BengeBoy 

This weekend is the the Oregon Handmade Bicycle show, with about 40 exhibitors from Oregon, Washington, and California.

https://www.oregonbca.org/

Great show -- a good crowd of people came to see the bikes, but it wasn't "crowded." Had very nice chats with a number of builders, and saw some interesting bikes.

This is my 3rd or 4th custom bike show in the Pacific Northwest and they're almost the opposite of a high-end bike shop. No carbon fiber -- 90% steel, 10% titanium bikes. Maybe it's because of our weather, or maybe it's the folks that buy custom bikes in this area, but only about a third of the bikes on display were pure "roadies" built for speed. The balance were commuters, touring bikes, cyclocross bikes, and randonneur bikes.

A number of the bikes on display were build for a 77-mile "constructeur challenge" that kicked off a month of bike events in Portland called the Oregon Manifest. The builders were told to build bikes that could carry a load (they actually had to pick up some stuff and carry it for part of the race); and could go on-road and on dirt or gravel. The route was not announced until the day before the ride.

Some of the long-time Northwest builders like Co-Motion, Andy Newlands (Strawberry) and Bill Davidson from Seattle was there. Chris King, the component maker, was there showing his new line of production Cielo bikes (I think he was a big sponsor of the show and the Oregon Manifest constructeur challenge race earlier this month). Plus plenty of new builders.

Here's a good story about the history of Portland bike building (mainly from the perspective of Andy Newlands) that ran in Bike Portland last week:

https://bikeportland.org/2009/10/28/i...-bicycle-show/


Some bikes that caught my eye...

This disc-brake "Gro Getter" by Chris Boedeker, of Boedie Cycles, who just built my new commuter..



Renovo has been showing wooden bikes for 18 months now at area shows. They are looking better and better all the time...the owner said they now have about 100 wooden frames on the road, including a couple with more than 6,000 miles on them.



Titanium rugged touring bike by Ti Cycles, built for the 77-mile Oregon Manifest constructeurs challenge race, a race that kicked off a month of festivities a few weeks ago:



A bike by Donkelope, a new builder from Bellinghma, Wa.



Stainless steel single speed 'cross bike by 333fab of Seattle. Max Kullaway, the co-owner, built Ti bikes for Seven and Serrotta, and more recently has continued to do some of the Ti welding for Davidson and Hampsten. Here is one of his personal bikes:



Kids' bike with wooden fenders and integrated seat post - Keith Anderson.



Electric-power assisted recumbent cargo trike:



A titanium Vertigo bike with Rohloff hub; another bike built for the Oregon Manifest constructeur race.





This was the Cielo (by Chris King) bike entered in the constructeur challenge...





I didn't manage to get decent photos of some of my favorite bikes, but two of the most interesting builders somewhere on my N+1 list would be Vendetta Cycles:

https://www.vendettacycles.com/vendettacycles/road.htm

And Ahearne:

https://www.ahearnecycles.com/

This photo doesn't really do justice to Ahearne's bikes (you really should look at his website gallery), but here was his race entry bike:

BengeBoy 

A "winter" bike by English. Designed for "no maintenance" riding in the rain - disc brakes, carbon belt, Shimano Alfine rear hub. The rear rack supports and seat stays are integrated into one piece. Very cool bike for the Pacific NW...



Another bike for the constructeur challenge race, by Tony Pereira. This bike one the "design" competition portion of the constructeur challenge; it has an integrated u-lock (on the other side of the bike).



Sycip



A bike by Donkelope, a new builder form Bellingham, Wa. As I recall I think this bike did very well in the constructeur challenge race.



Inglis Retrotec



This front rack was designed to carry a six-pack...

BCRider

What a fascinating show. Especially the fact that it has a slant towards bikes for uses other than racing/training.

Thanks muchly for sharing the pics. Some really interesting ideas in some of those bikes.

jeffpoulin

Beautiful bikes! Thanks for posting the pictures. What's with all the model train tracks on the floor?

BengeBoy 

It's called the "Locomotive Building." There are a bunch of model steam engines there, plus electric model train tracks running everywhere.

lbear

Thanks for the pictures! I was hoping to get out there but didn't make it. Nothing there from Vanilla Bicycles?

kr32

Very nice post, thanks for sharing. Very interesting bikes for sure.
Those wooden bikes and the one with wooden fenders are so cool looking.

tcs

Thanks for the report.

Interesting. At the custom bike show here in Texas there were a number of carbon fiber frames/bikes on display.

tcs

BluesDawg

I like the focus on real world useful bikes, but I can't say I'm a fan of the frame colored racks on some of the bikes.

BengeBoy 

No, he wasn't there.

X-LinkedRider

I love Chris Kings paint scheme. How everything including the pump, bottles. It is extremely clean looking.

sherbornpeddler

brake pads and downtube shifters

oldpedalpusher

Yes... I also noted from those beautiful pics the predominance of utility/transportation/touring bicycle designs. Transportation is the most noble use of a bicycle.

BengeBoy 

Partly this is due to what my eye was drawn to. There were a number of steel high performance road bikes and a few track bikes. But they were a minority.

One thing I like about the new Chris King/Cielo line is that the "road bike" in the line is a really a club racer that has eyelets for fenders. They told me that it has clearance for 25c w/fenders and 28c without fenders.



Vendetta - I'd seen Vendetta bikes before at another show. They're stunning. If you want to see really beautiful road bikes, check out their website. This photo doesn't do it justice.



A lugged road bike that Chris Boedeker of Boedie Cycles built for his dad...



Really clean steel Signal road bike...



..but this Milholland, to me, is a more typical "Portland" bike.



Another bike built for the race..

BengeBoy 

Here's the other side....