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19 responses to “2011 NAHBS”

1. 

   Andy

   March 1, 2011

   I’m surprised there’s leeway in the definition. I didn’t know that was an issue. Before reading more about it, my initial thought is that “handmade” means that someone welded together a frame, installed all the parts on the frame, and finished it (either with paint, polishing metal, or whatever other finishing techniques seem appropriate for the materials used). I would hope at show like this that the person in charge of design and/or fabrication of the bike is there to show it off.

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2. 

   Adam Rice

   March 1, 2011

   I was at the show (it’s a short bike ride from where I live). I was surprised to see Ritchey bikes with a large booth there—I mean, they outsource all their manufacturing to one of the five or so giant (or Giant) bike builders in China and Taiwan, right?

   To my ears, a custom bike suggests that the customer is dealing directly with the shop that builds it, and that the bike is built to the customer’s requests. Part of what should make this special is that the framebuilder is a craftsman with both the knowledge of what makes a good bike and how to make a good bike—that both these skills reside in the same person. That if the customer asks for something that is unadvisable either in terms of the final product or the manufacturing process, the builder will know that it’s a problem.

   If the guy who is putting his name on the downtube is a designer/customer liaison and not a builder, then he’s essentially writing a script for some guy in China to follow. The guy in China may not really know what the customer’s priorities are; if a problem arises, he isn’t necessarily prepared to adapt in a way that is faithful to those priorities. Admittedly, the differences are probably small. But if you’re buying a custom bike, you’re paying for those small differences.

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   1. 

      James Thomas

      March 1, 2011

      Ritchey is a good example. It is possible that Tom Richey built the new prototype frames himself, but if they go into production the manufacturing will be outsourced. Even though Ritchey is a great framebuilder, the bikes that bear his name these dayss are not handbuilt (by him at least). People have questioned the presence of brands like Cinelli and Tommasini for the same reason. I think your point about being able to react to problems or changes throughout the process is key…and that is what makes a bike custom. Handbuilt though, does not exactly mean the same thing. Just because a bike is built by hand does not mean that it is tailored to a specific individual. It may just be semantics, but I think that is the source of confusion for some.

      Reply
3. 

   Rol

   March 1, 2011

   I appreciated the fact that Go Means Go brought up the class issue. A handmade bike (or any expensive bike) has significant socioeconomic class implications. This might be the first time I’ve ever seen anyone bring it up, which makes me realize the issue of class is even more taboo in bike circles than it is in the general population. Must be the gear lust. Anyway, the world certainly doesn’t revolve around $6,000 bikes, or even the $2,000 bikes that author seems to cite as his normal baseline. It revolves around cheap mountain bikes from the 90s, as far as I can tell. Nothing wrong with that. Thrift used to be seen as a virtue, until it started to run counter to the consumerist dogma the overclass bombards us all with.

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4. 

   Adam

   March 1, 2011

   No love for Dirt Rag and Bicycle Times?

   http://www.dirtragmag.com/nahbs2011

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   1. 

      James Thomas

      March 2, 2011

      I missed that. Thanks for adding the link.

      Reply
5. 

   Nick F

   March 1, 2011

   James, I think you got it right with your pick to win the show.

   It is really a shame that with so many incredibly talented builders in one space the designs wouldn’t be more innovative.

   I’m not saying the bikes aren’t amazing. I just want to see the future, whatever it is… not the past and present, perfected.

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   1. 

      Nick F

      March 1, 2011

      Not that I think that track bike is the future, btw. It’s interesting though.

      Reply
6. 

   Laurence Guttmann

   March 2, 2011

   James, I agree that there is confusion between “hand built” and “custom”. Cannondales were, until recently, hand built in the US but were never made custom (except maybe in the early days). On the other hand, you can get yourself a custom frame that is not hand built.
   I think that what the NAHBS represents is not so much “hand built” (despite that term being part of the name) but builders that produce bike porn in low-volume. Some will be welded together in someone’s shed, others will be built in less romantic settings, but all are beautiful and special in a way that a mass-produced bike is not.

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7. 

   Ross Nicholson

   March 2, 2011

   I’d like to see electric steering on pedaled machines to eliminate handlebars altogether.

   Reply
   1. 

      James Thomas

      March 2, 2011

      Why? What would be the advantage over a simple mechanical system?

      Reply
8. 

   Lovely Bicycle!

   March 2, 2011

   I posted a mildly critical post about NAHBS, but with a different focus from what you bring up.

   I understand “handmade” to mean designed and built inhouse: a creative endeavour from concept to finished product. If the designer and builder are not the same, then they must work as a team, ideally under the same roof. The process should be collaborative and dynamic. In my view, outsourcing the work to a different continent breaks the handbuilding process apart and robs it of much of what makes it special.

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   1. 

      James Thomas

      March 2, 2011

      Interesting points in your post. Thanks for adding the link.
      
