The Bicycle Escape: March 2009

Friday, March 20, 2009

YiPsan Bicycles Super Commuterhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thebicycleescape/3373126410/

YiPsan Bicycles Super Commuter
Originally uploaded by thebicycleescape

After my first commute, I was in love. Stop by the shop to check out my new ride. It was well worth the wait.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Beauty and the Bicycle

As I roamed down the aisles of the 2009 North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) I was greeted with beautiful bicycle after beautiful bicycle. As I took it all in I paused to think about what makes a bike beautiful? Is it the intricately carved lugs? What about the little extras which add visually to the bike, but offer no utilitarian value to the machine.

I would argue that all of the bikes pictured are beautiful machines. The Peacock Grove dropouts show how fun a bicycle can be. The leafed vine on the Naked frame adds a touch of elegance and complements the bikes paint job. Finally, the clean lines and simple utilitarian nature of the ANT commuter bike remind me how useful a masterfully crafted bicycle can be.

The beauty of a bike is of course in the eye of the beholder. In short I believe the bicycle is as diverse as the people who ride them. They can be fun, funky, playful, all-business, super eccentric or even downright ugly. Fortunately the latter was not present at this year’s show.

What makes a bicycle beautiful to you?

Monday, March 02, 2009

Hufnagel at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show

Danielle and I had a wonderful time at the 2009 NAHBS! So many great people and SO many beautiful bicycles. I hope you enjoyed my live cell phone blogs. I am in the process of uploading higher quality (for a bike mechanic anyway) pictures. These will be on our Flickr album soon.

The bikes above were made by Jordan Hufnagel. He is a newer builder that is worth keeping an eye on. His bike were amazing and he show cased an incredible range of skills. Not only did Hufnagel display several different frames and forks but he included custom racks, stems and even a bar-stem. On top of that he was a hell of a nice guy as my Grandfather would say. Check out his stuff!