Steel, carbon, and titanium road bikes galore in Charlotte
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Alchemy Bicycle Company has put its Helios on a major diet, bringing the weight of a 54cm frame down to just over 700g(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Cielo's sparse badging actually seems to make a bigger impact as compared to some production machines that are plastered with manufacturer logos(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
New from Cielo this year is the Road Racer, built with ovalized steel tubing, a PF30 bottom bracket shell, 44mm-diameter head tube, and a semi-compact geometry. Stems painted to match are now available as an add-on option, too(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Cielo will offer the new Road Racer in either mechanical or electronic drivetrain-compatible configurations(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
If you want a more traditional welded titanium road bike, Holland Cycles can do that, too(Image credit: James Huang)
The tube-and-lug system on the new Holland Cycles HC was developed by carbon guru Mike Lopez, who was also the brains behind the Serotta Meivici(Image credit: James Huang)
Gorgeous titanium dropouts on the Holland Cycles HC(Image credit: James Huang)
Holland Cycles uses a modified version of Ritchey's Break-Away system for its Jet travel bike(Image credit: James Huang)
Holland Cycles principal Bill Holland says that his most popular model is the Jet travel bike(Image credit: James Huang)
Holland Cycles manages to neatly integrate its logo into the seat stay wishbone. Note the weave pattern on the logo as compared to the unidirectional surface of the surrounding material(Image credit: James Huang)
The rear end of Holland Cycles' all-carbon HC looks impressively burly(Image credit: James Huang)
The wishbone-style carbon chain stays on Holland Cycles' upcoming HC model morph in profile from rectangular just behind the monostay to more of a trapezoid back by the dropout(Image credit: James Huang)
Holland Cycles will eventually use its own fork for the HC, including these gorgeous titanium dropouts(Image credit: James Huang)
Like the now-defunct Serotta Meivici, the Holland Cycles HC's lugs are molded in several different configurations that can then be machined to accommodate a huge range of custom angles(Image credit: James Huang)
Holland Cycles' latest creation is this all-carbon masterpiece called the HC. Tubes and lugs are custom molded in California by renowned carbon master Mike Lopez, formerly of Serotta(Image credit: James Huang)
Crumpton Cycles is molding its own Type 5 frame tubes in-house. The company will eventually mold all of its frame tubing for the SL model, too(Image credit: James Huang)
This is how a Crumpton Cycles bottom bracket looks immediately after curing. There's very little finish work required(Image credit: James Huang)
Remember Delta 7's outrageous IsoTruss carbon fiber 'tubes'? The concept is back, only this time the patents have been purchased from the now-defunct company by Utah-based company Razik. The new Vortex uses the same technology but in a package that looks far better finished and more complete than the Delta 7 ever did(Image credit: James Huang)
Razik says its refined IsoTruss process yields far better reliability than before. Cable routing is much more cleanly executed now, too(Image credit: James Huang)
Bottle mounts are a modular design on the Razik Vortex. As a bonus, they can also be repositioned as needed(Image credit: James Huang)
Shamrock Cycles routed the Campagnolo EPS wire inside the handlebar and stem on this Fluid Druid(Image credit: James Huang)
Check out the rear fender mount and remote charge port on this Shamrock Cycles Fluid Druid(Image credit: James Huang)
Shamrock Cycles reinforced the rear disc mount with this gracefully curved strut(Image credit: James Huang)
Check out the detail work on this Shamrock Cycles Fluid Druid(Image credit: James Huang)
Shamrock Cycles built this Fluid Druid with Columbus PegoRichie steel tubes, generous clearance for wider tires, S&S couplers for easy travel, and beautifully integrated racks and fenders(Image credit: James Huang)
Challenge Strada open tubulars were a very common sight at this year's NAHBS(Image credit: James Huang)
Shamrock Cycles principal Tim O'Donnell built this Fluid Druid road racer for his painter, Mike Corby, using oversized steel tubes, Llewellyn lugs, a Richard Sachs bottom bracket shell, and an Enve Composites 2.0 fork(Image credit: James Huang)
Ritchey has modified its long-running Break-Away design for the new carbon model. Interestingly, the seatpost will only be clamped using one half of the frame(Image credit: James Huang)
Ritchey will soon make available a new carbon fiber Break-Away travel bike frame. Retail price will be US$3,199 for the frameset when it goes on sale in August(Image credit: James Huang)
Detail work is exquisite on Rich Adams' special Lehigh University bikes(Image credit: James Huang)
Rich Adams is an alumnus of Lehigh University and built these special-edition bikes as a way to raise money for his former Materials Science and Engineering department(Image credit: James Huang)
Razik says it's molding the stays, lugs, and even the fork for the Vortex in-house in Utah(Image credit: James Huang)
Razik says its IsoTruss structures are "lighter, stronger, more rigid, and more compliant" than any traditional carbon fiber tube(Image credit: James Huang)
While some Crumpton Cycles frames are built with wishbone-style seat stays, the Type 5 uses twin tapered seat stays. The naked finish leaves no room for error with the exposed carbon fiber(Image credit: James Huang)
Crumpton Cycles' newest and most advanced carbon chassis is the Type 5, built completely in-house including the molded carbon fiber tubes and the hand-wrapped joints (Image credit: James Huang)
