Kirk Frameworks at the 2007 North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show

At about 6 AM on February 28th my good friend and fellow framebuilder Carl Strong, his lovely wife Loretta and I loaded up his truck and left Bozeman for San Jose CA . We were all headed for the 3rd Annual North American Handmade Bike show. The drive is a long one but passes through some of the most barren yet beautiful landscape I've seen. It took us 18 hours to drive the distance and despite some trouble with the truck and snow-covered roads we had a fun drive. We arrived in San Jose no worse for the wear, and the warm air and palm trees were a refreshing change from our snowy home.

The NAHBS is organized by framebuilder Don Walker of Texas. Small builders came from all over the country and in a few cases across the ocean to be part of the event. It was wonderful to take part in the show and to meet my fellow framebuilders. One of the highlights was meeting so many of my customers and finally being able to put a face to the name talk with you in person.

I'd like to say a special thank you to my two customers who allowed their brand new bikes to be displayed at the show. I appreciate that you delayed the delivery of your frames so that I could show them off to the rest of the world – you got lots of compliments on your new bikes!

The show is very well-organized and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves handbuilt bike stuff. It was a who's who of the handbuilt world. Next year the show will be in Portland, Oregon and I will be there for sure. I hope you can find a way to make the trip and spend a few days talking with builders and seeing the shiny stuff.

We made it home the day after the show at 10:00 PM after a 15 hour day in the truck. It seems like that would be a rough day but with Carl and Loretta as travel companions we kept each other entertained and wide awake the whole way. Much of the talk on the way home was about how we will change things for next year's show and we all seemed to be looking forward to it already.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to look at my work and to say hello. For those of you who were not able to attend, you'll find lots of photos at the NAHBS web site. I encourage all of you bike aficionados to consider making the trip to Portland next February; I guarantee you won't be disappointed by the wide array of amazing and creative things to see. And don't forget to stop by my booth and say hello. It will be good to meet you and shake your hand.