I’ve arrived in Sacramento, California, to attend the North American Handmade Bike Show. It was a long journey here from New Mexico, first by Amtrak on an overnight train to LA, then on the CA Shuttle Bus – both of which, incidentally, take bicycles for just $5 a pop.
My travels did at least culminate on two wheels, with a ride from Oakland to Sacramento. Organised by Liz from My Dutch Bike and messenger bag fabricators Chrome, it was a day out to promote the Alcohauler, an incredible, keg-hauling utility bike – one of the many beautifully crafted bikes on show this weekend. Built by car-free living Josh Boisclair, the Alcohauler was inspired by bakfietsen, the barge-like Dutch cargo bikes, and infused with the spirit of the classic American roadster.
Thanks for inviting me along for the ride! Show pics coming soon…
Update: you can see what caught my eye here.
At the 11th hour, the Alcohauler is ready to be ridden for the first time… a 100 miles to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.
Long vehicle approaching.
Classic American roadster meets dutch-style load hauler…
Thanks to Chrome for supplying the characterful, crazy and definitely rattly Sag Wagon. More capacity than even the Alcohauler…
Same concept though…
On the road to Sacramento: the last stretch from Davis.
Expect plenty of Bike Love this weekend…
Looks like fun! Have an awesome time. Look forward to your posts on it.
Wow.
Man, I’ve seen some franken keg-bikes, but that one takes the cake!
You rode that thing into Nahbs??! Awesome.. that thing was so cool especially with the dry ice in between the kegs..
It didn’t, the bike’s builder did. Once it gets going, that thing is like a torpedo!
BEST OF SHOW- in my eyes. Love the bike!
AND I got to see this thing sprinting down the street in Sac- it can go quickly, very quickly.
Always enjoy reading about your adventures and appreciate the time you take to post the write ups and all the amazing photos.
Looking forward to your Troll / Ogre comparison. Battle of the giants?
Would love to try 29inch wheels but almost all of them have too high a top tube for me, not enough standover. Wondering what I can get away with on a Troll. Seems like 700c wheels and big tyres would be fun.Would probably have to use discs though instead of V brakes.
If you’re into experimenting, 650B might be an interesting middle ground. Apparently they fit fine on Trolls, and there’s more and more availability for rims and tyres. In some ways, it’s still early days, and you do have to wonder if the world needs yet another wheel size… This said, 650B have been around for years, so they crop up all over the place! I saw a bunch when I was working on bikes in Guatemala.
Makes the Troll that much more versatile!
Just an idea (-;
Yes, I think 650b would be great except that although I hail from the U.K. I’m based in Japan these days. Anything non standard is hard to source here and we cyclists even get suspicious looks when we ask for anything non-Shimano in the store! It seems Guatemala is way ahead of us there 🙂
Having said that, once I get a set of wheels built up, all I need is spare tubes so it’s still a possibility.Will look into it. In the past I’ve had my wheels built by SJS but this time around want to support my local LBS guy here and give him some business. I’ll see if he can wrap his head around a 650b build.
Actually that would solve my problem of not having enough standover with a 29er set up but still give me some of the benefits.
Really like the idea of building up a Troll in a different way from the usual MTB style but still with versatile capability.As you say must experiment.
Food for thought.
Thanks!
Certainly, the 650b momentum is building, as it were. Using 26in tubes is fine, but you’d also have to consider availability of tyres too. Most manufacturers make them now, though how easy they are to source in Japan, I have no clue…
This website is a good source of info for what is available in the US at least.
Great post and great coverage in Singletrack. Sadly, whoever posted the item at Singletrack “guessed wrong” on the show name. They titled your article North American Hand Built Show instead of North American Handmade Bicycle Show.
Thanks TG, probably my fault as I’ve noticed I used both within my posts – now duly corrected.
I was only asked to snap a few pictures of what caught my eye for Singletrack, and being a mountain bike magazine, those were the kind of bikes they were after. Obviously, there were amazing road/randonneur/cargo/city bikes on show too, including featherweight, sub 21lbs tandems!
The order of the photos and captions came out a little different too to what I originally handed in, but I hope it offers a flavour of the show. It’s too overwhelming to try and cover everything!
No worries. Just something that caught my attention so I figured I let y’all know.
One of my favourite tandems was the green 29er Co-Motion. I bet that thing really rolls…
Nice tandem write up for the show, btw!
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, so many great tandems, so few builders willing to loan you one that fits to play with!!!
The Co-Motion should be a fun machine, but that Eriksen 29er is the nuts! We have some friends in Texas who are into rando and other massive endurance stuff who ordered the first Co-Mo 29er, but ended up replacing it with a bamboo Calfee custom 29er, noting that they have a Calfee Dragonfly tandem as their regular roadie. Those Calfees can spoil you…
Enjoying your blog… great stuff.