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dookie
03-25-2009, 08:46 PM
100% pure bad-ass:

http://www.thevelocafe.com/NAHBS/NAHBS-Images/1.jpg
paczki
03-25-2009, 08:54 PM
Dude, you got to get the poster in the pic :banana:
markie
03-25-2009, 09:01 PM
I really like this:http://vanillabicycles.com/frames/commuter/3/lrg/8.jpg

I am not sure why I like it so much. The paint job especially is very 80s teen boy bedroom. However I find myself coming back and looking at pictures of that bike more than any other.

Oh and you forgot to use this: :bike:
mschol17
03-25-2009, 09:08 PM
I like that fixed gear a lot. This one was pretty cool too:
raygunner
03-25-2009, 10:05 PM
I like these!
raygunner
03-25-2009, 10:08 PM
This one too!
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/5229/vanilla.jpg (http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vanilla.jpg)
Sacha White
03-25-2009, 11:02 PM
Lock it down. This one's bound to get out of hand ;)
Pete Serotta
03-26-2009, 12:08 AM
l like them :D


Lets PLEASE act like ladies and gentlemen on this one. THANKS
Ray
03-26-2009, 04:15 AM
My favorite bike shop used to be a Litespeed dealer and had a really cool Litespeed ti trike hanging from the ceiling. The gift for the kid who has everything? I thought it was pretty cool at the time, but I tended to like Litespeed back then anyway.

-Ray
Volant
03-26-2009, 06:53 AM
I really like this:http://vanillabicycles.com/frames/commuter/3/lrg/8.jpg

I am not sure why I like it so much. The paint job especially is very 80s teen boy bedroom. However I find myself coming back and looking at pictures of that bike more than any other.

Oh and you forgot to use this: :bike:


+1 I like that one too. The image of my favorite got removed with the new site update. :(
ti_boi
03-26-2009, 06:56 AM
Pron
mistermo
03-26-2009, 07:43 AM
Who makes/sells the bars in this pic? Which model? Thx.
RudAwkning
03-26-2009, 08:05 AM
Who makes/sells the bars in this pic? Which model? Thx.

I think it's the Jitensha bar.

http://www.jitensha.com/eng/flatbar05.html
palincss
03-26-2009, 08:21 AM
Two or three years ago I'm riding home from work in downtown DC, make the turn off 3rd St. at the National Gallery West Building and start riding through the Mall. I overtake a guy riding a drop-dead gorgeous Vanilla touring bike. I notice the bike, say something about how pretty it is, what gorgeous stainless racks it has. We chat a bit, and it turns out he's pootling along because he's got a few minutes to burn, going to meet his wife in front of the Natural History museum and he's early.

He was very surprised to learn I'd heard of Vanilla. He and his wife had recently relocated from Portland, had a matching pair, and from his perspective he thought Vanilla was a little-known local builder.

It seems hard to imagine today, doesn't it?
Auk
03-26-2009, 09:02 AM
The beauty of it is that Sasha still is a relative unknown in the big picture of things. There is a truck load of riders out there that have no radar past the big name bike manufacturers. Trek, Specialized, etc. Pull up on a Sachs, and they would be just as confused by the name as they would as to why you are on a lugged steel frame. Again, this is a beautiful thing. It is also why shows such as NAHBS and others like it must continue to thrive year after year, location after location. It is to get it out there that there are all these "unknown" builders crafting some extraordinary bikes.

This past NAHBS, I walked around with a guy in my club that has been riding for nearly 20 years. He knew the big name companies, but 90-95% of the builders at the show he had never heard of. He just kept saying, "I had no idea these things were out there". He is slowly getting it .
e-RICHIE
03-26-2009, 09:08 AM
This past NAHBS, I walked around with a guy in my club that has been riding for nearly 20 years. He knew the big name companies, but 90-95% of the builders at the show he had never heard of. He just kept saying, "I had no idea these things were out there". He is slowly getting it .



tell him to buy the book (http://books.google.com/books?id=tqJlDwJOR5kC&pg=PP1&dq=custom+bicycles&ei=MvnHSauIOoSkkATlvYm_CA#PPT9,M1) atmo.
willy in pacifi
03-26-2009, 09:09 AM
I like these!

When I was talking to Sacha about colors for the Avacado Green PBP bike (picture above) I told him which of the bikes on his site I liked the color of and those that I didn't. I thought we had agreed to the gray of the fendered fix gear but I let him have the ultimate say.

I drove 700 miles up from the Bay area on a Friday to pick it up for a 300k the next day out of Portland. It was one of those great road trips and I only wished my buddy could have tagged along.

When I pulled up in front of the Vanilla Workshop I was so excited to see my new gray bike. The Berthoud bags were a matching gray to go with it.

Well once inside I see the bike all ready to go but it was the avacado green with the dark green panel. I never would have asked for that color but it looked much better than had it been painted gray.

I spent that night in a hotel getting ready for the next days 300k and had a tough time sleeping knowing I was going to get to ride it the next day. It rained for a portion of the 300k but the bike had no problems and I deemed it PBP ready.

I just had a couple of fender sets painted to math it as I finally wore my rear one out after about 15,000 miles. The paint still looked perfect but it was cracking at a contact point with the frame. I has to send a piece of my old fender up so they could color match it and the fenders look perfect.

