Rick Hunter….genuinely cool guy. Helped Brian out with a flat tire on sunday morning, and then later in the day showed us his bicycles. One of the only builders at the show that had a custom fabricated full suspension bike (with his own linkage design). I think all of us bikes on display really highlighted his diverse abilities as a frame builder. I was mucho impressed with the array of creations…all were fascinating.

Signal Cycles…..i really liked these bikes. I poured over the brazing and the work was about as fine as any that i’ve seen, plus Matt is originally from stink’n Lincoln so that’s a plus. Signal is based out of Portland.

Ahearne Cycles….i admire the looks of these bikes. Just visually stunning and one of my favorite builders.

Groovy cycleworks seemed appropriately named after checking out his paint job on this bike below…..frame, forks, handlebars, and a soon to be released 4130 chro-mo crank that will work with shimano’s external BB bearings looked really nice. You can see them too in the pic below.

the Wheel Fanatyk……having seen quite a few wood rims here at the barn for restoration projects and older track wheels i can honestly say that i have never seen any built as fine as these. These rims have layers of wood that are beveled end to end and then shaped as you see in the photo creating a layered finish. Unlike wood rims of the past that were rolled to a finger joint. Impressive stuff and i was surprised at the 460g weight and how many small builders had them built on to their show bikes. Make sure you check out his website….cool stuff.