- We're back again from the
North American Handmade Bicycle Show,
this time bringing you the weirdest, the most wonderful,
the craziest Bike tag that you will have ever seen.
Right, where shall we start?
(funk music)
This remarkable build from Rob English started out
as a concept Bike for a customer,
and is now in its eighth iteration.
It's perfect for people who lack space, whether that's
a small flat or traveling on the Train, or in a Car.
It's known as project right, so you'll see here
that both the drivetrain and the braking is on the
right-hand side of the Bicycle.
And this means you can take both wheels off of the
left-hand side without affecting your shifting or braking.
Rob had these hubs designed specifically for this build,
and all you need is a 5mil Allen key to remove them,
and it actually means that both wheels
are interchangeable, which is really handy.
It's remarkable how he's achieved all of this
without actually compromising the ride feel,
and they promised us that is you were blindfolded
and rode this, which I wouldn't advise,
that you wouldn't actually notice the difference
to a conventional road Bike.
- So, this has got to top our weird and wonderful category,
I'm really lucky to be joined here, on stand,
by the guy behind Dear Susan himself; Peter.
What is the name of this Bike?
- We've been calling it project Pubesmobile.
(laughing)
- [Presenter] And why do you give it that name?
- So, it's a collaboration between myself and
Mr. Pubes, of Bicycle Pubes...
Who's first name is actually Pubes.
Which I found very surprising when I first met him.
- That is surprising.
So talk me through this frame, there's some really cool
details here, what's your favorite parts?
- I really enjoyed making the fork,
although it was the most time consuming fork I've ever made.
There's lugs inside the lugs, and inside those lugs
there's things cut out, so I quite enjoyed making those,
in terms of, like, frame building.
And the geometry was pretty challenging,
like, I've been making a few off-road tool Bikes,
and that, is like a bit of...
Geometry that I don't think anyone really understands,
it's like inherently a bad idea, so making it...
The least bad is...
Hard.
- And how did you did choose between
disc brakes and rim brakes?
(laughing)
- Well, rim brakes are just silly.
- [Presenter] Okay.
- It's 2019, come on!
But, they're nice to look at, so...
The calipers are there, but the rims aren't.
But if you put your mic next to that
whoopee cushion right there.
- Right.
(farting noise)
- There you go.
(laughing)
- Fabulous.
(funk music)
Dublin based carbon fiber specialists FiftyOne,
took inspiration for this build from their
Russian pro cycalist Berzin,
from the 90s Bianchi time trial Bike that he used to ride,
before taking a win at the Giro in 1994.
It was of an era before the UCI had brought in much more
stringent rules about frame design, so really
the builders had much more liberty here,
in terms of what they experimented with,
and produced some really fascinating builds like this one.
Cannings will be especially chuffed
that they didn't adopt the traditional
celeste paint job of the Bianchi,
but instead took inspiration from a totally
different decade, with a 70s Brooklyn jersey.
Which I think looks absolutely mint.
And if that wasn't enough, check out the
matching Silca pump as well.
Now, a bamboo Bicycle build is pretty cool,
but then you factor in that these parts were exclusively
sourced from a local Bicycle cooperative,
and that's pretty impressive.
But then you check out the adaptations for this Bike,
that mean you can carry your Surfboard with you on the Bike,
and that is really, really cool.
Just look at those drop handle bars which you use as
mounts for your Surfboards, and inner tubes
which help strap it on.
Even the bags are made out of recycled inner tubes.
This Bike's almost enough to make me
want to take up surfing.
Yo!
Now, we were just popping out for lunch,
but I could not pass this by.
Look at this incredible tool Bike, I would give anything
to give this a ride, in fact I think you can
fit about three of us on there.
I would love to know who rides this.
It's of pretty epic proportions as well, I mean,
just its rear wheel is a 36-inch.
And that chain ring, that's gotta be at least 90t.
Now, as well as being one of my favorite
builds here at NAHBS, I definitely think this
would be one that Lloydy would approve of.
It's a collaboration between frame builder Curtis,
from Retrotec, and Paul Components.
And the real aim behind this Bike was to get
as many components and parts as possible
from local builders.
So, most of this Bike is actually from California.
As well as the incredible craftsmanship that has
obviously gone into this Bike, one of my favorite
stories is that parts both from Paul Components and
White Industries all went into the anodizer
at the same time, with this custom green, which has been
color matched for the classic Sierra Nevada green.
Another really cool thing about this Bike,
is the copper detailing, both on the front crate,
which Paul made himself, and on the rails of the
brooks saddle, which pay homage to the
copper tanks which the beer is brewed in.
How cool is that?
You might remember at the Rio 2016 Olympics,
when Felt unveiled a new secret weapon for team USA,
was a left-hand drive track Bike.
They said it was optimized for aerodynamics
on the velodrome, and here today we see
one of only 10 new crank sets made by Affinity Cycles,
here on, again, Brooklyn-based Weis.
You'll have seen Kelly's using Spray Bike
to paint his own Bike in the upgrade feature,
but these guys at Squid have been
doing it for three years.
Emily and Chris, the master painters behind the business
have done hundreds of frames, and I think you'll agree
there's some really radical and lairy paint jobs.
Just super fun.
Squid have a cyclo-cross race team too,
and Sammy and Anthony were selected by the USA team
to represent at the World Cyclo-Cross Champs,
this year on these really fun Bikes.
We hope that you've enjoyed this refreshing look
at some really alternative tech, just as much as we have.
But for now, that's a wrap from NAHBS,
time to get back across the pond.
(drops the mic)
Matching Silca pump to match.
(gibberish)
(laughing)
You right remember from the rio...
(laughing)
It's super cool!
(laughing)
Super cool!
- I feel, I wish I was you right now, you know?
Like, not being able to see.
(laughing)