Tuesday, January 29, 2008

NAHMBS.

North American Handmade Bike Show, Portland, OR, Feb. 8-10, 2008

I want to go so bad. I’ve wanted to go ever since I saw pictures of it when it was in San Jose, CA. I want to see the stuff Richard Sachs is crazy enough to sweat and labor over and then go race it in the mud and sweat of cyclocross. I want to see the emerald paint of Keith Anderson’s work. I want to see the new-school spit-polish of Sacha White. I want to talk with the personalities like Jeff Jones and John Castellano. I want to see the insight of designers like David Kirk and Tom Kellog. When you are talking with Steve Potts you are talking to one of the founders of the mountain bike sport! From new to tradition, anyone who loves the beauty and feeling of stillness one of these bikes evokes should make the trip.

I had planned to go this year. A friend’s (Cookie) uncle has a place in Portland where we were going to crash. Dreams of deep and luminous paint. Ornate stainless steel lugs cradling Reynolds 953 tubing. Organic and invisible fillet-brazed joints.

They moved the show up by a month this year. I won't be going. So if you love these things, that is the place to be next month. Just be sure to bring me back a show guide.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I went, I drooled. Here is a link to my pics.
http://flickr.com/photos/23562647@N07/
My favorites were Rick Hunter cycles, Mark Nobilette had the best looking lugs of the show IMHO, and Wolfhound's are just plain cooool.
I got to chat with Steve Potts, and he is super nice, extremely knowledgeable, and happy to share his secrets (unlike Bruce Gordon with regards to his lugged TI road frame).
Kory, you should have tried harder. Indianapolis next year is going to be that much harder to pull off. Cheers, Mike.