Upcoming 2011 Handmade

The 2011 Handbuilt Bike Show is just 10 days away. This year's extravaganza will be hosted in Austin, Feb 25 and 26. Wheel Fanatyk will display our wheels and tools and I hope to see as many of you as possible.

So many unique bikes and components are built for a show like this, attendees are full of anticipation. Among the surprises will be a his and her pair of city bikes conceived by Brett Horton of hortoncollection.com fame. I won't spill the details but am proud to be building the wheels. Ghisallo agreed to make four special profile 650B rims with mahogany inlays.

The hubs are Phil Wood one-offs, the rear contain Rohloff 14 speed internal guts. I could hardly believe my eyes when these hubs arrived in Seattle. Before shipping them back, I caught a couple images.

141mm flange diameter!

Mahogony ply goes edge to edge.

Polish befitting a Phil hub.

The finished bikes, with features beyond imagination, debut at the Show. If you can't attend, watch cyclingnews.com or other sources. Once again, the custom bicycle world seems to know no limits.

Prior Hub Track Wheels

Last month I was privileged to build a pair of wonderful wheels onto an unforgettable hub set - Prior, great examples of the elegant, high flange hubs that decorated the cycling scene, especially track racing, from the 1930's to '50's.

Almost too delicate to work!

The flange is precisely coned inwards to match the spoke path to the rim.

Perfect geometry.

They were also seen with a double set of lightening holes.

A French version of Swiss cheese.

This flamboyant look inspired Phil Wood Company's recent anniversary set:

Are you one of the lucky few to own these?

The mind boggling part of the set I received to build was their newness. The front showed no wear besides previous spoking. And the rear, unbelievably, had never been built!

The wheels turned out spectacular, as expected. 32 spokes for the front, 40 for the rear, Ghisallo Elegant tubular rims. They're destined for a classic, a Speedwell from Australia being restored by Bobby Landry in Telluride.

They're definitely prettier spoked up.

A handsome pair.

Hope we get a chance to show them on the restored bike. Here's one back at Bobby's place, tire mounted and the sculpted wingnut in place.

Where's my frame?