After a multi-year dry spell, there’s a new show on the calendar that could re-center Portland as a hotbed of framebuilding and high-end, custom bikes.
Made, is a new “industry and consumer bike event with a mission to bring framebuilders, media and makers together to elevate and inspire”. It will take place in Portland in September 2023. Echos Communications, a PR and marketing firm organizing the the event, are calling it a “global bike show”.
According to today’s announcement, the event’s format will be much different than the traditional booth-and-display vibe of other handmade bike shows. Here’s more from Echos VP (and Portland resident) Billy Sinkford:
“MADE is the next evolution of handmade consumer and trade events, creating a format that is inclusive, exciting and supportive. The event will celebrate and support framebuilders and the culture that surrounds them, and our collective goal is to bring awareness to this segment of the industry. To that end, we will be offering free booth space to all builders for the inaugural 2023 year.”
It’s been four years since Portland hosted a large-scale gathering of framebuilders. In the decade from 2005 to 2015, our city was the epicenter of custom framebuilding in America. We hosted major shows by local and national event companies and boasted dozens of small, independent builders. It seemed like every month there was another collaboration or exhibition to check out. But interest waned, and in 2018 the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show was cancelled due to what organizers said was “low levels of interest.”
Could Made mark a rebirth for builders and their fans and re-energize Portland’s handmade bike scene?
Open registration to be a part of the event will begin this September, but early confirmations have already come in from: Moots, The Pro’s Closet Museum, Bicycling Magazine, Paul Component Engineering, Mosaic, Breadwinner Cycles, Bike Flights, Schon Studio, Speedvagen, Stinner, Abbey Bike Tools, Chris King, Argonaut Cycles, Breadwinner Cycles, WZRD Bikes, Retrotec, Btchn Bikes, Falconer Cycles, Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, Tomii Cycle, Frontier Bikes, Bender Bikes, Bike Flights, Monē Bikes and more.
Check out the event website and stay tuned for more details.