Thanks for the photos. I went on Sunday and forgot my camera.
Next, sorry for the long post.
Tremendous stuff to look at - something for everyone to go ga-ga over. I was blown away to see Roland Della Santa and Richard Sachs literally right across the aisle from each other. Very different personalities, both very approachable, both with stunning, timelessly gorgeous frames. Worth the price of admission just for those two booths.
The "string" looking bike won the "Best Carbon Fiber" award. One of Brian Baylis's machines took "Best Road Bike" and "Best Paint Job," and an amazing example of what a good painter can do it was. Independent Fabrication won for "Best Track Bike." Bruce Gordon won a major award - either "Best of Show" (ahead of the schnauzer
) or "People's Choice," I think, but don't hold me to that.
Bruce Gordon's display was the biggest at the show, a veritible history of his work, including a BG-built Eisentraut-badged bike. How's that for a pedigree? I know he has a rep for being something of a curmudgeon, and he certainly is not a "warm and fuzzy" kind of guy, but I found him to be quite approachable and easy to talk to. There is no doubt that he is opinionated - hey, he's earned the right - but there is also no doubt that the knows his stuff and that his opinions are well-founded.
Getting a chance to talk to and shake hands with all these folks, plus more, including Richard Schwinn (good sense of humor) and Peter Mooney (soft spoken and very friendly) - what fun.
But for me, the find of the show was the "Coho" booth, a small display consisting of a single small table at the back of the hall with a single bike with no decals or graphics. It was all-red, and not a garish red, but kind of muted as reds go. It was designed and built up as a randonee machine for the builder's own use. He and his wife were there, and the builder is still in the process of quitting his current job to launch a full-time effort later this year to make it as a frame builder. (He's been doing it part-time for some time now - this clearly was not his first effort and he clearly knows what he is doing. I'd guess he is in his early to mid 40's.) The Coho frame was absolutely timeless and truly beautiful - not in a loud, "hey, look at me" way but in a way that looks nice when you first glance at it and looks better and better the closer you look. Subtle. Understated. Wonderful.
Edit: One of the posts above has a picture of this bike.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/track_d...7594568270720/. The red wasn't quite that bright in person.
Now for the dumb part - I am here at work and don't have the builder's card with me and I can't remember his name or e-mail address. (He doesn't have a website yet - hell, he was talking to a vendor about decal design and pricing when I met him.) I will post that info in this thread when I get home tonight, or PM me for it. But he is talking about a steel frame and fork for around $1250 base price. I smell a real bargain here.
What a great show. Unfortunately for me, it won't be in San Jose again next year - they announced that it would be in Portland in February 2008. If you have a chance next year, absolutely make the time to visit. Anyone who cares enough about classic bikes to come to the C7V section would find plenty to love.