The post-pandemic buzz concerning the bike business has not been completely happy. Doomsday predictions swirl across the information of unsellable stock, unpaid invoices, and biking manufacturers and bike retailers shuttering.
However for 3 superb days, the MADE Bike Present showcased smaller manufacturers and true artisans, proving that an business section is flourishing. Innovation, artistry, private expression, and ahead considering had been on show at an previous shipbuilding facility on the banks of the Willamette River. Portland’s well-established and powerful bike tradition was the proper setting to soak in all of the positivity generated by a passionate tribe of biking lifers.
A few of these smaller manufacturers make use of high-tech assist from robots and System 1 racing, whereas some manufacturers have a single particular person with a torch within the storage. The span of builds and the tales behind them had been as wide-ranging because the supplies and development strategies. Bikes manufactured from wooden, carbon, and unique metals had been all in-house.
Right here’s my roundup of essentially the most spectacular and impactful builds I noticed, touched, lusted after, and inquired about in the course of the 2024 MADE Bike Present.
Most Spectacular Expertise: No. 22 Prototype Reactor Aero
That is the primary bike I noticed on the 2024 MADE Bike Present, and it caught with me for the remaining days. The considering, effort, and know-how of the “world’s first totally aero Titanium highway bicycle” was a cleanly executed results of cutting-edge manufacturing strategies and ahead considering.
The predominant tagline on this prototype bike is 3D printing with titanium. This additive development approach has been in biking for a number of years, producing issues like plastic or titanium laptop mounts, chain catchers, cleats, and different small bits. However No. 22 took an enormous leap by printing the Reactor as a single, monolithic body. This, in itself, was mind-blowing to me.
However wait, there’s extra! Along with creating your entire body as a single print, some body sections have inside assist constructions. In cutaway sections used for show functions, it appeared like ethereal, open-cell foam or moss throughout the tubular titanium construction. The flexibility to print these inside constructions permits No. 22 to manage experience high quality, which conventional titanium bicycle development limits.
The one departure from printing out of Grade 5 titanium powder is the carbon-integrated seat submit. No.22 additionally printed the prototype’s stem and fork from titanium, however the workers expressed that they might use a carbon fork for its damping potential.
No. 22 claims the Reactor Aero underwent a number of Pc Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, producing a 30-40% discount in aerodynamic drag in comparison with the present Aurora mannequin, which is constructed utilizing conventional spherical titanium tubing. The model said the Reactor Aero is heading to a wind tunnel for testing and validation earlier than launch.
No. 22 will print the Reactor Aero in sections and weld them collectively in-house on manufacturing variations. The smaller prints will lead to tighter management over high quality, tolerances, and finishes, which diminish the bigger a print will get. And it will assist in totally customizing every body for each buyer.
No phrase on pricing but, however officers had been hopeful it might rival different top-end highway race machines from the massive gamers. For extra data, check with the No. 22 Bikes web site.
The Lowest Tech: Renovo Wooden Bikes
In stark distinction to the No. 22 Reactor Aero, Renovo Bikes’ wood-only frames make the most of old-school development strategies. But the frames are the product of simply as a lot thought and prototyping to make sure energy and fascinating experience qualities. And man, did they appear good, like advantageous wooden furnishings or cabinetry, displaying skilled craftsmanship and a spotlight to element.
Wooden is powerful alongside the grain however weak towards it, and Renovo’s development performs to this attribute. Renovo bends lengthy sections of wooden to keep up the continuity of the grain. The model reinforces any interface with metallic elements, like the underside bracket, head tube, seat tube, and dropouts, with aluminum or carbon fiber.
The damping high quality of a wooden bicycle should be distinctive. One other attribute vastly completely different from fashionable carbon bikes is the power to restore and refinish a Renovo wooden body.
Renovo gives a Whiskey Jack Gravel body, a Barrel Stave Commuter body, and a Blackwood Pursuit highway body, every priced at $7,500. Discover out extra on the Renovo Bikes web site.
The Painters Are Out of Management: Black Magic
Most of the bikes on the 2024 MADE Bike Present are one-offs or custom-made-to-order bikes. Some are strictly present bikes, flexing the power of the builders and artisans in attendance.
One underlying theme I felt throughout my 2 days of taking in as a lot as doable was the unbelievable creativity, artistry, and a spotlight to element the perfect bike painters possess. The visible impression of a motorbike normally made me cease in my tracks and examine one of many over 250 cubicles.
I don’t have the area to plaster a picture of each bike that nabbed my gaze, however one bike portray service that undoubtedly had unbelievable expertise was Black Magic. The one bike in its sales space that held my open-mouthed stare the longest was the Pinarello Dogma F within the picture above.
The extra I appeared on the bike, the extra I noticed. It displayed painstaking, time-consuming, exacting artistry that demanded laser focus and an unbelievable work ethic. The Black Magic painter informed me he used greater than 350 ft of tape to execute all horizontal particulars.
The Black Magic Pinarello Dogma F drew a lot consideration. Deservedly so; there have been numerous award-deserving paint jobs on the present, however this one was the loudest and proudest.
Right here’s one other impossibly achieved Black Magic paint job, this time on a Mosaic titanium gravel bike.
Discover out extra about Black Magic and witness extra of its magic on the positioning.
