Randoms From the Made Bike Show, Part Deux

Sep 6, 2023 at 13:46
by Dario DiGiulio  
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If you missed the first batch of tasty morsels from the inaugural Made show, be sure to head over there to get the full picture. There's plenty more to see from the show, so let's get into it.

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Straight into the deep end, we have one of the wildest builds at Made.
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I got to ride this around the block and it really does go fast.
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And a surgical chainline. Nice work from Brulé cycles.
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Sure it's not a mountain bike, but this track machine built to set an hour record commands attention.

Part of the joy of Made for me was getting to see old friends from disparate corners of the industry in their happy place, in and around the world of bikes. It really feels like people pulled out all the stops to make an appearance at the first show, which made for an excellent array of builds and designs.

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Tomii Cycles creates jewelry-grade topcaps, befitting the equally gorgeous bikes he builds.
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Stem spacers too.
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Very Southwest.


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The Chris King Aeroset presents a slightly more...brutalist look.
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I guess it's just not for me.


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Santa Cruz, California's own Black Cat.
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I didn't get to chat with Todd, but the bike looks well sorted.

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Cool.

In addition to all the handmade goodness, there was some genuine innovation on display as well. The following bike is an interesting proof of concept of a novel manufacturing method that could very well find its way into the mountain bike world.

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Heavy Bikes is casting entire frames out of A356 aluminum.
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Using a 3D-printed positive mold, the whole assembly is pressure cast in sand.
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Final fittings are machined in post.

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Just a drop bar bike for now, but we'll see what comes.

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I don't entirely understand what's going on here, but it's pretty.
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Swingarm, no shock.

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Gearbox-commute-downcountry-bikepacking-core

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Moo.

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Medicinal accessories from Paragon Machine Works.
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And an alternative option for the now-common bottle accessory mounts from King Cage.
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Plus, titanium dustpan.

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Ratking's new RIP Rack.
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And some removable cable ends from Forager Cycles.

There was a rideable prototype floating around the Digit booth, and it looks to be a shorter-travel full-29" variant of the Datum. The official Sharpie graphics on the frame indicate that it's to be called the Ring, and it continues their use of the frame-integrated shock.

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The writing on the chainstay is the most prototype-looking thing about it.
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Some beautiful finish work on this Neuhaus' headtube.

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Rig of the day will always be awarded to an old Volvo.

That's all for now folks, but there are a few more bike checks on the way, so stay tuned for those.

Author Info:
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Member since Dec 25, 2016
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97 Comments
  • 35 2
 is that a 240DL wagon. So many dead shows in my 1968 140 wagon. Volvo needs to bring back the 5 speed stick.
  • 5 1
 Toyota's on it www.thedrive.com/news/toyotas-manual-shifting-ev-will-debut-in-2026
  • 4 0
 @blcpdx: Close, but not enough bork.
  • 4 1
 what's wrong about the 6 speed sticks in modern cars?
  • 4 0
 @tofhami: i would definitely take either. Hardly anything comes to the states anymore in manual transmission. It drives me bonkers.
  • 4 0
 @calarco68 listening to this show from 69!

archive.org/details/gd69-03-01.sbd.16track.kaplan.4030.sbeok.shnf/gd69-03-01d2t04.shn
  • 1 0
 Once you've had a 240, all other wagons pale in comparison, not a powerhouse, but that tractor motor just keeps on spinning.
  • 3 0
 @DANKimball: Sweet Dark Star, Thanks for making my day!
  • 1 0
 @sanchofula: I'd would not disagree with you, but I've owned W123 & W124 Mercedes wagons, and place them in the same league.
  • 1 0
 @sanchofula: I had a 122 wagon, it was a tank. Might still be running for all I know.
  • 1 0
 @sanchofula: dream would be to drop a T5 engine into an older RWD 240 wagon
  • 2 0
 @blcpdx: That makes no sense, an electric motor doesn't need gears. They produce the same amount of torque at any RPM. That has to be fake.
  • 1 0
 @courage: I assure you they don't.
  • 22 0
 Those tomii cycles topcap and spaces are pretty amazing. 0 functional increase just pure beauty and intricacy for otherwise invisible parts.
  • 4 0
 love 'em. Went to their website but everything is sold out. lol
  • 2 3
 Yes, they are nice. They should make a version with the "do not enter" symbol on them.
  • 17 0
 I want a Digit.
  • 60 0
 Where do you want it?
  • 7 0
 @boozed: there's a clue in the name of the bike.
  • 4 0
 Get one, the datum is great
  • 6 0
 @boozed: this made me laugh so much I spat my coffee out
  • 1 0
 I already have 20 of them
  • 7 0
 @trevor-bag: Datum? I barely know him.
  • 2 0
 me too! That ring built with an intend fork and wireless drivetrain / dropper would be so clean
  • 7 0
 @dariodigiulio pretty sure the shockless swingarm has little rubber squishy bits in the pivot. its like an undamped softtail bike.
  • 2 0
 I’m guessing it has a titanium bevel gear attached to a hollow titanium torsion bar inside the downtube...providing suspension spring force like older Porsche 911 torsion bar suspension. Rubber inserts pressed inside the torsion tube could provide some damping.
  • 4 0
 Held together by chain tension?
  • 3 0
 Either that, or it’s a hardtail vertically, but it provides lateral suspension when leaned over (like some Grand Prix racing superbikes have lateral flex engineered into the swing arm to allow for “suspension” over bumps when the bike is leaned way over).

