NAHBS 2013, Day 2. There with the girls.

A bike to suit her sense of style: shimmery, pink and fancy.

On Saturday, the second day of the 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), Julie and the girls were along with me. I took a bit different approach on Saturday than I had during the previous day, when I had tried to ensure that I went to every booth and saw every bike. See my NAHBS 2013 Day 1 experience here. Instead, the plan for the day was to have fun, to talk with good people that we already knew or had just met, to make sure the girls had fun, and of course, to look at bikes.

We started off seeing old friends from Laramie, Miguel and Dewey, who we hadn't seen in years. As it turns out, Dewey had recently become the new owner of the Pedal House, a bike shop that's been a central hangout for the Laramie bike community beginning in about 1990, back in my undergraduate salad days. Tracy of I like bikes was along shortly thereafter. I had spent time with her perusing bikes at the show the previous day. She was back for more, and to do a little bling hunting.

Then, the show's attendee with perhaps the wildest arrival itinerary appeared. Gypsy Nicholas had worked the late shift the night before, got up while it was still dark, rode his girlfriend's borrowed bike to the Albuquerque airport, packed the bike in a garbage bag, and soon hopped off the plane in Denver just in time for the show.

Before this installment of NAHBS pics, I'll have to back up a bit, to when we arrived. I couldn't help but check out some of the bikes in the BikeDenver valet parking corral. This brings us to a special edition of Other People's Bikes: What Fellow Bike Nuts Ride to NAHBS.

Where I parked my 1984 Miyata Ridge Runner were several successive vintage mountain bikes, shown in the following photo. The photo is poor and there's a lot going on, so I'll map it out. Next to my Miyata was a mid-'80s Shogun ATB of unknown model with Esge fenders and a Nitto mustache bar. Next was a 1987 Stumpjumper Comp with a new-era Rivendell/Nitto bull moose bar, expertly fitted aluminum fenders, and a large Wald front basket. A Cannondale road bike is next. Then Nick's (Lael's) Cannondale Hooligan, a bike so unusual it almost defies description. Then, capped off at the end is Cass' '84 Stumpjumper Sport. That's quite a run. Amazingly, all the vintage bikes in the photo are around 22 to 23 inches in size, which, in my experience can be challenging to find. Another thing I liked was that all these bikes retained their full range of all-terrain gearing goodness, instead of being chopped down to a nice enough, but more limiting, townie-friendly single speed.

Vintage goodness. My apologies for the lousy photo.  

You'll have to trust me that this is a nice Shogun of undetermined variety. For some reason, my camera decided to hallucinate.

More camera hallucinating with this nicely reappointed '87 Stumpjumper Comp.

Nicholas' Hooligan and Cass' Stumpy.

I probably would have been happy to only look at the parked bikes of attendees. Maybe someone needs to organize a parallel show of what people rode to the show, for those of us with my particular affliction. After indulging my appetite for other people's bikes, on with the NAHBS show.

Nicholas and Scott chatting about Scott's new bag designs.

I have to note here, that for not being a builder of bikes, Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket sure had a large presence of his handiwork at the show. A good chunk of the bikes shown by a range of manufacturers, that had anything to do with bikepacking or touring, were equipped with custom Porcelain Rocket packs. Scott's bags and packs are indeed works of art comparable to the bikes on which they are installed. It is no coincidence that of the cottage industry companies that didn't have actual bikes in the mix, Porcelain Rocket had among the largest presence. Beyond his impressive skill with fabric and thread, Scott couldn't have been a nicer guy. I look forward to seeing how his Canning Stock Route adventure turns out, beginning sometime around July. 

Nicholas shoots with attention to detail, while on the far side of Scott's Hunter is Gary, who often shows up on Cass' blog. Gary is an interesting character and a modest but sharply skilled bikepacker. 

She and I took some time to more fully investigate the camo painted Hunter that I'd seen the day before. A keen eye will note the super rare NOS parts, including a leather-skinned Avocet touring saddle and a chromo Deore XT seatpost.

