Made PDX 2024 Preview
The Made show returns to Portland for the second year, providing a geographic alternative to the Philly Bike Expo and Master Bike Builders shows on the eastern side of the USA.
Paul Skilbeck
The founder and publisher of the Handbuilt Bicycle Guide, Paul has long experience worldwide as a cycling journalist and communications consultant at bicycle showcase events such as Sea Otter Classic, North American Handmade Bicycle Show, and more recently the Philly Bike Expo. He has owned and ridden handbuilt custom bicycles since the 1970s. Paul lives in California's northernmost reaches, with five bicycles.
Frame Builders
August 2024NorCal Resurgent: Zabrina Cycles
Frame building in the San Francisco Bay Area goes back to the 1890s. The area has seen highs and lows since then, most recently a low when the tech boom priced many workshops out of the area. Post Covid, frame builders have been trickling back in, including Oakland-based Zabrina Cycles.
Shows & Events
August 2024Master Bike Builders Show Preview
The Master Bike Builders Show in Bentonville, Arkansas, Sep 14-15, is a further sign that the custom bicycle shows industry as a whole is evolving into a stronger promotional vehicle for the sector.
Shows & Events
August 2024Brazin' - Scotland's handbuilt custom bike show highlights
Now in its second year, the Brazin' show - while still an intimate gathering - once again exceeded the organizers' expectations in both exhibitor numbers and public attendance. Phil Hodgkiss was there for HBG to introduce Scotland's frame building community to the world.
Frame Builders
July 2024Roubam: a Cycling Odyssey
The 2024 Concours de Machines winner, David Barou, took up frame building after a one-year cycling odyssey in central Asia that changed the course of his career and his life.
Shows & Events
July 2024Preview: Brazin' - Scotland's handbuilt custom bike show
After a successful debut in 2023, the Brazin' handbuilt custom bicycle expo returns to Glasgow, Scotland, on August 3, 2024, with a 50 percent increase in exhibitors, including some from south of the border.
Frame Builders
July 2024July: An Unusual Talent
The Covid shutdown of 2020 was pure opportunity for Ben Jurgensen, then a 33 year-old sculpture studio teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design. Freed from the routine of everyday life, he started on the path of bicycle frame building to create July Bicycles. He describes that time as “my sourdough."
Bicycles
July 2024Bilenky's Gravel eBike
Bilenky Cycle Works stands among the select few bespoke frame builders ready and willing to craft ebikes, a fact starkly evident at the Philly Bike Expo where Steve Bilenky’s enterprise stood as a beacon amidst a sea of – albeit excellent – custom built convention.