NAHBS 2010 Day 1 down!

After all the set up and prep, we had our first full day of the bike show. It's been interesting to think about how this weekend brings all of these incredible artisans together under one roof. "Oh look it's Tom Kellogg! Isn't that Dario Peroretti?" Crazy.
This year out booth location couldn't be better. We are on the corner of a big ol aisle and right next to the friendly giant Curtis Inglis. He and Mitsy are two of the best people in the biz. Every time we do a show together, I feel lucky to get to spend more time around them. Quality folks.
My perception is that the show wasn't very busy today. The Signal booth is in a good location, but the traffic has been coming a lot slower than I expected. There were no moments of booth overload. Maybe I should have taken the opportunity to walk around and look at other people's booths.
So far the booth building is on a whole new level. Rapha put together an entire convenience store complete with a refrigerator and snickers bars. The design and detail is pretty fantastic. Bilenky set up their entire workshop and it is AMAZING! I'll have to get over there to shoot it, it's pretty unbelievable. they brought a drill press, tons of raw frames, a torch, tools... they are operating on a whole other level. Of course the Vanilla booth is rad, and the bike are incredible as always. The trackvagon has some of the largest chainstays I've ever seen. the new seatpost masts are really pretty as well.
I have a few pictures up on our flickr page and I promise I'll add more. But for now, I'm going to go back to bed and rest my aching feet!
g'night!

The crate with four of our bikes was loaded onto the freight truck today. That signals the end of the preperation for the North American Handmade Bikeshow. Nate and I will get on a plane and head to Virginia on Wednesday. The bikes all look great, I was a bit bummed that my personal bike didn't make the time cut, but that's how it works. I'm really looking forward to checking out bikes and bike people for a few days.

Hopefully the drama of whom is allowed to throw a party during the weekend gets sorted out. It seems that the organization's goal is to capitalize any time a group gathers in the name of handmade bikes. I don't think this is a very sustainable model.

Aside from that, there will be a lot to check out. If you are able to make it to Richmond next weekend, be sure to stop by and see what we brought. There is a new t-shirt in olive for the grandpas who think aqua is too bold. I'll post pictures when we unpack them next week.

Last year I tried to post pictures daily on our flickr page, but it was tough. I'm going to try to be better this year so for those of you who can't make it to the show, keep your eyes tuned to the flickr page. Thanks for reading.

Second NAHBS bike back from the painters

Closer to NAHBS

Everything is coming together. We have a few loose ends to tie up and we should be ready to get on the plane and fly to Richmond. The winter months have been good for us, seems like there are a lot of people out there making plans for new Signal bikes and we are happy to build them. The popular bike for us right now is the long reach fendered road bike. It is the perfect Pacific NW do it all bike. Nate and I have talked a lot about this type of bike and we both feel like it is the bike we want to build for ourselves. For some reason the mainstream bike companies have ignored this category of bike. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because these bikes aren't as "sexy" as the lean mean racing machines that they popularize through race teams. But for the real world a fendered road bike makes a lot of sense. Pack a sandwich, grab a map, and head out and explore the unknown squiggly lines.
It will be a good trip to the show. There are going to be a lot of Portland folks out there (Ira Ryan, Tony Pereira, the Rapha crew), but not a lot showing bikes. The only Portland builders with booths will be us, Vanilla, and Cielo (Chris King). That is WAY down from the height of the Portland representation at the 2008 NAHBS. It IS expensive, and a LOT of work, but we feel like it is well worth it. Being involved with the national show is how we stay connected to the big conversation of handmade bikes.

Stay tuned...

Hi folks. Just a quick update from the Signal shop. Our new headbadges arrived today! The next 50 bikes will have these so I hope everyone likes them. They are etched pewter and look really classy. Parts are getting installed on Nate Woodman's bike. Old mountain bike components were so nice! Myles and Brians bike are at paint. I was able to see Myles bike with the base coat and the paint looks great. Hope to have that back and ready to build up by mid-week next week and Brians will be done at the last minute!

For the next week or so Matt and I will be designing and building our display booth. We always put a lot of work into our booths but we hang out in them for three days straight so might as well have fun with it. We did a living room theme last year with wall paper and everything. I'm thinking kitchen theme this year. Stop by the booth-maybe they'll be some fresh bread ready or something. Check ya later.