This truly is a remarkable bike. It's an exceedingly well conceived 29er adventure tourer. Note the amazing smooth arcs in the rack's stays. That's a custom newfangled 6-speed cluster, imparting a vintage flavor with modern parts.

The design and implementation of the rear rack is superb. 

As is the front rack, and that beauty of a fork.

The Nitto bar features NOS Dura-Ace non-aero brake levers, and NOS Deore XTII top mount thumb shifters on special pod mounts that appeared on late '80s mountain bikes with drop bars. It is no small feat to compile a group of parts that are this rare, this old, and this perfect.

Along with the Moots IMBA bike that I wrote of in my previous post, for me, this Hunter adventure bike is perhaps the next closest bike in the whole show of embodying a compelling concept brought to physical form. The conceptual foundation of this bike is the direct linkage between the original adventuring spirit of the nascent mountain bike movement of the early '80s, to the newly renascent and growing adventure bike movement of the present. If a person were so inclined and equipped with a time machine, the best of the past and the best of the present could be no better assembled than as has been done in this bike.

Only the best and most solidly dependable components at both ends of the time continuum have been sourced for this bike. Likewise, the frame also reflects those same virtues. Its profile echoes that of the original klunkers, the likes of Schwinn Excelsiors and Admirals. The design mixes in other cues, such as a combined hat tip to Tom Ritchey's bi-plane fork and Chris Chance's Yo Eddy fork, Keith Bontrager's / Jeff Lindsay's wishbone seatstay, Charlie Cunningham's and Jacquie Phelan's bar choice, and the camo paint of the Ritchey Commando. The immensity of thought and planning that went into this bike may not be immediately apparent to the casual spectator. As I discovered in talking with Scott Felter, even the paint doesn't just approximate that of the Ritchey Commando; it was applied by the same painter that Ritchey used nearly 30 years ago. Yet, it is a no-compromise modern 29er, with upright angles, good tire clearances, a threadless headset and disc brakes.

It takes great skill and delicacy to integrate the best of the modern with the best of the past into an exceptional package that is respectful of both, while not becoming mired as either a tribute or replica. This bike is past, present and future simultaneously. It is a rolling history lesson; a two-wheeled timeline of where the off-road adventure lineage has been and where it is going.

Now, back to the show...

Boo won the best bamboo bike award. Colorado proud!

A well conducted road bike with clean lines from Alchemy. 

A sleek combo of contemporary parts and classic lines from Victoria Cycles.

A Rob English bike equipped for bikepacking. I like the cage mounts on both the front and rear of the fork blades.

More detail of the frame packs on the English. 

The shiny latex-like fabric of the dry bag under the handlebar is a little fetish-like. Note the scooped support  bracket under the bag.

I couldn't resist a couple more shots of the Moots IMBA bike.

This photo shows the blade of the shovel a bit better than the photo I took on Friday.

A side shot of the Moots IMBA for reference. This was probably my favorite bike of the show. 

She got her first mini bikepacking bag, the pink handlebar bag on the left. The Bailey Works people couldn't have been more nice. They gave her a well equipped wallet full of crayons and paper, on the right.

Nitto's table of highly polished bike jewelry.

A sleek all-rounder frame from Kohak of Japan equipped with a raft of braze-ons. Apologies for the poor contrast.

Julie tended to gravitate toward the mixtes, but was impressed with this gleaming screamer of a bike.

This Stinner 29er was a high-tech adventure bike, featuring a dynamo front hub and a Rolhoff rear, and driven by a Gates Carbon Drive belt. 

An Eriksen 29er that looks to be set up as a CDT machine. Terrific custom Porcelain Rocket bags adorn the frame. 

A titanium pump track/BMX bike from Black Sheep. I had to take a pic as there were very few similar bikes of similar purpose at the show.

At least two of my girls were big fans of this trio of colorful Independent Fabrications 29ers.

Another shot of the IF triplets. 

