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NAHBS 2010 - Ever wonder where boutique bike brands get their lovely emblems and head badges?  Poka Cycle Accessories could be the source.

They have a range of artsy designs available for purchase, or you can get full custom headbadges, even if you only need one.  Good art’s not cheap, though, and one-off badges from your own artwork range from $160 to $180 depending on if you want stainless steel, gold plated brass or chrome plated brass.

Check out some more of their handiwork after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Peter Mooney Cycles bills itself as having “tradition, performance and impeccable style” and this bike shows it.  Sadly, in my rush through the show, I didn’t get much info or even a complete bike pic.  But, the devil’s in the details, and there are a lot of great details on this bike.

Check it all out…

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NAHBS 2010 - Drawing on seven years of experience building titanium bikes for Dean, Aaron Barcheck took what he learned and started Mosaic, where he builds custom Ti and TIG welded steel bicycles.

Shown above is their 3/2.5av titanium Zealot cyclocross bike, a fairly standard looking ti frame…until you get to the rear end.  The seatstays are very swoopy, coming in extremely close together just under the tire.  Combined with ti’s natural ride characteristics and a thin 27.2mm seatpost, the stays should make the ‘cross race ever so slightly more bearable. Or let you push a little harder, you sick bas…

Check out more pics of this bike, pricing and their 29er and road frames after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Maietta Custom Bike’s namesake Anthony Maietta concocted what he believes to be the world’s first internally equipped GPS enabled road bike, allowing you to not only track your rides, but to see where your bike is at all times.  Think of it as a technologically advanced global positioning baby monitor for your custom steel baby.

Painted a stealth matte black, the Jet Set conceals a GPS unit within the frame.  It’s placed in a special fitting inside the downtube and is accessed via the S&S coupler just above the bottom bracket.

Check out more pics and info behind the jump…

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NAHBS 2010 - Cysco Cycles is a custom steel and titanium bike builder out of Ootlewah, TN.  Owner Ritchie Moore built frames for pros and celebrities under the tutelage of David Lynskey (Litespeed founder, now Lynskey Performance Ti owner) before striking out on his own.

Similarities can be seen between Cysco’s bikes and Lynskey’s, particularly in the twisted downtubes both manufacturers use.  Shown above in a color-change paint, it really illustrates the twist of the square tube and creates a great visual effect.

Check out more pics after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Sure, ANT (Alternative Needs Transportation) had some cool bikes in their booth, and we’ll get to them after the break, but this shirt was funny.  And ironic, because they had a bicycle stolen from them during the show.

Located in Holliston, MA, they make bikes for transportation and function without eschewing all important style.  Co-founder Mike Flanigan has been in the trade since 1983 and building bikes since 1989.

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NAHBS 2010 - Ground Up’s founder Eric Baar was admittedly using this flame-thrower cruiser to draw people in and show them his new track bike, but let’s face it, this is far cooler.  Er, hotter.

Here’s how it works:  Fuel, in this case race gasoline, is put into the silver canister on the bottom of the down tube.  The shock pump directly above it is used to pressurize the tank to about 55psi (which will yield about a 15 foot flame).  From there, the rider would push a button on the nitrous solenoid (red box w/ logo) mounted to the seat tube to open the valve.  Fuel is then released through the sprayer tube sticking out behind the seat.  As it vaporizes into a mist over the tiki torch mounted to the rear fender, it ignites and creates visual happiness.  Simple, right?

Wanna see it in action?  Hit ‘more’ and you’ll get to see his black track bike, too…

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NAHBS 2010 - Since time has conspired against me to get all of the photos and info up from the show that’s now almost two months into the history books, and with Sea Otter nearly upon us, my remaining photos from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show shall be going up in rapid fashion today and tomorrow.  Apologies in advance to any builder who feels slighted, everything there was beautimous.

Photos in this dump post from Helm Cycles, Quiring and 611.  More after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Clockwork’s booth suffered from a time crunch and OCD problem.  Admittedly, both of those problems were mine…I was trying to, nay obsessed with hitting every booth and, with no one immediately available to talk to here, I snapped some pics and moved on.  So, for more words, specs and details, hit up their website.  For more pics of this stainless steel track bike and some other pretty bicycles, jump past the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Sycip’s bikes not only had some nice little custom touches, they featured what could have won “Best Custom Leather” if there were such a category.

This brown road bike took advantage of Shimano’s Di2 internal cable routing kit, then put the finishing touches on it with a custom embossed leather battery cozy.  Add in matching embossed handlebar tape and saddle and you’ve got a fine looking road bike to tour around on.

Behind it is a very cool fixie with some Salsa-Woodchipper-esque drop bars, and there’s a 29er that’s worth every penny, check it all out after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Capricorn Bicycles, built by Bradley Wilson in Minneapolis, MN, had a healthy mix of bikes ranging from mountain to road, mixte to commuter, including this great gray-blue one with a front basket rack and fenders.

After working for Waterford Precision Bicycles as a framebuilder and various other mechanic and delivery jobs having to do with bikes, Wilson decided to start building bikes himself in his parent’s basement in WI.  Now, he’s set up in his own (real) shop in Minneapolis building frames out of U.S.-made True Temper Cromoly Steel tubing.

Check out a variety of his builds after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - At first glance, Dinucci’s booth looked fairly straightforward.  Red road bike, army green fenders.  Oh, hey, look at those solid leather grips on the bar tape.  And what’s that, a flashlight on the fork leg?  Surely that’s not right.  Wait a second…there’s more than meets the eye here.

Sure enough, this sleeper packed more subtly trick features in the frame than any other bike at the show.  It took their rep to walk me through it all, and thing after thing kept popping up.  There were also two retro road bikes in the booth, and we’ll get to those, but first allow me to take you on the tour of the bike that won ‘Best Lugged Bike’ at the 2010 North American Handmade Bicycle Show…

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NAHBS 2010 - Show director and founder Don Walker found some time (or was nudged into, depending on whose story you believe) putting together a full size booth this year rather than let his beautiful bikes be hidden in a corner while he ran the show.

Good thing, too.  His orange fixie (above) is his test of the custom-built hipster waters and represented a solid effort.  The paint was great and custom one-piece chrome stem/bar really stood out.  At $2,000 for the frame and fork, you’re looking at a fillet brazed frame (possibly with a few lugs here and there) that’s custom built just for you.

While the fixed gear urban bike may be new, Walker’s no stranger to fixed gear bikes.  His track bikes filled the rest of the booth and he’s working on some prototype “Six Day Track Race” bikes for the grueling multi-day, multi-event races that are popular overseas.

Check ‘em all out after the break…

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NAHBS 2010 - Signal Cycles was among the contingent of builders representin’ the Pacific Northwest, and in fact they crated their bikes to the show with Vanilla and others.

They only had a few bikes on display, but man were they sumthin.  The orange city bike you see here was built up with some old school XT thumb shifters and derailleur, Paul vee-brakes and chrome fenders for a great wet-weather bike.  The blue rando/touring bike in the background was one of my favorite paint jobs of the whole show, and they had a great 29er hardtail in candy apple red.

Hit ‘more’ for all the pics…

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NAHBS 2010 - Confession: Totally weak reporting on Caletti Cycle’s bikes, but good pics.  This blue fixed gear had one of the more trick paint jobs with an airbrushed stencil cityscape across the head-, top- and seat tubes, plus a nice bent seat tube to bring the rear wheel up close.

John Caletti is a small builder out of Santa Cruz, CA, that gives a portion of sales to groups working to save the environment through 1% for the Planet, along with supporting IMBA and MBoSC (Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz).

Check out more great pics after the break…

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