Portland-based Chris King Precision Components might have unintentionally made the best election day diversion ever: A series of videos featuring mouth-watering bikes narrated by some of the best bike makers in America.
The company hosted its first open house at its Northwest Industrial District headquarters in 2018 and it became an instant classic. This year’s edition is online-only and the Chris King crew has done an amazing job with the content.
The open house consists of the main video (below, 23 minutes long) and 13 builder vignettes that are just 2-3 minutes long. The main video is backed by soothing sounds and follows Mr. Chris King into his workshop (with serious Willy Wonka vibes). You get short teasers of the show bikes, some personal storytelling from King, and several other fun surprises. The vignettes highlight collaborations between Chris King and industry stalwarts like Brooks, Specialized, and Yeti. There are also 10 other short videos about the show bikes narrated by the builders who made them.
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Participating builders include: Oscar Camarena from Simple Bicycle Co. (Portland), Ira Ryan from Breadwinner Cycles (Portland), Mike DeSalvo from DeSalvo Cycles (Ashland), Woody from The Vanilla Workshop (Portland), Carl Strong from Pursuit Cycles (Bozeman, MT), Jay Sycip from Sycip Designs (Santa Rosa, CA), John Caletti from Caletti Cycles (Santa Cruz, CA), Paul Sadoff from Rock Lobster (Santa Cruz, CA), Dave Rosen from Sage Titanium Bicycles (Beaverton), Brad Bingham from Bingham Built Bikes (Steamboat Springs, CO), and (someone who’s name I couldn’t quite catch!) from Mosaic Cycles (Boulder, CO).
Election results aren’t due out for many hours yet, so turn on auto-play, sit back and enjoy these beautiful bicycles adorned with the best parts in the business made right here in Portland, Oregon.
See all the videos on Chris King’s YouTube channel.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Jonathan – thanks for the mental coffee break…and it made me revisit one of your older CK posts…about the frame production of Cielo …and remember visiting CK garage sale and snagging a Cielo frame set before they stopped making them…;(
https://bikeportland.org/2013/11/01/the-making-of-a-cielo-a-bike-thats-purely-portland-94503
BP: “The production of Cielos in Portland means a lot to this city. It shows a tangible example of “bikenomics” at work and it proves to the world that high-quality steel bicycles can be made in the USA at a production level while maintaining responsible environmental standards and labor practices.”
I want all Chris King parts on my bike and I want YOU to pay for them!
I remember when I used to be able to afford that stuff. Those were good days!
Might make for a great local “CARES3” program of green modal investment and local business support…local jurisdictions have had great leeway in how to distribute such funds…so far.
Simply, the finest bike builders in PDX.