High-end steel 90’s hardtails (like a Kona Hot) do a great job of flexing laterally when standing and cornering — it really helps keep the tires in contact with the ground...the frame flex feels like 1.5” of suspension travel when leaned over and cornering hard.
  • 2 0
 @WRCDH: The RM-9 had about 3" of this lateral swing-arm suspension you speak of, haha!
  • 1 0
 or setup like a torsion axle?
  • 2 0
 Pretty sure it's just an unfinished version of a ProFlex frame.
  • 8 2
 Most coverage has the show's name stylized as "MADE", but does it actually stand for anything? Or is it all-caps just BECAUSE?
  • 6 0
 It's just Made, it's not an acronym but somebody clearly likes to type in caps.
  • 55 5
 It stands for 'make a dentist excited' .
  • 6 2
 @nateb: sold !!! This one gets the win
  • 13 1
 @nateb: So the E isn't for ejaculate? I've been wrong all along.
  • 4 1
 @suspended-flesh: Not sure about the E, but I think the D is for DiGiulio.
  • 9 1
 That chainring is hilarious
  • 23 0
 That's my climbing ring.
  • 14 2
 it's for top speed records. between this and the comments in the article about pivot's aluminum lug/carbon tube prototype, i'm gathering that a fair amount of mtb'ers don't know much about other disciplines of cycling.
  • 1 0
 @igxqrrl: ring or cog?
  • 1 0
 I'm curious as to the crank-arm length? They look longer than my 180's...
  • 3 0
 @brighterlights: Some def do not.
  • 1 0
 Keegan Swenson type bike
  • 2 1
 I just don't understand why something designed to win land speed records has like a 90 degree head angle? Seems like you'd want some stability...
  • 1 0
 Needs one person jumping consecutively on the leading crankarm to get moving
  • 2 0
 Seems like they could have acheived the same gearing with a MUCH smaller cog, but then they wouldn't need that ridiculous chainring. Something tells me they're not really serious.
  • 2 0
 @igxqrrl: Dangerholm has entered the chat
  • 4 0
 They could have foregone the right crank and spider and just threaded the pedal straight into the chainring.
  • 1 0
 Definitely need long crankarms with a shorter seat post.
  • 1 0
 @mypinkbikeself: This is a ring as in chainring. SRAM's probably watering at the mouth thinking it's the largest cog for the rear wheel dish. Big Grin
  • 4 0
 You can set the hour record with about 4.5 revolutions of the cranks.
  • 2 0
 @gtill9000: If it's for an hour record attempt, they're probably chasing those marginal gains from minimizing the bend angle of the chain (moar watts). For an hour record, bike weight is basically irrelevant.
  • 7 0
 That tomii stuff looks so choice
  • 11 5
 Gearbox bikepacking... remove the weight of gearing from your rear swingarm, then put a heavy bag on it!
  • 4 0
 I don't get this either, like it's a framebuilder/boutique trade show in 2023 and we're still piling on racks as unsprung mass. I'd love to see a pannier rack that bolts into the main frame like they've done with motorcycle subframes for ages, and a USD fork with rack eyelets or triple m5 inserts a.k.a. adventure zits. Am I missing something or why is no one doing this currently?
  • 11 1
 Arent grearboxes/belts pretty popular for bike packing because of the low maintenance? Doubt bike packers are focusing on high speed suspension performance.
  • 3 0
 It's more about robustness and lack of maintenance. They're mostly on hardtails anyways.
  • 3 1
 @letsgethurt: This (creating all this unsprung weight) has always been a peeve of mine too. It's not just about suspension performance - this also wrecks rims.
  • 3 0
 With going packless being very popular, I wonder if people would buy a small form fitting water bottle that would fit where one might mount a small took pack on excess mounting locations.
