Tuesdays with Dirty: My NAHBS

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It’s been a while since I have done one of these Tuesday deals. My absence has been a combination of life being hectic and just not having much to say. But I think I’m back. The stoke is high and the pedals are turning. So I will probably be checking in more often.

Oh a whim, I flew out to Louisville, KY to meet up with Wrighteous at the North American Handmade Look at the Shiny Shit I Made Show. He did a pretty good job of covering what we saw HERE and HERE, so read those if you haven’t yet. It’s been a few weeks since it all went down and there has been a TON of internet coverage of the bikes that were there. But I wanted to give you a look at what my experience was like.

Now, the handmade bike show really isn’t my scene but I have never had a bad time in Louisville, the flight was cheap and a whole bunch of my friends were going to be there. So I packed up my new dirt jump bike and got on a plane to Kentucky. Wrighteous picked me up at the airport with a bottle of whiskey in hand and looking rough from the night before. But that didn’t stop us from hitting the ground running. This kid can ride and party with the best of ’em and I couldn’t be more stoked to have him as the newest DC contributor. The DC future is bright.

I got to town a bit late on Saturday and only wandered around the show for a couple hours. Honestly, we didn’t do shit besides mooch a bunch of beer off of the REEB boys and wander aimlessly before going to some after parties. But I decided that on Sunday I was going to see everything and talk to everyone. Be like a real reporter and bring all the hard hitting shit to you guys. But then I realized that shit was pretty boring and sat down to have a beer with this guy named Corbin at the Oddity Cycles booth. We soon realized that we both have heard of each other but never really met before. He is one of the masterminds behind the site Shred All Fear. Where they basically remind the rock climbing world not to be so damn serious all the time. Kinda what we try to do here at DC in the bike world. You may know him from such smash hits as Moab Madness:

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While we sat there and drank about it, we realized that very few bikes actually had pedals on them or even look like they have been ridden at all. So we decided to hit the convention center floor and look for all the bikes with pedals, and ask if we can ride them.

Our first stop was behind the booth of Julie Pedalino. This bike was hiding under a sheet and it’s probably the most sexy bike nobody covered at NAHBS. Ya see, there is this weird Fraternity pledge/caste system at NAHBS where first-timers to the show can only display one bike. I think it’s ridiculous but I don’t write the rules, and some people give a shit about those rules. This cross bike was so sexy and the paint job looked like Fireball Whiskey tastes. Sweet yet tingly. So Corbin decided to have his hoagie next to it. DSC_0820

Moving on, we spotted another bike with pedals. It was really old. I think it was from 1892. It was fixed gear that probably weighed 75 pounds and it rode like a dream. I’m pretty sure it was handmade because robots didn’t come along until much later in the bike game.

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Next up was Moonmen bikes. It should be noted that these guys would grab their show bikes every night and go bomb around town. There wasn’t a whole lot of that going on at this show. This bike probably was from space because I couldn’t even get a good picture of it. It was that fast.

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Silca had some pumps that were hand painted by Dario Peggoretti. They didn’t have pedals and probably cost a  bazillion bucks, but that didn’t stop us from taking it for a demo ride.

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Industry 9 wheels… yeah, you can’t help but stare longingly at them.

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REEB’s bikes had pedals on them.

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This bike was little, didn’t fold, made by some guy in Taiwan and wheelied like a mother f’er.

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This thing rode like a dream.

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I have no idea what’s going on here, but it looked like a pretty serious interview with a Brompton involved.

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Kent Erikson had a sexy Titanium full suspension bike at his booth with pedals on it. Come to find out we were the first people to ever ride it. Whoops.

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University of Iowa has a handbuilt bicycle program and that is pretty fuckin’ cool. This little pink number was one of theirs.

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There was a lot of hoopla about Fat Chance making their comeback this year, and rightly so. We wandered over to their booth thinking they will definitely have pedals on their bikes. But they didn’t, so we ride them like a 3 year old on a scoot bike. Because Yo Eddy is back!.

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Oddity cycles also had pedals on their bikes and rode with us after the show. But we could only ride their bike if we put The Cog Fairy on the handlebars. Deal.

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By the time the show ended on Sunday night, we had a small posse gathered of people who wanted to ride and hit some of the great bars in town. So we hit the street, and it was good. We explored the town, drank whiskey, bombed parking garages, drank beers, crashed into snow banks, and drank more beers.

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On monday we all met up to ride at the Mega Cavern. The internet is already full of videos and pictures from that place so I’m just going to leave it at that. I have never been surrounded by so much sculpted dirt in my life, and it is only 1/3 built! Everything you have heard about that place being rad, is true. Go there.

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Well there ya have it. NAHBS was pretty fun.

Until next week. Keep it dirty…

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About dirty biker

I am a fan of singletrack, singlespeeds, single women and single malt. Currently in Carbondale, CO Follow on Instagram @dirty_biker

6 Replies to “Tuesdays with Dirty: My NAHBS”

  1. Pingback: Tuesdays with Dirty: My NAHBS | PEDAL CANTON

  2. Excellent post, Dirty. Well composed, well-written and the photos help carry the narrative. Top notch! Bravo!

  3. I’m no critic, I’d just like to say, “Nice work team!”

    Good to know that you’ll be more regular again Mr. Dirty, cuz you always do good “work”.

  4. The so-called “cross” bike in the photo where the boy is deep throating a sub:
    Slammed stem.
    Yard of seatpin.
    Not much of a billboard.