I just got back and I must say it was great, very good place for a show, a lot of different builders and a few other things, many things were similar to what was shown at big show, mostly from the established builders, the new stuff was from new smaller brands and names, a bit more cross, since this is the season. The vibe was good and it was not that packed so it was easy to go around and check the bikes without having to push or be pushed by people, I got there a bit after 5 and stayed till almost 7, enough to see everything twice and get a few chat in. Jonathan from bikeportland.org was there so I am sure you will see pictures from him and a bunch of other photographers were there. I wish the big show could be as cool as this and not under the flashy light of the convention center. Also there was more space here to look at the bikes very close.
I had a little more time to check out Jones, very cool stuff, he is working on a different approach for bars and he had his usual MTB stuff plus a cool commuter bike.
I liked Courage, for some reason don't like the brand so much but the bikes were very well finished and looked very nice, both cross and road.
333Fab has great racing stuff, with cool graphics, in general I think there was a bit more work on graphics and paint/finishes from most of the local builders.
Since they tend to copy each other for some of the technical things it is good to see that they can differentiate them self with the look.
Cascadia frames were very clean and basic, he had 3 bikes to show different types of work he does. Tonic had some interesting stuff too.
Goodtimes, never heard of them before, looks good and fresh.
Ira Ryan stuff looked dialed and he had the colorful cross bike that was at Alpenrose Sunday, still with the mud on.
It is amazing to think that even if there were a few missing it was a good size show with mostly local builders.
You still have time tomorrow or Sunday at the cross race.......
Ciao
Paolo