  • 2 0
 did you notice that the water bottle cage is turned by 90 degrees? looks like the bottle can be taken out from the right side
  • 6 0
 The Volvo's a Weapon
  • 5 0
 I don’t even smoke and I want that 9 incher
  • 13 0
 I didn't know my ex was on pb
  • 2 0
 More commonly known as a bubble pipe so you're good.
  • 2 0
 That's what she said.
  • 1 0
 @Mabman: exactly... I picked up one back in the mid 90's @ the Philly (?) interbike (dealer show) & can attest to it's functionality. Fitted with an old school Park AWS-1 rubber grip (it'll tend to get warm) and found that using a ti spoke to "clean" the length worked best. Mine has a nice blue hue due to very high temps that were attempts at clearing a clog. It now looks beautiful and still draws attention whenever I break it out!
  • 1 0
 that track bike is sick! but The chainring setup has so much room for optimization. Good oppurtunity to intergrate crank right into the ring and maybe do the whole thing sans teeth from carbon. could be an upgrade to this very build
  • 4 0
 I'd feel bad sweating all over the tomii stuff.
  • 4 0
 Cast aluminium frames are already in mtb, empire cycles?
  • 3 0
 Were. The ap1 hasn't been made for over a decade if I remember correctly, and the mx6 is cnc junctions with tubes welded between.
  • 3 0
 Removable cable ends: I loooove that!!!
Lovely article. Thanks Dario di Truffle!!!
  • 4 0
 that campy case tho.
  • 3 0
 The building is really cool
  • 3 1
 The first bike I've seen where you can get your shorts caught in your chain...
  • 7 0
 Ahhh nuts.
  • 2 0
 Unless you wear Dangerholms
  • 1 0
 That track bike looks like one of those kids' drawing turned to a real bike (or whichever "I don't know how to draw a bike" grown up drawing). I mean that light-heartedly.
  • 3 0
 Where do I get the Ti dustpan?
  • 2 0
 @dariodigiulio
what brand is the 'swingarm but no shock' bike?
  • 6 0
 Like the shock, that information is also missing
  • 1 0
 @freestyIAM: true that
  • 3 0
 It's from a href="https://www.wolfhoundcycles.com/">Wolfhound Cycles /a>
  • 4 2
 I always wanted a titanium crackpipe
  • 3 0
 Its gonna have to be a crackpipe/bottle opener to get proper mtb branding.
  • 2 0
 Any information about the racks on the Nicolai?
  • 4 0
 I'm fairly certain they are Old Man Mountain Elkhorn racks.
  • 2 0
 @mcdonaldacm: Nailed it. That is our a href="https://oldmanmountain.com/product/elkhorn-bike-rack/">Elkhorn rack/a> in the front and a href="https://oldmanmountain.com/product/divide-bike-rack/">Divide rack/a>in the rear.
  • 1 0
 "I don't entirely understand what's going on here, but it's pretty."

Looks like a Trek TC3...
  • 1 0
 Track/hour record bike? It looks more like a rollers speed record build to me.
  • 3 2
 A cast aluminum frame, what could go wrong?
  • 7 1
 I for one am ready to stop hearing about weld complaints in the comments
  • 2 0
 I'm really surprised that frame did not get more mentions on the road/gravel websites. I think its incredible. In theory aluminum casting is a very old technique so it should hold up just fine. At the same time, thank goodness for magazine editors being crash test dummies.
  • 3 0
 @Sscottt: yeah for sure I’m very curious to see how this plays out, imagine a world where welding hydroformed aluminum tubes from Asia isn’t the first choice for building a bike, would it mean lower prices? Higher prices?
  • 2 0
 See: Kirk Precision (admittedly magnesium)
  • 1 0
 I saw that bike at a gravel event. I don't recall the exact weight but it was not light.
  • 1 0
 @MidwestMTBR: the brand is Heavy Bikes after all.







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