Quick report on NAHBS
 

I did a one-day walk-through at the NAHBS in San Jose today, and I won't bore you with a load of trivial detail, but it was mighty impressive to see so much eye-candy in one day! The show has grown bigger than ever and many of the displays have become more sophisticated, too. There was a huge display of Bruce Gordon's work from today back through history, and the usual fantastic slick stuff from Vanilla and Richard Sachs...I could blab on...But the thing I spent a long time examining was in the very humble display of Tom Ritchey's booth. He was showing a load of his Made-in-Asia Carbon Fibre fork and bars, but had just two old bikes he built himself on display, including a dark blue road bike he built for his Father (labeled "for my Pop") built in 1973...it was amazing. I hope somebody brought a camera and took many detail shots of this bike, the closer you looked, the more stunning the details were, including features you never saw on another bike, but subtle stuff. My opinion of Ritchey has grown astronomically: he was probably just out of High School when he made this, and it looks like the Masterpiece of...a Master.

Thanks for starting this one...
Here's a few of my (less than 100k) pics of a couple of interesting things. :rolleyes:

Like what wasn't interesting!?!?? :eek:

All I can say is...STUNNING!!!

there's always tomorrow!;)

Hey, a rex bike, I'm really ashamed that I haven't stopped by his shop yet, considering he's in my town.
But I haven't been into cycling for long so it's not that bad I guess.

I've posted my NAHBS photos to Flickr. Click on the image for the set. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/4...27170f6101.jpg

Looks like Steve Rex has been spending time in Humboldt County.

Here's some more links with tons of pics: none of them mine, I didn't bring my camera this time.
http://flickr.com/photos/bikeportland

http://www.flickr.com/photos/track_d...57594568270720

http://www.cyclofiend.com/nahbs/show2007


http://www.flickr.com/photos/72276612@N00/

Our local reporter wrote up a sweet story about a mixte at NAHBS. Thought I'd share it, since so many of you love your mixtes.

Thank you donnamb--it would have been nice to have gotten a shot of the bike without all the people around (or is there one and I'm just getting too old to see it).

It is a lovely bike. Perhaps I need to convince my husband to become a framemaker so that he can do those lovely things for me :D ?

East Hill

The chainwheel on that Bohemian is so over the top, as is the Waterford lugwork. And the Rex paintjobs are delightfully fanciful. Kudos also to Bilenky and the simply masterful Sachs. I kinda go more for the simple stuff than the baroque, and really liked the ANT's.

At the end of the article, Jonathan provides a link to his NAHBS photo gallery. There are more shots of the mixte there.

Worth the drive down from OR, although I'm burnt now. Highpoints: the paint on that blue KIRK, the Townsend grasstrack racer, the Vanilla bike for Brett Horton done in 60's Italian style, the bunch of 70's and 80's Bruce Gordon's. Wizard TT bike and vintage Baylis, Ritchey's 70's bike for his dad, and hearing Ritchey's seminar. Martinis at Original Joe's were swell too. Real inspiring stuff.

That was a nice story about the very attractive mixtie. Cute school teacher who got it, too.

Yep. I checked out that very bike up close for a long time, but I still missed some of the details, and didn't know the "back story" at all...very sweet bike and thanks for the link.

The mixte won "Best City Bike":D

I never did find a 'standalone' photo of the mixte without a lot of distracting background, although there was one that showed most of the bike.

Perhaps we could coax the owner to join up and provide photos (even if it's not really a vintage bike :eek: )...

It's nice to hear that a mixte won "Best City Bike". Hurray!

East Hill

You could contact her through her boyfriend's business. She's also a Sprokette, it seems.

Love the Sprokette's page!

I'll try the indirect contact route! Thanks donnamb.

East Hill

I've sent an e-mail to Mr. Ahearne, and I am hoping that he will grace us with a photo of that classic mixte...

East Hill

For some reason I am always horrified by fastback seat stays! Other than that, some lovely things there. After the revolution, when I'm the new Dear Leader of the world, I shall make Sacha White my personal framebuilder.....

Also, I think I wanna be a Sprokette......

They do look as if they have fun, don't they?

East Hill

Thanks for the photos. I went on Sunday and forgot my camera. :mad:

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.

I am already looking forward to the day trip down to Portland for the show. I know I can make it for at least one day :) .

East Hill