San Diego Custom Bike Show

Following are a few photos from the San Diego Custom Bike Show that took place on April 8th. This event was put together by a group of five local frame builders to showcase hand made or custom bicycles. The main guy is Brian Baylis, a local frame building legend. He's been building custom frames for over 30 years and is know for the high quality of his bikes and his fancy painting skills. Brian, along with a few others at the show were former employees of Masi bicycles located in Carlsbad, CA. Masi is an Italian brand and they opened up a production facility locally.

The show ran Friday through Saturday. Friday was primarily a set up day for the exibitors but was unusual because there were several hands very interesting seminars. While not an aspiring builder I found the seminars to be very interesting.

They started off with Brian speaking to a room of seated guests but soon turned into a very fun informal huddle around him as he lectured and answered questions while filing away on some nice looking lugs.

Following was a great hands on lecture by Dave Bohm of Bohemian Bicycles on using jeweler's tools to make head badges or other artwork for your bike. He encouraged people to take up the jewel saw and do some of the cutting while he spoke. I was so enthralled that I forgot to take photos! Sorry.

Last but not least was Rob Roberson's demonstration on how to to install braze-ons on the cheap by scavaging parts from old bikes and making any tool you need to do the job. His demonstration on how to adjust the fork blades to adjust rake or even out the length was great.















Brian shaping lugs















Getting down and dirty















Filing lugs




















Rob Roberson's braze-on demonstration




















Rob's Fork Rake adjustment Technique




















If all else fails...use brute force!

The following photos were from the exhibit floor on Saturday and Sunday. These and other photos can be seen here














Bamboo Bike!

















































Bruce Gordon Touring Bike

Bruce is another master frame builder.















Wizard #43















Select the photo to read the story.

Wizard Bikes were made by the show organizer, Brian Baylis and his partner Mike Howard after they broke away from Masi. They only made 75 frames. This is number 43. I understand that frame #1 was at the show but I somehow missed it :(

Drillium!

Drillium is the practice of drilling holes, filing or cutting away metal to shave off weight and generally beautify the bicycle. The following Masi is an extreme example of that style. The guy riding it needs to be jockey size to not have the bike collapse under him.



































Slotted Forks















Slotted Chain Stays

Following is my favorite bike of the show. It is a Mario Confente. Mario was another one of the MASI guys. He trained under Mr. Masi himself and was sent to the US in the early 1970's to manage their new operation. The factory was local being in Carlsbad, CA. He broke off on his own and moved his operations to LA and started building under his own name. He died young and had a reputation for peerless work. Double-click on the photos to get a look at the details. Wow. A bike like this sells for over $10,000.



























































I'm happy to report that the show was a success and the group has just announced the date for the 2010 show. Mark your calendars for April 8 through 11, 2010.