Manifest Bike Front, originally uploaded by pereiracycles.

Oregon Manifest kicked off this past weekend in Portland with the Constructor’s Design Challenge and race. According to the website, framebuilders from around the country were challenged to build “an innovative, modern transportation bike in this technical trial of engineering dexterity and fabrication mettle.”

Bike Portland posted the 12 design winners. They also have an excellent photo gallery from the Constructor’s race that is worth a look. While you are at Bike Portland, check out the rest of their coverage of Oregon Manifest. Of particular interest is the “Design Challenge from the builder’s perspective” post. Of course, Bike Portland is not the only blog where you can read about the Constructor’s Challenge. Cycle Mumbreeze was the first place where I noticed pictures of the entries late Friday. Do a quick Google blog search and you will see that the bikes of the Constructor’s Challenge have been getting quite a lot of exposure on the web the past few days. Tony Pereira’s winning entry, with its integrated U-lock, even showed up in a Wired Gadget Lab post today. It is great to see that much exposure for a custom bicycle design competition like this.

On the subject of framebuilding, I am curious if any of you have read Lugged Bicycle Frame Construction, A Manual for the First Time Builder by Marc-Andre R Chimonas and Raymond Wang? I have never seen it, but it recently popped up as a suggested book for me on Amazon. The subtitle, Build a bicycle frame with a $35 torch and other inexpensive tools, is what got my attention. I own an old copy of the now out of print Richard Talbot book Designing and Building Your Own Frameset: An Illustrated Guide for the Amateur Bicycle Builder, and I wonder if this new book is along the same lines. I might pick up a copy just out of curiosity, but if any of you read it in the mean time, let me know what you think.