One of the bikes that she singled out. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of her good friends is named Owen.

This light green Victoria Cycles frame had a lot of interesting elements. It was a bit tough to get a clean shot, though.

The best product endorsement of any builder at the show.

Nicholas and pal checking out the display of candy-colored Chris King hubs. 

Enjoying spinning the hubs, too.

After a couple of hours, the girls were starting to let us know that the time was up. She had turned into a sticker predator, and amassed quite am impressive haul. We went downstairs a hung out for a while, as Lil Sis had a bottle. I let her have my camera for a bit, and she took a few photos of us as we talked. Not bad for her first time with something bigger than a point and shoot.

Her portrait of Cass.

Nicholas and his great shirt from Pie Town, NM. Gotta get one of those.

Me and my slick Wrangler night-on-the-town cowboy shirt.

After the girls left for home, I stuck around for a ride with Nicholas and Cass. Nicholas had been nearly apoplectic with envy when I got my Ridge Runner, so the least I could do was let him give it a spin. I rode his borrowed Cannondale Hooligan, which is a very cool little bike. If I traveled by plane more frequently than I do now (almost never), I would look into getting one. It's not a folder, but it's the first compact bike that I've ridden that actually seems to fit me, and rides much like a full-sized bike. Cass was on his newly found vintage Stumpjumper. Once again, here's a mini installment of Other People's Bikes: Klunkers Parked Next to Me Edition.

On the way out, I spotted this Schwinn Excelsior outfitted as a klunker with parts from a wide time range.

Modern wheels and tires, but with intact skip-tooth chain drivetrain. The cranks were Cook Brothers-ish tubular steel. 

Cass on the Ridge Runner, Nicholas on the Stumpjumper along a stretch of the Cherry Creek Trail.

Both of these guys are great photographers, and quickly went to work when we encountered a mural for a backdrop.

Ridge Runner in the sun.

This Hooligan is a great little bike, and as thoughtfully decked out by Nicholas with some minimalist bags, is a perfect  tool to drop in on any destination.

After riding around for a cursory tour of downtown Denver, we parted ways. The adventurers went back for more of the show, and I caught a train home. In all, it had been a great show and a fun experience. I'm hopeful that with the snow that followed overnight into Sunday, everyone made it back safely to where they need to be. 

Even with the valet parking inside, full racks and railings abounded all around the Convention Center.

My Ridge Runner on light rail, traveling homeward.

NAHBS 2013, Day 1. I was there.

A Moots built to carry a chainsaw, among other things. This was perhaps my favorite bike of the show. Plenty more on that about halfway down the post.

UPDATE: Day 2 photos are here.

I have not previously attended the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, or any other large bike event of its kind. However, this year it is in Denver, so there was no way I would miss it. So, if you're ready to see the bikes, brace yourself. A word of caution though, a tremendous number of photos are to follow. As overwhelming as the number of photos may be, it is not nearly so much so as to have been there. It was a good thing, but overwhelming just the same.

If you are still here, it may help to make sure you have a tasty beverage before you begin.

My Pugsley on light rail on the way to the show. Not handmade, per se, but certainly hands were used in its construction.

Off to a good start, I parked next to Cass' snazzy '84 Stumpjumper, also not exactly handmade.
Thanks to BikeDenver for the valet parking.

NAHBS Denver. It's official. 

Right out of the gate, I met the incomparable Tarik Saleh, of whose famous bike club I am a member, as well as his fine family.

I got there right as the place was roaring to life.

1987 Steve Potts Signature. Fillet brazed.

Ordinarily I'm fairly organized, but I immediately realized there was too much going on for me to quickly make any sense of it. So, I started with something akin to comfort food; a vintage mountain bike. This Steve Potts wasn't new, but it was as much of a gem as any of the bikes there. It's a masterful drop bar mountain bike, chock full of creative innovations.

WTB roller cam brakes, front and rear. Vintage Specialized Ground Control tires.  