The new Ritchey carbon Break-Away uses the company's biggest down tube yet, which required a bigger down tube clamp to match(Image credit: James Huang)
Ultra-clean internal routing on the new Holland Cycles HC(Image credit: James Huang)
Breadwinner Cycles offers its Lolo steel road racer with either rim or disc brakes(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Breadwinner Cycles builds the Lolo road racer with Columbus Life tubing and a 44mm head tube that can be used with straight or tapered steerer tubes(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Lolo is technically a 'production' bike from Breadwinner Cycles - a joint project between Portland builder Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira - but the paint job is still stunning(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee's Manta Pro uses enormous tube profiles for what we would expect to be an unyielding stiff chassis - except that it cleverly integrates a rear suspension design to take the edge off of the road(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee's webbed carbon fiber lugs are impossible to miss(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee tucks a spring into the seat stay wishbone of its top-end Manta Pro. Different springs are available to accommodate different rider weights and ride preferences(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Suspended Calfee Manta Pros feature additional titanium struts on the chain stays to give the rear end more torsional stability and strength(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
All Calfee Manta Pro frames are compatible with internally routed electronic drivetrains only. Campagnolo EPS-equipped models get internal batteries with dedicated charging ports. Calfee's 65mm-diameter bottom bracket shells can accommodate Look's ZED 2 crankset, too(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
This Calfee Manta Pro was built in cooperation with Fairwheel Bicycles, featuring a drool-worthy array of high-end kit(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee built this Manta Pro with dual disc brakes and thru-axles front and rear(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee also has a long history building innovative carbon fiber tandems. This one is actually a modular design that can be easily converted into a single bike(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee did some clever engineering so that this single bike could transform into the front end of a tandem(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The seat stays bolt in place - and can therefore also be unbolted and transferred to the rear end of the stoker position when the bike is converted into a tandem(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Sliding dropouts on this Aluboo allow for geared or singlespeed use. The split dropout can also be used with a Gates belt drive, too(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
This Boo Bicycles Aluboo frame features tidy removable housing stops(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Alchemy's new Aiolos titanium road frame was designed by Ben Serotta(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Alchemy builds the Aiolos titanium frame with an oversized front end to deliver a stiff and responsive feel(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Custom dropouts for Alchemy's new Aiolos titanium frame(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Alchemy says the swaged stays on its new Aiolos gives the titanium frame a smooth and comfortable ride(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Titanium frame fans will easily recognize this signature on the new Alchemy Aiolos(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Alchemy Aiolos titanium road frame uses large-diameter chain stays and a PF86 (or PF30) bottom bracket shell(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Electronic drivetrain wires are fed into the head tube on the new Alchemy Aiolos(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Appleman Bicycles offers metal logos in both stainless steel (shown) or titanium(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Appleman Bicycles showed off this full-carbon road bike with hand-wrapped joints and its trademark angled seat stay bridge(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Why run the seat stay bridge straight across when you can build it at an angle?(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Boo Bicycles continues to champion the merits of its hybrid carbon fiber and bamboo frames. According to Boo, the bamboo tubes lend an ultra-smooth ride quality that carbon fiber supposedly can't match(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
This Boo Bicycles disc road frame uses an unusually big reinforcement for the non-driveside stays(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Boo Bicycles' Aluboo range offers customers a lower-priced option for getting into a bamboo frame. Instead of hand-wrapped carbon fiber joints, Aluboo frames use aluminum ends on the bamboo tubes which are then TIG-welded together(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Calfee says the unusually looking bulge in the down tube was necessary to handle the extreme stresses in that area, particularly when combined with the huge S&S coupler(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Fat bikes and gravel grinders may be the hot new categories at this year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show, but in terms of numbers, the show floor is still dominated by traditional road bikes. Check out the first round of some of the ones that caught our eye in the image gallery at right, plus details on a few select models below.
