North American Handbuilt Show: 3. More Custom Beauty.

Groovy Cycles

Groovy Cycleworks proprietor and builder Rody Walter has been at it since the early ’90s, learning at the legendary East Coast USA mountain bike maker Grove Innovations. This particular low-maintenance singlespeed was made for his 16-year old daughter to race on in the local race circuit. The frame, fork and Groovy bars are all titanium, and with the help of lightweight components throughout it adds up to a complete bike at just around 17 pounds. Note the hidden belt drive connection inside of the seatstay.

Wooster, Ohio. www.groovycycleworks.com

Moonmen Bikes

The back corner booth of Moonmen Bikes had some gems, including this 29+ titanium single speed. This bike begs to be thrashed; it was quite the effort resisting ripping around the back of NAHBS on this to and from the photo booth. While the thru-axle frame and Ti fork would be worth notice alone, the chain tension and travel system integrated into the rear triangle is a thing of beauty. Threaded inserts in the chainstay allow chain tension adjustment through the flex of the seatstay – enough for about two links of chain for any gear ratio to work. Keyed joints on both sides of the seatstay, coupled with the threaded chainstay inserts, allow the entire rear end of the bicycle to break down for easy air travel — packing should be easier than with traditional couplers thanks to the total lack of rear triangle once disassembled.

Fort Collins, Colorado. www.moonmenbikes.com

Quiring Cycles

Quiring Cycles has adopted the 29+ wheel size wholeheartedly, and brought this titanium singletrack crusher to NAHBS 2015. The 29+ wheels excel in the undulating, uneven terrain that Quiring Cycles calls home, and between tyre volume and titanium construction provide traction and comfort akin to some short travel suspension designs. Note the custom chainstay yoke and weld quality on the detail images.

Freesoil, Michigan. www.quiringcycles.net

Sycip Cycles

Sycip created this all-mountain hardtail with classic double top tube roots looking back at the early days of mountain bike riding. Clean construction throughout, take special note of the signature Sycip seatstay junction.

Santa Rosa, California. www.sycip.com

Zen Cycles

Zen Fabrication is a long time USA-based contract framebuilder, making small batch bikes for many different brands over the years. This year along with their contract offerings, they are launching the Zen brand of in-house bikes. The pictured EXP is their expedition mountain bike frame, compatible with either 29 or 27.5+ wheel sizes, and available with custom J-Paks framebag that attaches with 5mm bolts on the inside of the tubes.

Portland, Oregon. www.zen.bike

Big thanks to Brad Quartuccio for our NAHBS coverage this year!

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