Pure Artwork on the 2024 MADE Bike Present: Tomii Bikes
The Black Magic Pinarello Dogma F demanded consideration. However the bikes within the Tomii sales space soothed the soul. A former sculptor from Japan named Nao Tomii crafts painstakingly artisanal metal bicycles out of his storage in Austin, Texas, and the outcomes are impossibly lovely.
Each element receives his unbelievable consideration to element, right down to bolt heads and cable housing. Tomii’s handmade stem caps and bicycle bells are extra jewellery than they’re bicycle {hardware}.
The bike proven above is an instance of Tomii’s handiwork. It took me a number of lengthy visits to completely respect it. I can’t overstate how clear the execution is on this bike. Each motion of my eyes was distracted by one other lovely element that I hadn’t observed earlier than.
Tomii does have inventory bicycle frames, however bicycles like this are totally {custom}, commissioned artistic endeavors. And, like a real artist, he’s not in a rush to enhance his income; Tomii defined to me that he does round eight tasks like this per 12 months.
Study extra about how Tomii sculpts bikes and see extra of his artistry on his web site.
When Motoheads Construct a Bike: Btchn’ Bikes Geo Shift
Moto and Petrol Heads have a tendency to use mechanical options to issues that perhaps you didn’t even know existed. One among these potential issues can happen on mountain bikes in tremendous hilly terrain. When ascending super-steep trails, particularly when they’re ledgy, you have to get means over the entrance to maintain the entrance tire down however preserve load on the rear tire for traction. The body geometry impacts this potential, particularly the seat tube angle and the horizontal size of the bike.
Bitchn’ Bikes workers has a historical past in bike racing. The always-tinkering-for-performance-gains motorsports mentality shined by in a super-unique answer to the above drawback. As an alternative of being caught with static body geometry, Bitchn’ Bikes’ Geo Shift know-how amazingly delivers a number of seat tube angles and efficient high tube lengths.
Toggling a thumb lever steepens the seat tube by a major quantity, concurrently shortening the efficient high tube. This could drastically enhance climbing prowess when the path tilts skyward. On the summit, toggle the thumb lever once more and push the seat again along with your butt, reestablishing the extra steady body geometry. Wonderful.
The titanium prototype bike displayed on the 2024 MADE Bike Present labored to perfection each time. I hope this idea makes it to manufacturing. The place I stay, the climbs are rocky, steep, and stuffed with ledges. This can be a potential weapon that will slay climbs I’ve by no means topped.
Discover out extra about Btchn’ Bikes on its website.
Stealing Hearts on the 2024 MADE Bike Present: Officina Battaglin Roma
Being an older bike owner who began highway racing within the ’80s, I’ve a gentle spot in my coronary heart for traditional metal highway bikes hand-built by legacy manufacturers — particularly Italian manufacturers with deep racing roots. The imaginative and prescient of an Italian craftsman sitting in a brick-walled store, brazing lugs with a cigarette in his mouth for his campion who races on nothing however “pan y agua” (bread and water), nonetheless fills my soul.
Giovanni Battaglin gained the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España double in 1981 and began the Battaglin bicycle model in 1982. He retired in 1984, the 12 months I began using significantly. I knew about his racing exploits and bicycles and romanticized using a Battaglin in the future.
Then, in 1987, Irishman Stephen Roche grew to become the second bike owner to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and the World Championships in the identical season. The one different rider to do it’s the legendary Eddy Merckx. Roche gained all these races on a Battaglin, and the model seared itself into my thoughts.
I hadn’t seen a Battaglin bike for the reason that ’80s, however after I noticed the pictured Officina Battaglin Roma, my coronary heart swelled. The rose gold Chromovelato end was completely beautiful, and the Columbus metal and carbon fiber tubes melded the previous with the brand new. I couldn’t cease it and took extra pictures of this bike than some other by a big margin. It was as if I might by no means see one once more.
After which it occurred. I noticed that Giovanni Battaglin was standing subsequent to the bike. I bowed in reverence, and each he and his son graciously hosted me for hours. We spoke in two languages with the assistance of a translator. We talked about racing within the ’80s and ’90s and the bike. This wasn’t a dialog about gross sales or know-how. Nobody spewed advertising converse or tech specs. It was a dialog concerning the love of biking and the center that went into this bike.
I don’t understand how else to say it. The Officina Battaglin Roma in Chromovelato rose gold stole my coronary heart. Thanks to the Battaglin household for making me really feel like a part of the inside circle. I’ll always remember. Study extra concerning the legacy model on the Officina Battaglin website.
The Remaining Say on the 2024 MADE Bike Present
The 2024 MADE Bike Present was such an gratifying departure from the same old pitches I get because the Biking Editor at GearJunkie. Solely as soon as, when applicable, did I hear or utter something about watts, weight, stiffness, or aerodynamics. It was nearly all the time concerning the love of biking, biking tradition, and the bike as an extension of the particular person behind it. I not often mentioned gross sales, by no means heard “millimeter” or “grams,” and I touched a lot greater than I learn.
After seemingly years of studying business press releases concerning the darkish demise of the post-pandemic bicycle business, MADE was the injection of pleasure and happiness all of us wanted. Each bike on show completely showered attendees with the love, innovation, and creativity that went into its creation. The uplifted emotions concerning the route of biking had been palpable all weekend.
I left the present with renewed hope that the bike business would get better. So long as the individuals behind the bikes and types at MADE are respiratory, I feel we’ll be all proper.