Alchemy put its Helios model on a major diet to create the Helios SL. While it uses the same mold as the standard model, changes to the underlying materials and lay-up have brought the claimed weight down to just over 700g for a 54cm frame – a decrease of more than 25 percent from the original Helios.
Even more exciting, though, is the all-new Aiolos titanium road frame, which was designed for Alchemy by Ben Serotta. Alchemy builds the Aiolos with an oversized main frame for a responsive feel and tapered stays for a comfortable ride. Other features include a 44mm-diameter head tube, a PF86 or PF30 bottom bracket shell, custom titanium dropouts.
Calfee's latest Manta Pro carbon road frame is easily the company's highest-performance model – and perhaps its most radical. While the main tubes' huge cross-sections and ovalized shapes scream stiffness, they're coupled with a suspended rear end that provides comfort and traction.
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The system is similar to Moots' long-running YBB system with a small spring tucked inside a telescoping, tubular seatstay wishbone assembly. Down below, titanium struts are used beneath the chainstays to provide additional strength. Calfee offers five different spring rates to adjust for rider weight and ride preference, and the company can also build the Manta Pro with a fully rigid rear end for those that want a more traditional feel.
Rim brake and disc brake configurations are available, too, along with thru-axle dropouts and optional braze-ons for racks and fenders.
Craig Calfee also displayed his custom chops with a wild modular carbon fiber road tandem. A clever arrangement of bolt-on stays and S&S couplers allow the bike to quickly and easily convert to a single as needed. As for the price… don't ask.
Cielo – the frame division of Chris King – launched a new Road Racer model built with oversized chromoly steel tubes, stainless steel accents, a PF30 bottom bracket shell, a 44mm-diameter head tube, and specific routing for mechanical or electronic drivetrains.
Buyers will also have the option of painted-to-match steel stems, too, which also feature aluminum faceplates that are color anodized to perfectly coordinate the company's headsets and hubs.
Nick Crumpton says his latest Type 5 road frame represents the pinnacle of everything he's learned about building carbon fiber frames. Whereas other models use tubing produced by other companies, the Type 5 features bi-ovalized tubes that are now molded in-house and joined using Crumpton's exquisite tube-to-tube wrapping process.
Pricing starts at US$6,500 with an Enve Composites 1.0 fork.
Best known for his titanium and ExoGrid frames, Bill Holland is now branching into full-carbon road frames with the new flagship HC, designed in cooperation with composites guru Mike Lopez. The HC will be built with custom carbon fiber lugs and gorgeous shaped carbon tubes that will be molded in-house.
Lopez designed the HC's modular construction with multiple lug configurations that can each be machined to allow for custom geometry, too. Tubes will also feature custom lay-ups so that each frame can truly be built to order. Complete frames will weigh right around 1kg.
Standard frames will start at US$6,400 and limited-edition anniversary models – to celebrate Holland's 42nd anniversary – will run US$7,700 with special graphics and a numbered plate. Keep in mind that neither of those prices include a fork.
Remember Delta 7's wild IsoTruss carbon fiber 'tubes'? The technology is back, only now the patents have been purchased by Utah-based Razik Bicycles. Razik says it has refined and greatly improved Delta 7's original concept to produce a new road frame called the Vortex that's far more reliable than before – not to mention much better looking with far better cable routing and finish work. Rear ends are molded in-house, too.
Claimed frame weight is around 850g and yet Razik says the Vortex is "stronger, more rigid and more compliant" than any frame built with traditional carbon tubes. We hope to find out for ourselves soon.
Ritchey unveiled at this year's NAHBS a new carbon fiber version of its popular Break-Away travel road bike. The new carbon chassis is, as expected, lighter and stiffer than the current titanium and steel versions. However, Ritchey has also opted for slightly smaller-diameter tubing and thicker tube walls so that the bike can still be easily packed – and survive the journey.
Retail price will be US$3,199 for the frame, fork, headset, and soft-sided travel case when it goes on sale in August.