The bike is now approching its second year and it looks brand new. I have not changed a thing other than the fenders. I am planning to get a couple of the new LED Schmitt lights and have been meaning to call up to Portland to see if they can paint those to match.

Willy in Pacifica
Chad Engle
03-26-2009, 09:25 AM
Someone please dig up the Vanilla with the fishing pole holder. Best bike ever.
Auk
03-26-2009, 09:26 AM
tell him to buy the book (http://books.google.com/books?id=tqJlDwJOR5kC&pg=PP1&dq=custom+bicycles&ei=MvnHSauIOoSkkATlvYm_CA#PPT9,M1) atmo.

Indeed, otherwise he'll be begging to borrow mine.
mister
03-26-2009, 09:58 AM
i don't see how someone could ride for 20 years and not know about the established steel frame builders atmo.

on a side, i saw the brunksawa in person yesterday...i know sachs frames are badass but there is something even more itmo you can understand when you see it in person verse looking at pics on the web.
scottcw2
03-26-2009, 10:02 AM
My favorite Vanilla will be the one in my size that comes up for sale.
jim d
03-26-2009, 10:05 AM
+1 I like that one too. The image of my favorite got removed with the new site update. :(

it is on the new site.

http://vanillabicycles.com/frames/commuter/3/

jim
cw05
03-26-2009, 11:27 AM
Someone please dig up the Vanilla with the fishing pole holder. Best bike ever..
Waldo
03-26-2009, 11:32 AM
:) tell him to buy the book (http://books.google.com/books?id=tqJlDwJOR5kC&pg=PP1&dq=custom+bicycles&ei=MvnHSauIOoSkkATlvYm_CA#PPT9,M1) atmo.

Is it available on Kindle? :)
csm
03-26-2009, 11:37 AM
[QUOTE=mister]i don't see how someone could ride for 20 years and not know about the established steel frame builders atmo.

you'd be surprised. how many people drive Buicks every day for the past 30 yrs and don't know what else is out there. I guess it depends on one's passions.
Chad Engle
03-26-2009, 08:40 PM
cw05 - Thanks, that is the bomb. Upon retirement I shall have one.
billrick
03-27-2009, 08:44 AM
My bike commute takes me down the Mall everyday and I've seen this couple out there on their matching Vanillas. I've also seen a beautiful Vanilla mixte with custom racks locked up outside the YWCA near the Portrait Gallery. Add that to Too Tall's red be-fendered Vanilla and we have at least four in the Washington DC area. Am I missing any?

(Yep, I'm one of those guys who eyeballs everyone's bike as I pass.)

:)


Two or three years ago I'm riding home from work in downtown DC, make the turn off 3rd St. at the National Gallery West Building and start riding through the Mall. I overtake a guy riding a drop-dead gorgeous Vanilla touring bike. I notice the bike, say something about how pretty it is, what gorgeous stainless racks it has. We chat a bit, and it turns out he's pootling along because he's got a few minutes to burn, going to meet his wife in front of the Natural History museum and he's early.

He was very surprised to learn I'd heard of Vanilla. He and his wife had recently relocated from Portland, had a matching pair, and from his perspective he thought Vanilla was a little-known local builder.

It seems hard to imagine today, doesn't it?
rudetay
03-27-2009, 09:27 AM
I think it's the Jitensha bar.

http://www.jitensha.com/eng/flatbar05.html

What about those tires? They look plush.
flydhest
03-27-2009, 09:52 AM
My bike commute takes me down the Mall everyday and I've seen this couple out there on their matching Vanillas. I've also seen a beautiful Vanilla mixte with custom racks locked up outside the YWCA near the Portrait Gallery. Add that to Too Tall's red be-fendered Vanilla and we have at least four in the Washington DC area. Am I missing any?

(Yep, I'm one of those guys who eyeballs everyone's bike as I pass.)

:)

mine.
The couple with the matching pair talked to me before they bought theirs (as did Too Tall). I run into them every so often on my commute home. We share smiles and Sacha accolades.
billrick
03-27-2009, 11:49 AM
mine.
The couple with the matching pair talked to me before they bought theirs (as did Too Tall). I run into them every so often on my commute home. We share smiles and Sacha accolades.

Cool! Photos? You all need to get together for a family protrait in front of the cherry blossoms. I'm hoping to join y'all someday, but I missed joining the list.
steve575
03-27-2009, 08:27 PM
...
Tom Byrnes
03-27-2009, 09:15 PM
but, I'm biased:

http://vanillabicycles.com/frames/randonee/2/
bozman
03-27-2009, 10:58 PM
...

that is beautiful.
gearguywb
03-28-2009, 05:49 PM
I haven't seen a bike from Sacha that I didn't like but since he is no longer taking orders I will keep lurking here and hope one day to find a 57 for sale, but I am not holding my breath.
avalonracing
03-28-2009, 05:59 PM
http://www.thevelocafe.com/NAHBS/NAHBS-Images/1.jpg

I hope you guys think about the time that went into this tricycle when you are waiting years for the bike that you put the deposit on to be built. :D
ty-ro
03-28-2009, 07:34 PM
I'm not sure exactly what it is, but there is something so aesthetically and functionally pleasing about a retro steel frame with modern components and wheels. I guess it is the juxtaposition of the tried and true vintage frame with the technology of the rest. I know some purists appreciate the more straight vintage bikes, and I appreciate that too. There is something about Vanillas in particular that balance the old and new so well.