      “In my view, outsourcing the work to a different continent breaks the handbuilding process apart and robs it of much of what makes it special.”

      I would certainly agree with that, but what about a small company that subcontracts some or all of the framebuilding process domestically? There is always going to be some gray area in deciding who meets the spirit of the show, and I think it is something that the organizers (mainly Don Walker) have to consider on a case by case basis. Calling it the “handmade” show instead of the “custom” show allows for a bit of leeway in deciding who can exhibit…and I think that is the way it should be. You are right that showcasing the “creative endeavor from concept to finished product” is the intent of NAHBS, so that general idea should be the main factor in determining who is allowed to exhibit there. Anytime subjectivity is involved though, someone is going to feel like they were unfairly excluded.

      Reply
9. 

   Human_Amplifier

   March 3, 2011

   I loved the pix – thanks for sharing the links.
   Bike porn at its best !

   I, like most reading this, am an enthusiast .. (sad, as my wife says) as I drewl over one amazing bit of detail design and precision engineering after another.

   I take issue with Warwick at Thylacine Cycles tho’ …..

   What’s wrong with the riding position of a Dutch bike ? – always upright. Oh and the ability to fold, into long thin rollable ’stick’ so never carry. .. Sales of 15-20,000 a year (plus a further 45,000+ unlicensed versions made in China, 95% of which are for the local market), speak otherwise.

   Would you like to get more people riding bikes ? – or prefer to keep it an elitist, exclusive enthusiast, tribe thang ?? … just for us ?

   Mark
   More info on Uprights, Folders, posture and why the other 90% of peeps dont ride bikes
   http://issuu.com/mark77a

   Reply
   1. 

      James Thomas

      March 3, 2011

      “Would you like to get more people riding bikes ? – or prefer to keep it an elitist, exclusive enthusiast, tribe thang ?? … just for us ?”

      As ridiculous as that sounds, I know some cyclists really do feel that way. I don’t know if Warwick is one of them, but it does appear that the bikes he makes at Thylacine Cycles are squarely aimed at enthusiasts. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but I am not sure why he feels threatened by non-enthusiast bikes on the market as well. Perhaps his rant was based on his disappointment at not being included in NAHBS, but I agree that his comments about upright designs are way off base.

      Reply
10. 

    Loving the Bike

    March 3, 2011

    Thanks for including us in your list of blogs that posted coverage of NAHBS. It was a great weekend….I’m still buzzing.

    Darryl

    Reply
11. Bicycle Photo » Cyclelicious

    March 3, 2011

    […] has his thoughts on NAHBS 2011 at Bicycle […]

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12. 

    Thylacine Cycles

    March 5, 2011

    Erm, okay we’ve got two topics going on here so it’s gunna get messy.

    From where I’m sitting, the reason 90% of people don’t ride bikes has absolutely nothing to do with bikes – it’s infrastructure – and people themselves. People see travel generally on a day-to-day basis as something that’s undesirable and a necessary evil that should be made as painless as possible. Lack of infrastructure, laziness, lack of ‘convenience’ is why I think more people don’t ride bikes, and no Industrial Designer abomination like Biomega or Strida are going to fix that. Of course I can say that because I am and Industrial Designer :o)

    As for NAHBS, well, the show doesn’t have a mission statement, and it’s ‘Rules’ are aggressive and confrontational, and enforced at the whim of the organisers. From my perspective, the shows’ primary focus should be on small business and artisanship – and it’s not. The problem is, is that there’s a lack of professional rigor in the shows set-up and running. They’ve only just realised – after me arguing with Walker for 5 years now – that there are companies that fall outside what is tradtionally ‘one guy in a shed’. It doesn’t recognise the value of design in custom framebuilding AT ALL, and that it’s completely feasable for handbuilt artisanship to co-exist (a ridiculous way to put it, but anyway) with design.

    I mean, if you subcontract for other companies building handbuilt custom one off bicycles, why can’t you promote that side of your business at NAHBS? If you run a design company and you use artisan builders to build your bikes, why can’t you (according to the flimsily enforced rules) exhibit at NAHBS? And heck, what if you’re a design company with a grand idea and some prototypes – why can’t NAHBS be a showcase for that, too?

    The disparate / duality from my perspective, is that as a Designer I can see, appreciate, and value Artisanship, but the vocal minority within the Artisan Framebuilding community (obviously there are exceptions) is that design is a threat or something to be derided. We’ve really brought that on ourselves in some respects as Industrial Design especially has really lost it’s way and really just become a vacuous, reductionist, ‘value add’ tool.

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13. Thylacine Cycles :

    March 5, 2011

    […] is, and it’s happening over at velocipede salon (16 pages to wade through), go means go, and bicycle design.  I’m sure there’s others but I’ve wasted more of my life on this than is […]

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