Midwest NAHBS INDIANAPOLIS - 115 exhibitors and 6,428 attendees attended a highly successful fifth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show, at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, February 27 - March 1,
INDIANAPOLIS - 115 exhibitors and 6,428 attendees attended a highly successful fifth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show, at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, February 27 - March 1, 2009, and many exhibitors called this the best show to date.
"I am delighted with the way NAHBS went this year. When I first announced Indianapolis as the location, a lot of people were unhappy about it. But I have always been confident there is a good market here in the Midwest for handmade bicycles, it's just under-served. I think 6,428 people proved my hunch was good," said the show's founder and director, Don Walker.
Media attendance at the show was approximately 100, the same number as at Portland in 2008, and the overall attendance figure is almost 1,000 less, but still well above the San Jose figure of 4,000 in 2007. The growth trend for NAHBS continues despite the economic woes.
With literally hundreds of customers among the builders of lugged bicycles, Mark Norstad of Paragon Machine Works, who supplies a range of hardware accessories to the industry, has a fair overview of industry trends.
"Business for me has been down a little on 2008, but 2008 was a record year. A lot of orders were taken after last year's show. Many people who made those orders may not be willing to jeopardize their deposit even if they're in financial difficulty now. We'll know a lot more a year from now. I'm not seeing any frame builders quitting to get a day job," said Norstad.
Another thing Norstad said, which was echoed by other voices at the show, is there is an increase in the number of carbon fiber handmade frames being made. One example of this is Independent Fabrication, who won the Best Carbon Fiber Bicycle award for their prototype.
Drew Guldalian, of Engin Cycles, pointed to other standards being taken up in the industry. One of these is the spread of the BB30 bottom bracket - one of the benefits of which is it enables use of the outstanding Zipp Vumaquad crankset. Another product Guldalian mentioned is the new internal head tube from Chris King. Some 15 builders received these before the show.
One of these builders was Carl Strong, who incorporated it into his Best TIG Welded award-winning bike of 2009. Strong reported that this oversize tube gave a lot more surface area to attach other tubes to, as well as having a lower stack height which, in his view, improved the aesthetic.
Many of the builders ended the show feeling very good about the whole experience. Below is a digest of their remarks (in random order).
Richard Sachs - Richard Sachs Cycles
"I never thought the Midwest had to vindicate itself. There was criticism of the weather and travel concerns, which I thought was misplaced. The weather was good, but it really wasn't a factor, and the number of people who travelled here from afar shows that travel was not an issue. "I would willingly come