Note the custom shifter pods for the Deore XT top mount shifters. 

I can easily imagine a Gypsy on this bike.

That's Steve himself on the right.

Beautiful Wheel Fanatyk hardwood rims and Curtis Odom hubs.

More shiny things from Curtis Odom.

Curtis Odom bike jewelry with a gigantic chainring.

A Brodie full-suspension electric bike. 

Go Rider bamboo longtail fatbike. Excitingly, many longtail fatbikes were to be found.

A Peacock Groove running the current gold-standard of superfat wheels and tires.

A slightly skinnier Peacock Groove with paint too impossibly bright and sparkly to capture on camera.

A Geekhouse Brentwood, in quite possibly the same hue as an '87 Raleigh Seneca, for you Raleigh folks out there..

I'm thinking the Pugsley wants a set of these nicely thin VP platform pedals. Who am I to say no?

I met up with Cass of while out riding and Scott of Porcelain Rocket, who were looking at Scott's amazing new Hunter adventure bike. These guys are both titans of the adventure biking world.

This Hunter is another longtail fatbike, and one of my favorites at the show. Scott has big plans for it on the Canning Stock Route, as first ridden here.

As incredible as the bike are Scott's frame bags. They bolt into the frame, with no need for straps. The result is lighter and stronger than other frame bags. That yellow fabric glows to assist in finding things at night.

Beautiful fork on the Hunter.

The rear rack of the Hunter is removable. Smooth clean lines on everything. Not quite as long as a Big Dummy, this bike should be a bit more nimble off road. 

Fat front, full suspension. Fat was definitely a recurring theme.

Another fattie, this is the same Reeb that I encountered a short while ago. There were many bikes sporting the Gates Carbon Drive everywhere I looked. 

A trio of Independent Fabrications 29ers. The paint was so glossy that it appeared wet.

This Ti Cycles electric assist bakfiets had a lot of things going on.

Some bikes have flask cages. This one had a cage to hold a full-sized 750 ml bottle of scotch. Note the Gates Belt Drive.

I remember Funk as a Denver area custom builder in the late '80s. They are still kicking with this nicely executed 29+ front, fat rear bike. 

This English Cycles 29er has gracefully arced top tube to seatstays.

Another beautiful English, that is probably very fast in the right hands. I'll have to say that the required riding posture would probably rip me in half.  

This Andy Peirce had the best flowing lines of any bike at the show, and this was my favorite tandem. The colors and craftmanship were astounding. I have to get better pics tomorrow. That's Andy on the left.

Andy Hampsten, second from the left, and his eponymous bike.

It's easy to see the inspiration for his modern bikes from his Huffy-branded vintage race bike from the 7-11 team glory days.

Vibe fatbike with some extreme copper plating.

The Vibe's copper theme is carried through on the custom flask.

Vibe's custom integrated tail light.

Avery Cycles of Denver had a very clean bike with a velvety blue matte finish.

The Moots IMBA trail bike

Alright, we've arrived to the philosophical reckoning section of my NAHBS experience. As a precursor, I have to say that every bike at the show was terrific in its own way, and many incorporated some ingenious elements; it's just not possible to get to this level otherwise. However, along with stunning beauty and craftsmanship, I think that an event of this caliber requires a bit more from builders in order to rise to a peak among their peers. For me, that something extra is the conceptual underpinnings of a bike's design. It is that ethereal something that a builder weaves into the construction of the bike itself. It's something that inspires those who see the bike to absorb its encapsulated concept, perhaps learn and grow from it, and even to carry it to action. The Moots IMBA trail bike does just that.

At the show, I overheard several people comment on the "chainsaw bike." True, it has a chainsaw on the rear rack. Obviously, most bikes do not. What makes this bike different is not the chainsaw specifically, but that it encourages an expansion of view beyond trail riding, to both trail building and toward community building. IMBA has long supported stewardship and responsibility for off-road bicyclists; an admirable effort perfectly embodied in this bike. Key elements of a trail building experience are there: a range of tools for the labor of trail work and a beer carrier for reward following hard work, all wrapped into a capable trail bike born of the pride of superior craftsmanship. The assembled form is acknowledgement of the collective efforts of a community to build and improve itself, and to shoulder its share of responsibilities for all trail users.

