The North American Handmade Bicycle Show had some amazing custom craftsmanship
Minneapolis builder Erik Noren showed this stunning e-bike at NAHBS, complete with Shimano’s new STEPS drivetrain and a custom painted Maverick DUC32 fork
The cage surrounding the Shimano STEPS unit is built completely from scratch
Why use the standard Shimano STEPS computer head when you can dress it up a little bit?
Peacock Groove builder and painter Erik Noren never fails to impress at NAHBS
Erik Noren of Peacock Groove regularly presents themed bikes at NAHBS
Gorgeous
Sometimes a standard Campagnolo EPS electronic front derailleur just won’t do
Italian builder Sarto will make just 25 of these limited edition bikes. The carbon frame is dressed up with 18k gold and crocodile leather – and it’s astronomically expensive
Whether such a seat cluster design offers any performance benefit is questionable but it certainly looks unique
Sarto was founded by Antonio Sarto and his son, Enrico, shifted the company to carbon production in 1992
The Enve carbon bars are wrapped with stitched crocodile hide
Likewise, the saddle gets a custom crocodile leather cover
This is not your standard chainstay protector
Gold!
More gold!
Quite possibly the most excited customer at NAHBS
Shamrock Cycles built this custom push bike for one very special customer
It’s a shame that this bike will be outgrown so quickly
Shamrock Cycles pulled out all the stops for this push bike, including a titanium seatpost with an Eriksen Cycles head
Chris King hubs are used front and rear. Note the spoke colors, too
The handlebar was custom made as well, complete with an integrated steerer clamp and rearward sweep
In a novel reversal, the fork is built with rear dropouts while the rear end is built with fork tips
Absolutely awesome
Clever
There’s a certain beauty in the symmetry of all those paired tubes
Japanese builder Futaq brought this stunning titanium creation, called Samurai, to NAHBS. From a distance, it looks to be built from a bunch of deftly curved tubes
But upon closer inspection nearly all of the curved sections are actually made from straight tubes that have been mitered and welded
The truss-style structure bolsters the otherwise unsupported bottom bracket
The head tube is attached to the main frame with this unusual mesh structure
A closer look at Futaq’s handiwork
The cutout is supposed to evoke the image of a samurai being protected by armor
Such construction is undoubtedly time consuming
Such enormous seatstays likely don’t need any reinforcing but the bridge makes for a handy place for a logo
Novel rocker-style dropouts allow the belt to be tensioned. The raised chainstays don’t require a split to feed the belt into the frame, either
The North American Handmade Bicycle Show has always had many facets since its modest beginnings in 2005. On the one hand, it’s a chance for the world to see what the industry’s finest builders do on a regular basis for their customers. But on the other, it’s also a showcase for spectacular one-offs that are sometimes neither practical nor logical but are beautiful and amazing nonetheless.
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In our continuing coverage from this year’s show in Louisville, Kentucky, we bring you some amazing paintwork by Erik Noren of Peacock Groove in Minneapolis, Minnesota; an utterly over-the-top carbon, gold, and crocodile hide creation from Italy’s Sarto Cycles; an incredible display of titanium TIG-welding by Japanese builder Futaq; and Shamrock Cycles’ unspeakably cute custom push bike.
Japanese builder futaq brought to nahbs this stunning titanium creation called samurai. from a distance, it looks to be built from a bunch of deftly curved tubes but upon closer inspectioné:
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Stay tuned for more coverage from NAHBS and start planning to attend next year’s show in Sacramento, California.
