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View Full Version : NAHBS "trrends" or "themes"

RudAwkning
03-02-2009, 02:37 AM
Seems like I notice a running theme at every NAHBS. One year it was touring bikes. Another it was fixies. I remember seeing Brooks Swallows and leather bar tape on every bike one of the years. Custom stems and integrated stem/handlebar combos another.

This year I saw a large number of Columbus Max bikes (at least 4) as well as a large number of builders using bi-laminate seat clusters (Bedford, Hufnagel and Ellis come to mind but I know I saw more). These may have been prevalent at previous shows but I just didn't have a trained eye for those kinds of details at the time.

Any other trends or themes noticed for this year's show?
MarleyMon
03-02-2009, 02:57 AM
Interest in stainless steel is growing as the material becomes more available.
I saw plenty of Reynolds 953, including an unpainted Ellis joined w/ Llewelyn lugs. The customer was in the booth fondling it and described the minimal paint he had planned for it - obviously you want to show off that metal.

Another trend I noticed w/ stainless was painted tubes, but a logo or graphic cut out so the stainless shows through. I thought that was a great effect.

I got to talk to Fabrizio Aghito of Columbus about their XCR seamless stainless tube set. It was fascinating. That stuff is not cheap - raw material is about 9 times the cost of other steel. Its drilled from a billet rather than rolled into a tube. The technology involved in butting the tubes required lots of R&D.

I even got to write a piece for the show blog about tube makers. Its here:
http://nahbshow.blogspot.com/2009/02/tubemakers-view_28.html

(That one is unattributed, but I got a byline for the Keith Anderson piece here:
http://nahbshow.blogspot.com/2009/02/andersons-kool-kids-cruiser.html)
slowgoing
03-02-2009, 02:59 AM
This year I saw a large number of Columbus Max bikes

Who?
jpw
03-02-2009, 03:05 AM
Seems like I notice a running theme at every NAHBS. One year it was touring bikes. Another it was fixies. I remember seeing Brooks Swallows and leather bar tape on every bike one of the years. Custom stems and integrated stem/handlebar combos another.

This year I saw a large number of Columbus Max bikes (at least 4) as well as a large number of builders using bi-laminate seat clusters (Bedford, Hufnagel and Ellis come to mind but I know I saw more). These may have been prevalent at previous shows but I just didn't have a trained eye for those kinds of details at the time.

Any other trends or themes noticed for this year's show?

What's bi-laminate seat cluster please?
RudAwkning
03-02-2009, 10:23 AM
Who?

De Salvo, Zullo, Don Walker and there were 2 or 3 more.
RudAwkning
03-02-2009, 10:28 AM
What's bi-laminate seat cluster please?

When tubes are lugged and filleted. This used to be done a lot in the old days with head tubes.

Here's a shot of Wages bi-lam seat cluster. He did this using the True Temper S3 inverted tear drop top tube. Below it is a Curt Goodrich bi-lam headtube (not at the show)
corky
03-02-2009, 11:17 AM
Back to themes...... I predicted this year to be the year of the brown Chris King headset, didn't really happen though :)
RudAwkning
03-02-2009, 11:35 AM
Back to themes...... I predicted this year to be the year of the brown Chris King headset, didn't really happen though :)

It was on the Erikson titanium tourer though. The kid who does a lot of the machining there is the owner of the bike (he's also the guy who did those bad ass headset spacers). We had a good long talk about how cool brown bikes were :D
mschol17
03-02-2009, 01:45 PM
The theme? Box lining.
MarleyMon
03-02-2009, 03:01 PM
The theme? Box lining.
good eye!
Dave Wages
03-02-2009, 03:40 PM
From the little bit I saw on my Sunday morning speedwalk through before the doors opened it was city bikes. I know we sold alot more city / commuter bikes last summer at Ben's here in Milwaukee, so maybe people really will ride to work?