eh? open letter to nahbs

[Mike Mcdermid]

An open letter to the builders of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show - VeloNews.com

I just thought everyone had their own reliable wheelbuilder

[bencooper]

I just build my own. If I'd known there was a market for "boutique" wheel building, I'd have doubled my prices.

[liv2bike]

Boyd will be there. Good enough for me.

[EricKeller]

too cheap to buy the email list?

[Jake Rosenfeld]

I knew something was missing from my framebuilding program.

Now I know its jibbing..........

At least it was written in the correct tone for a NAHBS type letter.

[e-RICHIE]

Before anyone worries about wheels and if they are handmade from a wheelbuilder, how about
folks find a way to make the forks that go through the head tubes of the frames that have their
names on them atmo.

[Don Walker]

Officially, I am declining to comment pending approval of my response by PR folks.

Unofficially, game on.

DW

[Will Neide]

I build most of my own, but have used others for builds as well. Sometimes the client has a preference of builder, or sometimes it' proprietary stuff and it's easier to let the company build them. Each time I've spoken with the builder and/or met them. No machines, just people. Horses for courses and options are good. Sometimes I learn a thing or two from them as well.

[Curt Goodrich]

What is "jibbing?" I'd say plenty of the bikes shown at NAHBS have hand built wheels. I don't understand the author's complaint.

[Don Walker]

Jibbing usually results in planing. Or something.

DW

[theflashunc]

Before anyone worries about wheels and if they are handmade from a wheelbuilder, how about
folks find a way to make the forks that go through the head tubes of the frames that have their
names on them atmo.

A certain guy in Reno made a fork that pairs nicely with the frame he made at the same time for me. Best bike I own by a country mile.

[boydcycling]

I gave my thoughts on this on the Velonews Facebook page.
I see what we're doing as very similar to what the framebuilders are doing. We design and engineer our rims and hubs to our spec and then hand build the wheels in house. There are a few wheel companies that will be at the NAHBS show that are similar in this. If I was doing the exact same thing, but selling the parts to Wheelbuilder instead of building them myself, now all of a sudden it's ok to have that at the show according to them??

I am all for custom wheelbuilders, and soon you will start seeing our components being used by some of the best of them. But my life goes into the work I'm doing for my company, and I don't think it's right to say that because it's not a "custom" option that we shouldn't be displayed on custom handmade bikes. I have had the pleasure of meeting and riding with a lot of the people who will be at the show. I am extremely proud that we'll have our wheels on display at the NAHBS show, in our booth and on a few various bikes.

[Too Tall]

Starboard is what you scream at (smaller) things in your way ;)

Alot and I mean ALOT of bikes at NAHBS have handbuilt wheels.

For reference sake here is the question R.Sawris asked "“Why don’t you have custom handbuilt wheels on your show bikes?”

W.B. is a solid company. I had to say that before saying why did VN run this "Open Letter"? It is not an opinion piece, it's advertising.

[bencooper]

Before anyone worries about wheels and if they are handmade from a wheelbuilder, how about
folks find a way to make the forks that go through the head tubes of the frames that have their
names on them atmo.

Is it unusual to make forks then? I probably make more forks than frames - in fact I definitely do if I count ones for Bromptons.

I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but wheel building is just putting parts together. You need to pick the right parts, and you need to assemble them competently, but there's not the same level of craft that there is in building a frame. Well, sometimes anyway - framebuilding could be seen as just sticking tubes together, but there's hopefully more to it than that for a good framebuilder.

Wheel building isn't really much different from the rest of the build-up process - you also need to pick the right derailleurs, brakes, cranks and seatposts, and put them all together competently.

[Too Tall]

Back it up a notch. Correct me if I'm wrong. The subject at hand is not "are handbuilt wheels NAHBS booth-worthy". The subject at hand is "what aren't handbuilt wheels on NAHBs bikes". Yes?

Is it unusual to make forks then? I probably make more forks than frames - in fact I definitely do if I count ones for Bromptons.

I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but wheel building is just putting parts together. You need to pick the right parts, and you need to assemble them competently, but there's not the same level of craft that there is in building a frame. Well, sometimes anyway - framebuilding could be seen as just sticking tubes together, but there's hopefully more to it than that for a good framebuilder.

Wheel building isn't really much different from the rest of the build-up process - you also need to pick the right derailleurs, brakes, cranks and seatposts, and put them all together competently.

[Eric Estlund]

I feel like that advertisement just trolled the niche to get web clicks. I have no problem with them looking for new clients, but I would have hoped they would have chosen an inclusive high road and not been accusatory. As noted elsewhere- most of the wheels in that room are hand built. To specifically call out a "lack of attention" if off putting, and frankly inaccurate at best.

[Jake Rosenfeld]

I feel like that advertisement just trolled the niche to get web clicks. I have no problem with them looking for new clients, but I would have hoped they would have chosen an inclusive high road and not been accusatory. As noted elsewhere- most of the wheels in that room are hand built. To specifically call out a "lack of attention" if off putting, and frankly inaccurate at best.

Yep, I agree completely.
It's a lot easier to write anything you want if you remove the comments section....

[e-RICHIE]

The brand should find its own way to reach a market rather than use or be used by Velo News to help it. The line between news and not news becomes blurred by stories like these.

[Jonathan]

Same stuff different year.

[WadePatton]

I see ignorance of the facts and promotional materials there.

Just like regular "news".