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On show: Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show, November 6, 2008
A new handbuilt show pops up in Colorado
By James Huang
The inaugural Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show opened its doors last weekend on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colorado. Although the stellar late fall weather and coinciding weekend of UCI 'cross racing likely hampered traffic somewhat, roughly a thousand attendees still wandered through the doors to check out the creations of nearly thirty exhibitors.
Black Sheep Cycles - curvy titanium
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Fort Collins, Colorado builder James Bleakley took home the 'Rocky Mountain Builder of the Year' and 'Rider's Choice' awards for his array of swoopy titanium rigs. Highlighting the collection was the ZAMer with its monstrous 36" wheels, artful truss-style fork (with over 100mm of rake for proper handling) and beautiful twin-tube titanium chain guard.
Truss forks also graced a pair of slightly more conventional 29ers, one of which bore clever telescoping chain stays to adjust chain tension. According to Bleakley, the truss design (which we first saw on Jeff Jones' stunning rigs) is lighter than conventional forks, provide a far smoother ride and can be custom-tuned depending on the rider by altering tubing diameters.
Also on hand was a slick 'scorcher' fixie with a bowed cruiser-type frame, faux lugs, a custom titanium fork and beautiful three-piece titanium handlebars.
Steel rigs from Argonaut Cycles
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Argonaut Cycles made the trip all the way from Portland, Oregon but the effort was well justified with both the 'Builder's Choice' and 'Best in Show' awards. Capturing the former prize was a beautifully rendered single-speed 'cross bike with polished stainless steel lugs and signature dropouts with the Argonaut logo cut right into the pattern. Flawless blue powdercoating and masking by Spectrum Powder Works completed the package.
Argonaut went stainless-crazy for the 'Best in Show' winner, though: a matte black drop-bar fixed-gear with polished head tube lugs, seat cluster, dropouts, fork crown and top tube protector. The rims were powdercoated to match as well, and as everyday clear-anodized aluminum just wouldn't do here, the bars, stem, Thomson seatpost, Phil Wood hubs and White Industries crankset were all polished and/or chrome-plated to a gleaming finish.
Courage brings all-white and the colors of the Belgian flag
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Courage Bicycle Mfg. Co. also made the long trip from Portland and although it didn't quite garner the accolades of last year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show 'Best New Builder' prize, it did earn an 'Honorable Mention' for a stark white single-speed winter training rig aptly dubbed 'Princess'.
The all-white lugged steel frame bore a matching custom-built and finished steel fork and stem, impeccably cleanly mounted white fenders and, of course, white bar tape whose use in wintertime climes should be respected if for no other reason than its practical absurdity. As has fast become Courage's trademark, the horizontal slotted dropouts were finished with brazed-on stainless steel faces laser-etched with the company logo and adjustment markers.
'Cross racing is huge in Courage's base locale so builder (and trained industrial designer) Aaron Hayes naturally also brought a steel CX stunner complete with vertical brazed-face dropouts, slender seat stays and custom-colored FMB tubulars emblazoned with the Belgian national colors.
Temple Cycles conjures up Het Beest
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Temple Cycles' 'Het Beest' steel cyclo-cross frame was arguably the most eye-catching of the show with its bold white, black and red motif complete with a phalanx of Belgian lions and coordinating Deda Newton stem, Thomson seatpost and Alpha Q CX20 carbon 'cross fork. Oversized, thin-walled steel pipes ensure that the beauty isn't just skin-deep, though if we would still undoubtedly grimace if we scuffed this finish on a botched barrier.
Temple also builds with titanium and carbon fiber, too, and included examples of such work in its RMBS booth. While the all-titanium road bike wasn't particularly ground-breaking in its rather straightforward construction, the decal work still put forth a good demonstration of Temple's keen aesthetic sense.
Showcasing that skill was a wood-veneered jaw dropper that combines modern-day construction and materials with classic appearances - even the seatpost was custom-finished with wood veneer and the effect was undeniably impressive.
