Retro classics and cutting edge: Best road bikes of NAHBS 2019
A lovely array of custom, handcrafted road builds from the showroom floor in Sacramento
There is always a wide spectrum of weird, wonderful and experimental bikes on hand at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. This year’s show in Sacramento, Calif., was no different. While gravel and adventure bikes get a lot of fanfare, there’s still a big demand for sleek and stylish road bikes. Builds that push the boundaries and reflect what people want from the machines they are custom ordering find their way to the showroom floor. So did a couple of throwbacks.
RELATED: Everything NAHBS – 2019 North American Handmade Bicycle Show
The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is packed up for another year as builders head back to their workshops to prepare bikes for their clients and next year’s show in Dallas, Texas but you can still enjoy this selection of beautiful bikes that were showcased.
Craig Calfee
Greg LeMond's bike from when he was on Team Z in 1991.
Craig Calfee added extra buttress to reinforce his joints.
Slim Chance by Fat City Cycles
Now know as Fat Chance Bikes, the frame builder was founded in 1982.
Fat City Cycles built this Slim Chance neutral support bike for the 1989 Tour de DuPont.
T-Lab
This T-Lab R3 was developed in collaboration with Bryan Davis, the senior director of design innovation at Burton Snowboards and avid cyclist.
The bike was inspired by the 'terroir' in Vermont; built to specification at T-Lab in neighbouring Montréal.
The bespoke design is available to Burton employees only.
Unique omni-road model configuration, it features euro-race length chain stays, while accommodating up to a 650b x 42 tires.
T-Lab won the award for Best Boyd build at NABHS with a silver X3.
T-Red
This T-Red might look like carbon but it's steel.
T-Red won the prize for Best Track Bike at NAHBS but went with hydraulic shifting on this road bike.
Rotor's new 13-speed 1x hydraulic groupset is anything but traditional.
A massive range of gear selection and a heavily machined rear derailleur make the Rotor gruppo stand out.
The four arm crank of Rotors new 13-speed groupset on the T-Red steel road bike.
Squid
Squid had a matchy-matchy bike equipped with SRAM's 12-speed Red AXS grupset.
All the writing on the bikes have been given Squids stylized treatment.
Even the Zipp logos and the saddle.
The Zipp carbon hoops too.
No detail was left overlooked including the AXS battery.
DeAmina
Toronto shop Blacksmith built up this beautiful DeAmina for NAHBS.
The bike got a platter paint job.
The new Campagnolo Super Record EPS 12 on the DeAnima.
The build was finished with an Omata bike computer.
Pegoretti
Dario Pegoretti's comapny has lived on without the legend.
Builder's who worked for him got together to make a bike in his honour.
Dekerf
Dekerf out of Richmond, B.C. had a number of lovely bikes including this blue road bike.
The chainstay and fork design on Dekerf is the company's signature look.
Gaulzetti
Zullo
A pretty traditional sparkly road build with by Italian steel frame builder Zullo an 11-speed Campagnolo rim groupset.
This custom race machine has external cable routing and deep Hifi carbon wheels.
Not the newest Campagnolo groupset but elegant and lovely on this build.
Low
