Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show '09

We were in Portland  November 1 for the '09 Oregon Handmade Bicycle show, mostly to try to hawk some Zimbale bags, but also to see what the denizens of this Northwest bicycle hub are up to. This show was so much more energizing than was Interbike. The exhibitors and the attendees who were here are fascinated by bicycles and their many uses.

All the bikes were steel or ti with some carbon forks here and there. Some frames were left "raw", without paint, like Rivendell has done on some bikes. Many of the bikes were obviously "riders", with dirt and scuffed paint. Many different types of racks.... custom, integrated with the bike, integrated with the bike and fenders (Ti Cycles Fabrication), and a very cool cargo bike with a front rack attached to the frame and not to the steering (by Ahearne). He wants to make this a production bike. I remember Ahearne from the NAHBS in Portland a couple years ago as one of my favorites, and he had a customer's bike here which looks just about right.

Cielo is a bicycle making company put together by Chris King. Their entry in the Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge was extremely well thought out.

Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly writes about this event in the winter '09 issue, and he compares it with the trials in France in the 1930's. These events were like a brevet in that a minimum speed was to be maintained over the three stages and 460 km. But, the bikes were penalized if they exceeded a certain weight and they were penalized at the end for any malfunction. This bred an enormous amount of innovation. It's really exciting to see a revival of an event like this in the US!

Mitch Pryor from Map Bicycles was there with a custom bike using a mix of new and old. He makes simple look easy and that's hard.

Andy Newlands from Strawberry Bicycles puts this show on and he had a booth showing his bikes. He has been making bikes here for many years, and he knows how to do it right.