It’s pretty cool to have an event the scale of the SF Bike Expo, especially this time of year. Outside of cyclecross, bicycle promotors have pretty much shut down for the season and talk generally shifts towards snow sports. However, here in the Bay Area, we’re still riding and enjoying some rather nice weather. This weekend we headed down to the Bike Expo and after we walked though the swap meet to scoop up a few deals we didn’t realize we needed, we walked the exhibition hall to check out some of the sweet gear on display.
The first thing that caught my eye were the hand crafted wood frames by Renovo— their cruiser to be specific. I’m a sucker for the vintage lines of cruiser bikes, and their swoopy top tubes happen to float my boat. The craftsmanship that goes into the wood frame by Renovo is pretty amazing. We’ve never actually thrown a leg over one and got it dirty, but their new cruiser caught our eye. Also on display was a cut-away of one of their frames; they look just as great on the inside. The road frames run 4-5.5lbs.
Check it out: Renovo Bikes
Moving on, we stopped by the Nemesis Project booth to check out the latest from Brad. Based in Sacramento, Nemesis Project specializes in freestyle frames for wheels of all sizes, and is deep into the fixed gear freestyle scene. You wouldn’t know it from his website, (we give him a bad time about this every year) but he’s been building bikes non-stop. Still doin’ it.
His latest build, a 20″ freestyle BMX bike had a cool twin top tube reminiscent of the old Torkers and Skyways. It had the smoothest rolling headset I’ve probably ever felt. Frame stand anyone? Old school design, new school geometry, cool stuff.
Check out his latest at the Nemesis Project web store
Speaking of vintage BMX bikes, there was also a sweet collection of mint vintage BMX bikes on display in the hallway. (sorry, no shots this time)
Paul Component Engineering out of Chico, California has been making small runs of components for about as long as I can remember. Check out the jewel-like finish on these hubs.
Check it out: Paul Components
Teva recently burst into the MTB scene with their shoe offerings for riders that roll on platforms, and have expanded their line with additional street style models. We’re pretty psyched on their shoe the Links, and the new kicks look pretty swell as well.
I’m still trying to get my hands on one of their new SPD models; they didn’t have them on display, but I’ve seen a preproduction sample, and have made it a mission to get a pair on my feet.
Check them out: Teva