Oregon Handbuilt bike show 2009

Halloween weekend was the '09 Oregon handbuilt bike show; the third running of this event had 40 exhibitors at the Staver Locomotive Building in Portland. I was showing a selection of bikes, ranging from the eminently-Portland-suitable Winter bike to my oh-my-god-how-can-a-steel-bike-be-that-light road race bike to the anti-s&s-travel-bike folding 29er. The show was very busy, keeping me talking for nine hours straight on Saturday (most common question: 'How can the seatstays be that thin? Are they solid?' To which the answer is: 'Once the rear hub is locked in the chainstays, that triangle provides the lateral stiffness required, and the seatstays only have to act as a support strut, and only carry a compressive load. For a tube to fail under compression it takes a HUGE amount of loading, therefore the diameter can be minimised to decrease weight - optimising that frame member for the load it has to carry.'), lots of explanations of how the MTB folds/packs, and talk about the belt drive and the special features that make it work with the frame. Overall it was a successful trip, it was gratifying to have several people tell me they thought my bikes were 'Best in show' (the winter bike and the gold road bike), and to be doing something different from most of the other builders. Folk looking for a custom frame really are spoilt for choice in Oregon though!

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