(Photo: NAHBS)
This year at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) city bikes were all the rage, and, after a panel of jurors looked over all of them, they decided the best one came from Portland.
the Oregon Manifest Show
in October 2008.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Local bike builder Mitch Pryor of MAP Bicycles maintained Portland’s winning streak in the category by taking home the “Best City Bike” trophy. Fittingly, for America’s most bike-friendly big city, a Portland builder has taken home this award every year it has been offered (in 2007 and 2008 it went to a bike made by Joseph Ahearne).
Pryor — who honed his rack making skills with Ahearne before launching his own company — made his debut at the Oregon Manifest show back in October. Pryor’s award-winning city bike was made for a customer in Colorado and it was partly inspired by the bicycle drawings of French artist Daniel Rebour.
Pryor was one of seven Portland-based builders that made the trek to Indianapolis to exhibit at NAHBS this year. To cut down on costs, they shipped all their bikes and booths in the same truck. The truck was donated by local bike industry supporter Christophe Esayian who works at shipping and logistics company Expeditors International.
According to NAHBS spokesman Paul Skilbeck, total attendance for the three-day show was just under 6,500 people. That’s about 300 shy of the record for attendance set last year in Portland.