Moots heads to the grocery store with the Comooter
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Steamboat Springs-based Moots Cycles is perhaps best known for its high-performance road, 'cross and mountain machines but its Comooter showpiece proved that it can do utility bikes as well.
The upright townie-style geometry was fitted with a Rohloff interally-geared rear hub and matching sliding dropouts for the ultimate in all-weather durability. Up front, a special Moots titanium stem was capped with a custom aluminum faceplate complete with an integrated light mount, all powered (of course) by a Schmidt dynamo front hub.
Finishing off the decidedly high-end build was a Campagnolo Ultra-Torque carbon crankset and new Wound-Up carbon light touring/commuter fork complete with built-in fender mounts.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by James Huang/Cyclingnews.com
- Black Sheep won 'Riders's Choice' for his 36"-wheeled ZAMer.
- A twin-tubed titanium chain guard is cleanly fitted.
- James Bleakley of Black Sheep says the ZAMer fork has over 100mm of offset for proper handling.
- Black Sheep also showed off a pair of swoopy titanium 29ers.
- Blakeley's truss-style fork is claimed to be both lighter, stronger and more comfortable than conventional designs.
- Larger-diameter tubes can also be used depending on desired ride characteristics.
- The clever telescoping chain stay design allows for adjustable chain tension with minimal added weight.
- Blast around town on this Black Sheep 'scorcher' and you're likely to get noticed.
- The frame is TIG-welded but careful masking and blasting yields a faux lugged look.
- Beautiful three-piece titanium bars complete the package.
- Argonaut's single-speed 'cross bike won the 'Builder's Choice' award.
- Argonaut finished off its creation with these eye-catching dropouts.
- This Argonaut track bike took home 'Best in Show' honors.
- The powdercoated matte black paint was offset by brightly polished stainless steel lugwork.
- Also on hand from Argonaut was a clean road bike built with Columbus Life tubing…
- …all joined together with Llewellyn lugs.
- Courage builder Aaron Hayes built this rig for a customer looking for a winter training bike.
- Graduated stainless steel faces provide a nicely finished look.
- Fender mounts are decidedly minimal.
- Hailing from Portland, Courage naturally does 'cross as well.
- The vertical dropouts display a variation on Courage's stainless steel-faced theme.
- FMB doesn't offer tires in this color but we would imagine more than a handful of people will get inspired to crack out the markers after seeing this.
- Dean says its new Superlite titanium road frame weighs just 1090g (2.4lb).
- Even the dropouts are drilled out on the new Dean Superlite in order to shave a few precious grams.
- This Dean full-suspension bike uses a titanium front triangle…
- …mated to a Ventana aluminum rear end.
- Local builder Chris Kopp built this 'cross bike up for himself with Columbus Altec2 aluminum tubing. Kopp says the complete weight is just 7.3kg (16.0lb).
- Simple S-bend seat stays cap off the rear end.
- Kopp also does prototype work for other companies and this townie is apparently headed for the production line.
- Sliding dropouts are fitted out back.
- Kopp's head tube logo is a play on his name.
Images by
Jonathan Devich/
- Temple Cycles showed off this gorgeous 'cross stunner.
- The flawlessly applied red and white paint made for a bold look.
- Belgian lions are littered throughout.
- Watch out! 'Het Beest' is coming for you…
- Food for thought.
- Temple also does titanium and carbon fiber…
- …and shows a keen knack for aesthetics.
- Moots is best known for its high performance bikes but this 'Comooter' is still one of the finest utility bikes we've seen.
- Sliding dropouts are purpose-built for the Rohloff rear hub and are also fitted with rack and fender mounts.
- Wound-Up has recently introduced a light touring/commuter fork model that comes equipped with fender mounts.
- The special faceplate includes a light mount.
- Seeing as how we're in the midst of 'cross season Moots obviously had to bring a cyclo-cross rig along for the ride.
- The Moots Gristle uses a 26" rear wheel and 29" front wheel.
