What happens when you bring over 200 of the best bicycle builders and brands in the world and 400 handmade bikes under one roof and host a four-day show in the most bike-loving city in America? You get the largest-ever handmade bike show this country has ever seen.
At least that’s what organizers of the inaugural MADE bicycle Show said in a statement yesterday.
According to Echos Communications, over 5,000 people walked through the doors between August 24th and 27th and over 50 media outlets showed up to document and amplify it.
Here’s more from Echos (followed by a photo gallery of over 100 of the show bikes!):
“By providing a platform for artisans, designers, and enthusiasts to convene, MADE succeeded and will continue to emphasize the integral role that collaborative engagement plays in the evolution of this vibrant community. MADE’s legacy as a hub of creativity and camaraderie is destined to reverberate through the industry.”
I was regrettably unable to cover the event since I was out of town visiting family all last week. But thankfully, the folks at MADE shared a gallery of beautiful, studio-quality photos of almost every bike that was in the show. See 111 of the bikes below thanks to MADE and talented, Portland-based photographers Bob Huff and Dylan VanWeelden (also don’t miss Dylan’s really cool IG video of all the action):
If you missed the show, check out great videos and more pics on the MADE.bike IG.
UPDATE, 12:48 pm: I assumed the gallery above was complete, but organizers say they will add more photos later today (local builder Breadwinner Cycles is notably absent). Check back Thursday morning for more bikes!
UPDATE 2, 8/31 at 10:36 am: The gallery should be complete now. Every builder at the show should be represented in the gallery above. If I’m missing anyone, please let me know!
Thanks for reading.
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Incredible showing. I felt nervous that it would be a dud and cycling in Portland was limping along, but this show felt very positive. It was absolutely packed.
: )
This was so awesome.
The MADE team put on a great show. I’ve done a few NAHBS, a couple of Oregon Bikes and Brews and a handful of other events over the years and of those, MADE.bike is the best show experience I’ve had.
Communications were excellent (yes, there were a lot of emails, but at least they were trying to communicate!), there was a huge, enthusiastic crowd that came through the door, the media presence was fantastic, Dylan’s pics are gorgeous and the food vendors were top notch when I finally had a moment to jump out and get calories and caffeine.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Lots of praise for this event. Looking forward to next year!
I guess I’ll be the Debbie Downer.
I was disappointed. It was incredibly homogenous, most bikes being “clean gravel or road bike” which young white guys prefer. Look at the gallery: 90% of the bikes are essentially identical.
E-bikes? Cargo bikes? Trikes? Commercial vehicles? Where are those builders?
Perhaps the people who opt for cargo bikes arent looking for hand built bikes?
Bike Friday had their cargo bike. Frances Cycles had a small cargo bike. There was also the Schön Studio Party Cargo.
Go see Dave Levy at TiCycles, he will build you any type of cargo bike you want, all you have to do is step up.
This rationale is a non-starter, cargo bikes are somewhat custom made by nature but they are rarely bespoke in the true handmade sense that was key here.
You may not have been captivated enough to see it but the devil is in the details and while you did have look closely at some, there was plenty of variation in many same appearing examples if you truly cared to look.
Like I said, if you’re prepared to step up, way up, plenty of builders will be happy to build you what you want but many of them don’t have the luxury of building an exquisite sample for a show like this that isn’t going to appeal to the average buyer.
Especially as the price tag could be extremely uncomfortable.
This show never purported to be about anything that wasn’t well represented here.
You may have been confused.
Several builders were anti-internal cable routing, I’d take a guess E-bikes are a big no for them as well . I saw a lot of variety within those homogenous bikes personally.
If this were a major brand show like Specialized, Trek, etc, I bet you would see tons of E-bikes.
Although there weren’t a ton of ebikes there were ebikes there and I would take issue with your statement that “E-bikes are a big no for them as well”. The youtube channel Electric Bike Journal has a piece on ebikes and the show. Link below.
https://youtu.be/A9cDAc9sb5w?si=yYr_tk00atMLHkmp
Fortunately, this wasn’t that.
I don’t see an entry from Co-Motion Cycles…
They were in one of the galleries I saw and they are in the fantastic Ebike youtube listed above, the whole thing is great and really pours water on the comment about no E, cargo, trikes, etc.
AND the Rep from Battaglin that was here with Alex said they just finished their first full custom steel Ebike recently and will be making more soon.
Giovanni is riding it after being off the bike for awhile, which is fantastic.
They are one of very few still family run custom frame companies.
‘The best bicycle brands in the world’? With production figures for most in the dozens, it’s not going to many that are able to cast judgement on that claim, OTOH, factories in Asia turn out hundreds of thousands, ones that most of we poor folk ride, and as such, they are the best bicycles in the world. I’m not sure that dilettantery of this kind is good for the pursuit as a whole, except to cater to the frottage needs of a certain category of white, middle-class male.