A second conceptual layer for me is that Moots chose to build the IMBA trail bike around the design parameters embodied within the Surly Krampus 29+, which, from my encounter with a Krampus last Fall, I feel is emblematic of the next generation of trail bikes. This perception was strongly supported by many of the bikes that I saw at the show; fat 29+ wheels and tires, comfortably swept wide handlebars, and simplified drivetrains, all coupled with varying capacity for racks, packs and cargo. Conspicuous racing pedigree or intent was largely absent. Amid the synesthesia-inducing environment of the show, these features came into focus among many of the off-road bikes. It is perhaps a signal to a return to the roots of what it means to venture off road on a bike; it is to experience the journey as the destination.

These ideas are at the core of why the Moots IMBA bike struck me as impressive even among all the other amazing bikes. And with that, I'll return to more bike photos.

Yes, that is several linear feet of curvy titanium tubing, not the least of which is that gloriously wide handlebar. Masterful Porcelain Rocket bags.

See the theme? Again, this is another longtail fatbike. The idea makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. 

Handles and heads for a functional pulaski/shovel are integrated into the front rack. Yep, it holds beer, too.

I would love to take a ride to check out that wide bar.

Superb attention to detail; craftsmanship bar none.

The insert panel reads, "Routt County Riders," the locale of Moots in Steamboat Springs. The IMBA logo is on the other side.

Moots again.

Incredible artistic detail on these Ventus lugs. 

The paint on this Ground Up looked like candy.

An elegant Legacy Frameworks mixte.

The chrome and blue of this Ellis is a perfect match. Really looks like a capable bike.

These Zambikes were specially designed to increase bike accessibility in the developing world.

A Sycip of classic, functional form.

Bilenky had some bikes with incredible paint.

Bike icon Tom Ritchey is on the right, in front of his Break-Away tandem. 

I've long admired Retrotec bikes. This was another of my favorites of the show. A Retrotec 29+ beautifully built around the conceptual heart of a Surly Krampus. Curtis Inglis, the builder, is in green. Tracy stands mesmerized, at left.

A Boo fatbike from nearby Fort Collins. The swoopy fork has nice lines. 

The svelte titanium bar/stem combo on the Boo harkens to the days of the bull moose bar. 

Bikepacking also figured prominently, as in this Cielo.

The bar on the Cielo. I'm really liking the utility of an extended crossbar, appearing with some frequency on several bikes. 

YiPsan bikes of Fort Collins; the builder is at center.

This Donkelope had a whimsical, 18th century vibe. That's some sort of retrofitted carbide bike lamp up front. 

Breadwinner Bikes, from a duo of Portland's custom superstars.

Breadwinner's built-in u-lock system.

One of the Masi bikes used in the movie Breaking Away, a perpetual favorite of many a bike nut like me.

This Co-Motion tandem has dual Gates Carbon Drives. Gates is a historic Denver company and key sponsor of the event.

Great classic styling in these Kohak bikes from Japan.

A sleek, chromed Masi.

Fine flowing lines of a fatbike made by Black Sheep from Fort Collins.

Nice pink rims on this Twenty2.

I didn't quite capture the full name of this very masterfully brazed bike, but the young Japanese builder was a charismatic fellow.  

This Hunter was another that I quite liked, with a style and camo paintjob likely inspired by the popularity of similar features in the early days of mountain bikes. Another bike that Nicholas would probably enjoy.

I spent part of the afternoon talking with Cass Gilbert of while out riding. He and his Stumpjumper are new to each other, but he is not new to adventure biking. He has gained some fascinating perspectives while riding much of the world, including my Peace Corps service country of Kyrgyzstan.