In the hour since I posted about the NAHBS frames, four list members asked me for the component list for the two bikes. Again, bear in mind NAHBS will feature the bikes in their first finished state. As the bikes are truly a work in process, each succeeding public display will present additional newly fabricated components, culminating with the completely realized product at exhibitions May 2011 forward. Here goes:
Frame Builders: Bilenky Cycle Works (Philadelphia, PA) built the women's mixte frame and Bishop Custom Handcrafted Bicycle Frames (Baltimore, MD) built the mens frame.
Preview of the Bilenky frame:
http://tinyurl.com/
Preview of the Bishop stem and frame:
http://tinyurl.com/
Paint: Joe Bell, San Diego USA I absolutely love Joe Bell's work and consider him to be one of the premier frame painters in the world. Joe really went to the mat on these two framesets. Trying to be as objective as I can, in my opinion the paint job he delivered today is the best example of his work I have ever seen.
Tubing: Columbus, Italy In addition to using current tubing, Columbus graciously pulled tubing from their reserve collection for this project. Also, they milled some of the tubes uniquely for this endeavor, the most notable being a 1.6 meter long split tube to be used on the ladies mixte bike. Shelly and I are thrilled that Columbus not only supported this project but found it worthy of a unique one-off tubing designation. A special tube decal, with clear visual deference to their storied history, was created specially for each bicycle. The womens bicycle tubing is designated \u201cCitta Donna\u201d (City Woman) with the mens bike being labeled \u201cUrbano\u201d (masculine iteration of Urban). Shelly and I are deeply touched that Antonio Columbo deemed this endeavor worthy of this very special honor.
Bars: Two completely custom town bars are being created for this project. The aesthetic will be reminiscent of European town bars produced right after WWII. (To be displayed commencing with trade shows May 1st, 2011 and later.)
Rims: Ghisallo, Italy Custom beechwood rims with mahogany inlay. Designed from a pattern not used by Ghisallo for over 50 years and further customized for the unique hole pattern and hub combination of this project.
Brake Pads: Mad Fiber, USA Cork pads to correspond to the braking needs of the Ghisallo wood rims.
Saddles: Brooks, England Brooks has created two custom saddles that beautifully capture the essence of the the bicycles.
Spokes: Wheelsmith, USA Custom cut and plated NOS Wheelsmith spokes.
Fenders: Honjo, Japan Stock 650B fenders enhanced with the addition of a brilliant polish finish and custom integrated lighting system that includes lighting shells that match the aesthetic of the art deco style fenders. (Light fixtures, fabricated by Phil Wood, will be displayed commencing with trade shows May 1st, 2011 and later.)
Cloisonné Head Tube Badge: Private Craftsman, USA Fully custom cloisonné Horton Collection head badge much in the style of bicycles from the 1920s. (To be displayed commencing with trade shows May 1st, 2011 and later.)
Internal Mechanism - Rear Hub: Rohloff, Germany The 14 speed internal hub mechanism will be built into a custom designed 36 hole Phil Wood shell that will be aesthetically compatible with the front hub. This is one BIG & BOLD hub!
Internal Mechanism - Front Hub and Lighting: Schmidt, Germany The internal dyno hub generator mechanism will be built into a custom designed 36 hole Phil Wood shell that will be aesthetically compatible with the rear hub.
Light System: Schmidt, Germany The lighting systems uses the Supernova system as its base. The internal components will be reconfigured then fitted to a custom housing system designed to be fully integrated into the Honjo fenders. (To be displayed commencing with trade shows May 1st, 2011 and later.)
Decal Design & Printing: SSS Ink, USA Stunning custom graphics exclusive to these two bicycles has been created by Gary Prange of SSSInk. The art beautifully captures the refined elegance of the Art Deco aesthetic on the womens bike and the organic warmth of Art Nouveau in the mens bike.
Component Group: Phil Wood, USA Each component crafted by Phil Wood is being designed and fabricated specially for this project. The component group includes unique custom fabricated: cranks chainring rear cog front hub rear hub skewers headset bottom bracket seat post pedal cages rear dropouts brake levers brake calipers
The Phil Wood headset, seat post, skewers, and brakes will be displayed commencing with trade shows May 1st, 2011 and later.
I'm taking the frames down to Phil Wood in the morning to begin the bike build that is a coordinated effort between Phil Wood, Terry Shaw, Ric Hjertberg, Chris Bishop, and Stephen Bilenky. I will try to post up some build photos over the weekend.
Looking forward to seeing many of you next week in Texas!
Regards, Brett Horton San Francisco, CA USA
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