-inch integrated headset merges with huge fork blades designed around the maximum 3-1 aspect ratio permitted by the UCI.
The bike on display was dressed in a paint scheme (no decals, all paint!) commemorating the Battle of Saratoga, a pivotal Revolutionary War victory for American forces that took place near the Serotta headquarters.
The prototype cyclocross bike combines elements from the all-carbon Meivici and the ti-carbon Ottrot. A Meivici carbon lug to tube front triangle is bonded with an Ottrot carbon to ti bottom bracket and stays. The one-off titanium monostay had to be created in order to mate with a Meivici carbon seat tube lug, but the new piece adds a super-stiff cable stop and brings added resistance to rear cantilever brake flex. Porter said that even he was surprised when the built weight (minus pedals) came to 15.2 lbs.
Look for more highlights and bike features from the NAHBS weekend over the next few days.hr>
Email Zack Vestal
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