So, I’m back home from the NAHBS show and just wanted to write a re-cap. This was my first year exhibiting at the show, and I spent a lot of time and a lot of money getting ready for this thing. I built three bikes for the show and only one of them was already sold to a customer. The reason I did this is because of all the bikes I’ve built over the last couple years I haven’t really had many that let me have complete artisitic licence to do what ever I wanted. So I decided I wanted to do something a little different than my normal frames and do a lot of custom CNC parts. So I built one fixed gear, one single speed free wheel, and one single speed chain touring bike with an internal hub. Also all of these bikes have different sloping top tubs, the fixed is front sloping, the free is back sloping, and the touring internally geared is a level top tube.
Also the two bikes on the right are very bmx influenced. I made a fixed version with some shaped tubing, and a free wheel bike with discs. The free wheel bike is kind of a mix of road, fixed, mtb, and bmx. Someone at the show called it a 700cMX and I have to say if I had to ride just one bike at the moment that would be it. It looks like a fixed, but the single speed with discs is just something a little different and fun as hell!
These bikes aslo feature an internal head tubes and custom fork races that match to those. And the forks on these bikes also feature some custom 20mm thru axle drops. These drops were actually designed and made by Greg Melms. Greg is an Architectrual Fixture guy who not too long ago did some pretty sick mods to a Tonic Fab MTB frame. When I saw these drops online I knew I had to have them on some project bike in the future. I emailed Greg out of the blue, and he was kind enough to get me a couple sets. So thanks to Greg for his help with that.
All the show bikes also featured my brand new rear drops with integrated chain tensioner. I wrote a post below that describes a little bit about that project as well. A lot of stuff on these bikes is one off and just something different that I thought would be fun. Basically they are just a mix of all the styles of cycling that I’m personally into. Also, both the fixed and free are for sale on Ebay if anyone is interested in a totally unique Geekhouse.
Also I had a lot of help from some people before and at the show and I just want to say thanks to them all.
First off Charlie from MIT designed and then spent about 30 hours with me building that kick-ass tradeshow booth you see in the back ground. If anyone needs some real quality furniture check out Cinder Designs. Dude I owe you so bad!
Also, the guys at Circle A Cycles came through on beutiful but last minute paint job on the 700cMX bike. I ussually have all my frames powdercoated, but we were running out of time so this one ended up with paint. And after seeing how nice this bike came out though I think I’ll be sending some more stuff out for custom paint. Also Brian came out to NAHBS for a night and hung out with us for a bit.
The other two bikes were powdered by Mike Flanigan from ANT. Hopefully I get my own equipment up and running this month and I don’t have to bug him anymore about last minute stuff. Thanks again Mike for putting up with me!
So in addition to a last minute paint job, I also had some last minute assembly going on. I was going a little nuts early last week so some of the guys from Open and my friends Pete and Alexi talked me off a ledge and helped me assemble the show bikes. It was a little nuts for a while, but everything worked out. Also a big thanks to Pete who drove 2000 miles with me to and from the show and to Pete’s family who let us crash in a few spots along the way. Also thanks to Bryan and Ian from Seven for hanging out at my booth and forcing me to keep my new mustache.
Also I just want to say thanks for everyone who I met at the show and everyone that stoped by the booth. Just about everyone there was really nice and excited about the bikes and that means a lot to me. There’s a million other things I could talk about from NAHBS and probably a lot of people I’m forgetting to thank for their help. But I need to get back to work, so that’s it for now. Thanks again everyone, and cross your fingers for an East Coast NAHBS next year.
Thanks!
-Marty
