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It’s Merckx Mondays (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway) and I’m back in the land of Eddy Merckx. Not Belgium, Melbourne. As far as I’m concerned, classic Eddy Merckx bicycles in Australia is pronounced “F Y X O”. Andy’s supplied the world with great photos of classic steel bicycles over the years and his new 7-FYXO kits are looking great. Pick up the 7-FYXO Jersey here and the FYXO classic bibs here.
Don’t miss the full FYXO photoset here.
Finally! Burlington, Vermont’s Cycles d’Autremont has a website that is more than worthy of your visit. Hubert Horacio’s work is extremely classy and I’ve taken a liking to the Sportif daily rider. You’ll have to see more for yourself over at Cycles d’Autremont. The navigation takes a little getting used to but it’s worth a poke around. I’ll be in Vermont later this summer and will definitely be stopping by for a Shop Visit.
I love the H+Son Archetype rim and leave it to Firefly to make this finish option really pop. Wow.
Here’s an update to the run of production frames that Winter displayed at NAHBS. Dubbed the Tool Series, these frames offer an easily accessible, handmade road frame designed for everything from daily use to road racing. Each Tool Series frame is made in Oregon by Winter Bicycles using fillet brazing and is fit to the rider. These bikes are built to order, feature a Pegoretti Falz Carbon Fork, a Cane Creek 110 Headset and come in two color schemes: Pewter and Hammervein (pictured). See more at Winter and check out additional photos at the Winter Flickr.
Photo by Heather McGrath
For Firefly’s latest build, they had Boston photographer Heather McGrath come in for some detail photos. I’ve been following this bike’s process over on their Tumblr and the end product is quite nice. Check out more detail photos from the Firefly titanium and carbon road at their Flickr and see the full build right here.
“builder’s hands are always dirty…”
NAHBS is always a difficult event to cover. There’s no feasible way for me to go to every booth and talk to the builders, or select one of their frames to shoot, so I tend to just walk around, aimlessly and stop to shoot when something catches my eye. This Photoset is filled with randomness from the show, check the captions for more information and check out my other NAHBS coverage here.
The guys at Alchemy began their operation here in Austin and last year the company relocated to Denver, the home of the 2013 NAHBS. Since relocating, the team has pulled together an empire of steel, carbon and titanium bikes all of which were displayed in their booth. My favorite was the stainless road with Dura Ace.
I didn’t get the chance to visit their facilities in Denver, but all the more reason to return to that awesome city in the spring.
Photo by Kyle Kelley
I hate rubbing in good weather for everyone who’s under snow and grey skies but spring’s right around the corner and that means spring cleaning. Loving these two photos of Kelli working on her road bike at GSC. See the other here. Nice nails girl!
I’m still on kind of a Denver high and no, I’m not talking about the altitude. I really fell in love with that city and believe me, that’s a big deal considering it was under snow most of the time I was there. In Roads is the aforementioned documentary on handmade bikes in Denver and Boulder. Featuring Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop and Mosiac, with music by Trout Steak Revival. Great work Tyler!
Now I need to make it back when it’s warm!
Photo by Andy White
Vintage Cinelli, a classy lady and a great eye with a camera means only one thing: a FYXO photoshoot. Andy’s most recent set has all the sass and class you need on a Sunday night. See more at FYXO.
Eric Estlund of Winter Bicycles like many builders, is beginning to step into the production / semi-custom market. While he’s still making fully custom frames, his recent Pelican rando project for Box Dog Bikes marked a new direction for Winter. At his NAHBS booth this year, Eric displayed two semi-custom production bikes. One of which is en route to Texas now. Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off this track bike…
It was hard to miss Festka’s mirror-like finish on their track bike. These Czech builders brought a little something for everyone. If their Motol Chrome track bike isn’t your thing, maybe their neon pink carbon Zero road or razzle-inspired XCR Pablo road would do it for you? I didn’t get a lot of time to chat with two of the builders, so check out more information at Festka and see more in the Gallery.
It should be no surprise that Chris Bishop won an award at NAHBS with this bike. For the third year in a row, this full time framebuilder and part time bike messenger brought an incredible fleet of absolutely stunning bikes with him from Baltimore. I was able to shoot three out of the four bikes, the first of which being the Drillium Revival track and now, this reverse bi-lam road.
Originally conceived by Ian Sutton of Icarus Frames, the reverse bi-lam head tube was a show stopper. When the client requested the detail from Chris, he called Ian, asking permission to make it, something he didn’t have to do, but Chris is a true Southern gentlemen. The end result is a tri-color jade, emerald and turquoise road bike with a modern Dura Ace group and a custom 1″ quill stem. The stainless rear triangle and Bishop-standard thin lugwork set this apart from the playing field at NAHBS.
Michael from Brooks England is beyond stoked on his new ride and as a fellow Bishop owner, I can say for sure that this bike is a life-long companion. Yes, I am very partial to Chris’ work, so I took a little more time documenting this machine. Go on and let it marinate in the Gallery.
Themed bikes are usually hit or miss but this Groovy Cycleworks, along with the Peacock Groove I just posted were some of my favorites. With the forthcoming zombie apocalypse, it should be no surprise that a zombie bike would rear its ugly head. But this bike is far from ugly. In fact, it probably had one of the most complex finish in the show. It’s not paint, or anodizing, it’s a masked, ceramic finish. First the bike was polished, then masked off and coated with Cerakote (I love that it’s a gun coat on a zombie bike). It’s incredibly complex and there’s practically an episode of the Walking Dead illustrated throughout the bike. The dead, I mean, end result is just groovvvvy!
Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira‘s new framebuilding company, Breadwinner unveiled their full range at the 2013 NAHBS. While Ira and Tony’s own speciality approach to frame building is still present, the branding and choice paint selection unify the brand into one of the most impressive offerings I saw today. Some details from previous projects returned with new life and with a breathe of confidence, the two Portland builders have a very promising future ahead of them.
Stoked to finally see some of these photos. Brian’s work is always inspirational. Here’s some information from Argonaut:
“We invited Brian Vernor up to Portland a few months ago to turn his lens on Argonaut. The book captures the essence of the brand and as usual Brian did a fantastic job. We produced a very limited run of books which we will have on hand at NAHBS. We will be releasing the digital version on March 5th so everyone can enjoy the wonderful work that Brian and David from Wilderness put together for us.”
See more teasers below and once the digital book is live, I’ll link to it.
This video from Rock ‘n’ Rollin makes me want to ride in Europe and put on Wish You Were Here right now.
“In early 2012 when we started to work on the Quiver our goal was to introduce a frameset that was affordable, versatile and flexible enough that with a few different parts you could build your ideal bike. Whether you need an aggressive commuter, a comfortable city bike or an affordable frameset for cyclocross season, we feel the Quiver is the frameset for you.
Relaxed road geo, plenty of room for large tires and fenders plus Fyxation’s unique combination of removable derailleur hanger and cable stops make this frame just as at home as a single speed, internal or 1×10 build. Designed with horizontal dropouts, removable derailleur hanger and removable cable stops, the Quiver can be run as an ultra clean single speed or as a 2×10 build. We also made the rear wheel spacing 132.5 to accommodate a road hub or internal gear hub. Want to run a large tire? The Quiver can take up to 700x47c. Need fenders or a rack? The Quiver comes equipped with dual eyelets in the rear dropout and fender eyelet on the fork.
The Quiver is in production now and will be in stock at Fyxation dealers in mid April.”
See more info and specs at Fyxation.
