LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BRAIN) — The foot of snow that fell in Louisville last week may have complicated exhibitor setup for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, but it had little impact on show-goers, with many exhibitors saying Saturday's attendance was the busiest they've ever seen.
Show organizer Don Walker chose Louisville, in part, because of the great time everyone had at the 2013 Cyclocross World Championships that were hosted there, and the city worked its magic, with the evening's good bourbon extending into the show's early hours.
No one was happier about the venue than Connor Wood Bicycles founder Chris Connor. Connor makes his bikes out of solid American white ash, and when questioned about the strength of his bikes, he would remind people that ash is used for tool handles and Louisville Slugger bats.
Connor was commissioned by the Slugger museum to create a bike from raw ash billets from the Slugger bat factory for display in the museum.
"It's kind of a dream come true — what great people at the museum to work with. And I'm honored to tie what I do with the heritage of Slugger bats," Connor said.
The show also saw the return of a triumvirate of veteran builders. Chris Chance relaunched Fat Chance Bicycles, Bill Grove of Grove Innovations offered a state-of-the-art frame jig, and Ted Wojcik is returning with custom frames for Fifield e-bikes.
A growing interest in domestic manufacturing not only saw a few builders launch production bike lines, like Kish, Snyder Cycles and Zen Bicycle. LocoMachine showed a new $3,200 cast-iron three-piece alignment table and tools, and MakeTime introduced its machine shop B2B website.
Next year's NAHBS will be held in Sacramento, Calif., though the dates haven't been set. NAHBS is now partnering with the U.K.'s handmade show, Bespoke; the events will be sponsoring builders and events at each other's shows.
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Chris Connor makes his bikes out of white ash, but this frame made from Louisville Slugger billets is heading for the Slugger museum. The bike's saddle is made from Slugger mitt leather with baseball stitching. -
Fat Chance bikes look surprisingly similar, with a purple '90s vintage Yo Eddy in front of a yellow Yo Eddy 29er and red Yo Eddy 27.5 current production hardtails. -
Shimano handed out a few of its mid-drive motor and battery packs to a few builders and let them go. Here is Bilenky's take on a electric assist delivery bike. -
Many of NAHBS builders learned their craft from Ron Sutphin of United Bicycle Institute. And just to keep his building craft sharp Sutphin showed a lugged bike built to use current technology. The 1.5-inch bottom steertube lug took 10 hours of fabricating but takes a tapered fork. The PF30 bottom bracket lug took twice the time.
