Welcome to NAHBS, the North American Handmade
Bicycle Show brought to you from
here in Sacramento, California.
We're here to bring you the hottest new custom bicycles
as well as some great new tech from the show.
So come on, let's take it away.
(horn honks a melody)
- Meow
(funky upbeat music)
- What do you get when you take cyclocross and mix it
with track cycling
Tracklocross?
We're here with Squids bikes, who are are known to produce
the raddest bikes in Sacramento, if not, the world.
And this is their first tracklocross specific frame.
Chris, the co-founder of Squid Bikes,
who also designed this bike,
said that it's somewhere between cyclocross bike,
and a track bike, with a couple of modifications
to make it perfect for the job.
Those include a raised bottom bracket
and slightly steepened angles to make the affected
toe overlap slightly less.
Just like loads of other frames made by Squid,
this one was painted by co-founder Chris,
actually against this wall, which makes for a really
cool piece at the show.
Now we're really stoked to see how this bike gets on
at the first every tracklocross world championships
this August in Japan.
We've got a really exciting world first,
here on stand with Weis, based out of Brooklyn in New York.
They're the first frame builder to be given the opportunity
to work with an all new, super magnesium alloy
from brand All Light.
It's claimed to be 33% lighter than aluminum,
also lighter than titanium and steel, with 20 times
more shock absorption than typical aluminum.
So this is giving frame builders the potential for
an all new material that rivals carbon fiber,
both in terms of weight, light feel and performance.
This frame is also TIG welded and carries a calling
card of Weis with it's amazing asymmetric seat stays.
I've just been speaking to the builder of this bike,
Tom Porter, and, honestly I don't know where to start
on this one.
This, is Winged Victory,
inspired by the really famous statue
that's in the Louvre, and it's just one of the most
spectacular bikes here at NAHBS.
If you could see it here in the flesh,
you'd really understand why it took Tom
an incredible two months to complete this build.
It's just incredible.
And it's not just the frame and fort,
which Tom made himself,
he's a professional metal worker by trade,
so he really got into frame building in a spectacular
fashion which has manifested in this.
Tom has also handcrafted several beautiful pieces
on this bike, right the way through to the art deco
inspired rack all the way
to the tiny little beautiful details like the dust caps.
And that's not all.
He's also customized several of the parts
that he didn't make himself.
From details on the cranks, right the way through
to the mud guards or should I say, fenders.
The most intricate feature of this build
are those gorgeous winged lugs, which of course,
Tom makes himself along with that chain guard,
which apparently took three whole days,
just to design, let alone make.
It is without doubt that this bike is in a class
totally of it's own here at NAHBS and it's really
no wonder why it's getting so much attention here.
(funky upbeat music)
Does this bike look familiar to you?
It's now time for some cool build tech.
We're here on stand with out friends FSA who've got their
K-Force, wireless electronic group set now in hydraulic
disc brake version, that's going to be going into
production soon to join their rim brake version that's
already on the market.
Along with these cool looking disc brakes,
we've also got a new cockpit on this one from FSA,
with the advance cable routing system.
So the hydraulic hoses on this build got straight into
the handle bars down through the stem, past the headset
and into the frame, which makes a really clean looking
front end that's got to be pretty aero as well,
and as we all know, aero is everything.
(funky upbeat music)
And this one as well.
I swear I've seen this paint job somewhere before.
Hot off the press for the first time you're now
able to buy Mavic's carbon rims
as a standalone
project, which means that you can customize them to your
heart's content.
Choose from either the deeper section 45 mil CXP model
or the Open Pro Carbons which are narrower
and of course, both are available
in both rim or disc options.
How would you build up yours?
Let us know down in the comments.
But for now, they're got a master wheel builder,
here on site, making up those first few pairs,
here he is, take it away John.
(funky upbeat music)
We're on stand with Black Magic Paint who are a pair
of painters from Portland in Oregon,
and they've got a massive array of gorgeous frames
on stand, but this is my favorite.
This Moots takes a big step away from the traditional
raw titanium finish and is said to be inspired
by thermal heat maps and there's loads of others.
I mean just check out this amazing candy fade.
Before we even crossed the Atlantic, I knew that Mosaic
were going to be here at NAHBS and they were hot on my
list of builders to come and see and I can tell you,
they have not disappointed.
They're celebrating their 10 year anniversary this year
here at NAHBS, so they've brought a whole suite of bikes
to show off here.
Let's start off right here with this glitter bomb
of a bike, their road bike.
From the quality of their titanium TIG weld,
to this outrageous paint job done by their in house
sister brand, Spectrum Paint and Powder Works,
this is a really enviable build.
Another trend that we're seeing here at NAHBS,
is the color matched to frame pumps on bikes,
just like this one from SILCA, so that's not just pretty,
but also most importantly, practical.
One of the cyclocross bikes from Mosaic,
this one actually belongs to the founder,
Aaron, and was raced this year
at the USA Cyclocross Nationals in single speed set up.
We even caught him at the start of the show,
scrubbing off that last little bit of mud,
which is pretty authentic, I guess.
He's got an interesting set up here,
and one that's quite popular among cyclocrossers,
where he's got Dura-Ace cranks,
but then a mountain bike XTR rear derailleur
and using a Wolf Tooth Components front chainring
to give that one by set up.
Now this is a really special bike from the Kentucky based
builder, Don Walker, and this is actually a tribute
bike to the late Dario Pegorreti, who was a really
close friend of Don's.
It's made for one of Don's close friends,
but the most fascinating part of this bike is actually
the Big Leg Emma chain stays, which are a really
close replica of those given as a personal gift
from Dario to Don over 10 years ago.
The paint scheme is based on Vincent Van Gogh's
Starry Night and it's in pink and blue as they're
the race team colors of the friend of Don's for
whom it was built.
And last, we're here with Don, we've just got to point out
this one, which is a pain collaboration with
artist Nick Star, and as zoology nerd,
I just can't get my head around the level of detail
in this paint.
So cool.
Since the passing of the legendary Italian frame builder
and painter Dario Pegoretti last year,
the very small and dedicated team in his workshop
decided to carry on making bikes under his name,
especially in his later years,
he was best known for his experimental paint
techniques, and especially hand painting,
which as you can see in this frame,
the team have taken forwards.
The etched and scoured paint work that you can see here
is said to represent the anger and frustration
the team have faced over the last six months,
as well as the strength and belief that have helped
to carry them forwards in their mission of creating
these bespoke beautiful frames.
San Francisco is known not only for it's hills,
but for it's massive track cycling scene and that's
exactly were Andrew Low of Low Bicycles started
his building career.
He started off using aluminum and has sticked
with that material ever since.
Moving from track bikes to cross and gravel bikes
and now onto road bikes as well,
so he's offering the full suite.
The most fascinating things about his build
is his unique welding process,
which takes five hours per build,
and gives you this amazingly smooth finish.
You really would easily mistake it for
a carbon fiber bike.
And on top of all that, he also shapes all the tubes
himself, which is really impressive.
Now that's a wrap from us, from the North American
Handmade Bicycle Show with our hottest tech.
But don't you worry because we've got loads more coming
so stay tuned for that.
And now if you'd like to check out another great feature,
click just down here and give us a like.
Oh!
Bum bags!
Away from the teh teh teh the teh teh.
The super cool.
Super cool.
Super cool!
(blows raspberry)
Okay.
Oh my knee.
Come on legs, you've got this.
And until then, we've got. (rolls tongue)
- Meow.
(laughs)
- That is a great meow.