North American Handmade Bike Show: Bikefanclub.com

I went on Sunday. I shook hands with a lot of great builders. I got to see a lot of outstanding craftsmanship and creativity. Getting to meet so many builders it clarifies to me that one can get a full custom bike for a very reasonable price, especially considering what the high-end production bikes being offered by the big factories goes for nowadays.

I would like to see this become an active thread where those of us who got to go to the show talk about our experiences.

One of the pleasures I had was being able to see Tom Kellog of Spectrum Cycles. The reason this is so is because I lived near his shop for many years without even knowing he was there. At that time in my life I was only casually involved in cycling and had never paid more than $650 for a bike in my life and could not see paying thousands for one. Ironically I moved to California about 4 years ago and knowing what I know now, if I wanted to get a custom frame, he would be the builder I would want to make my frame. His outlook on bikes is similar to my own.

What really tickled me was being able to meet Craig Calfee. Because I am now an owner of my second full-custom Tetra Pro and it was my first opportunity to meet the man who created the company it made it special for me.

I was pleased to be able to talk to a lot of builders at the show. That was one of the most pleasureable things about such a show. I do hope the third annual show is also in San Jose since it is close enough to me that I can drive there. I would guess that this second annual show was so much better than the first that the third will be even bigger.

I can think of a few builders, but can't think of names offhand, that weren't at this show. Hopefully I will have the chance to meet more at the next show.

Finally, living in Sacramento I finally got to meet Steve Rex. His shop is downtown but I never got around to visiting with him.