Handmade

In cycling, as in life, there are certain things not to be missed; the Tour [de France] for its tradition and for the sheer spectacle, the Spring Classics for the pure joy and passion of bicycle racing, and the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for its aesthetics.

Although it only started in 2005, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show has been dedicated to showcasing the talents of individuals from around the world whose art form is the bicycle.

One such artist is Vanilla Bicycles' owner/builder, Sacha White. In the latest Vanilla Bicycle newsletter, The Vanilla Journal [excerpt below], White's passion for the bicycle and artistry are evident in his description of the tricycle he built for his daughter.

Trike
"This bike represents a pivotal moment that happened in the Vanilla workshop. The design borrows heavily from the original Vanilla cross bikes (2000/2001 season). It features classic lines, unfussy lug-work, and straight blade forks. I am proud to report that most of the original cross machines are still being raced today.

I built this tricycle for my daughter Delilah. Although it was completed nearly two years ago, the recent flurry of interest from the art and design world had prompted me to share a little bit of it's story and some photos with you all.

I went into the project wanting to build something for my daughter that would last. As I considered what that meant, it occurred to me that what I wanted to build was a family heirloom. Something brought to life with materials that can hold up for generations of riding, being left outside under the tree, being stored in the attic, being cleaned up and oiled and passed down to the next adventurous youngster, ready for their first taste of pneumatic-tired freedom. There are definitely some personal ideals that come into play here and they are ideals that have further crystallized since I started building. In particular, I am talking about having fewer, but higher quality items in my life. Building this trike was a magical experience for me. I found an excited kid in me who likes to experiment and create and the grown-up in me has the skill to bring that kid's imagination to life.

The design started as very rough napkin sketches. Unlike a standard diamond frame, this is a form that I had no template to start from. The scribbling turned into detailed illustrations and eventually evolved into a full-scale useable drawing.

The front end is fabricated almost completely of Stainless steel. This includes the handle bar and stem (inspired by cafe racer style motorcycle bars), the head tube with built-in lug work and double down-tube bullet ends, the fork and cranks which both have lug ports built off of them. All of this was machined and welded from raw pieces of stainless tubing and solid stock. Once welded, the weld beads were filed and sanded to give each piece the appearance of being made from a single piece of metal, rather than segments that were pieced together.

The grips were made from cherry wood and polished aluminum, inspired by the lovely turn of the century bikes with wooden or cork grips that were carved into an elegant elliptical shape. The rear platform was also made of cherry wood and has a sky blue inlay around the perimeter with a stainless inlaid Vanilla script.

The rear end of the trike is made of chromoly tubing. All of the curves were completed in-house. We built the mandrels for this project from hardwood and shaped the tubes by heating them and pulling them around the wooden forms.

The front hub and the rear wheels were custom made for us by Phil Wood Co. (Phil is best known for their beautiful and bomber track hubs and bottom brackets.) The rear wheels were machined from a solid 10" bar of aluminum. The Brooks saddle was cut down from an adult sized saddle. I did the final shaping with a larger belt sander, which spun at several thousand RPM, creating a lot of friction between the belt and the saddle. It smelled just like a barbecued hamburger. Gross, right?


What I love most about the trike, is that whether a person is 3, 30, or 100, whether they are wealthy or poor, it garners the same reaction from everyone. An indescribable kind of mischievousness and a smile that reveals some dream whose spark has been re-ignited."

More photos of the Trike.

The 2008 edition of the NAHBS is being held in Portland, Oregon. It began today, February 8th and runs till the 10th. For more coverage and photos, visit Cyclingnews.com.