NAHBS 2013 – A great success for Paketa

I can’t say enough about the tremendous show that was hosted in Denver last weekend. The 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle was a huge success. The people of Denver came out in full force to show their love of cycling. We are proud to be a part of the Denver cycling community. We were also impressed with how many people traveled from all over the US and all over the world to come to the show.

Thank you to every person that stopped to chat with us about our bikes. We love showing off our amazing rides, and we hope you keep in touch with us. We also want to thank the event organizers for doing such a great job and driving a big crowd.

The Bikes we showcased at the North American Handmade Bicycle show this year in Denver:

1. D2r Magnesium tandem bike with two couplings for easy travel. The D2r was shown with a right-side Gates timing belt and a compact crankset. We also showcased our new finish option, which is a nano particulate ceramic coating. Ceramikoat is extremely hard and scratch resistant, and also very thin. We had the insides of the frame and BB shell coated for extra protection. We chose a matte finish for the show bike, and I have to say that the matte finish from Ceramikoat is extremely smooth and continuous. It looks much better than a matte finish powder coat. This incredibly versatile tandem weighed in at 22.5 lbs for the show.

2. WAC Corporal 29er:  A mountain bike with a double/double belt drive. This bike simply rocks. It’s a single speed, but with more versatility so you aren’t always stuck with one gear. And you still get to use the Gates belt drive. The rear wheel simply drops out and you can switch the belt manually to a different combination of sprockets. Switching the belt takes less than a minute, and you don’t get your hands greasy. This 29er weighed in at 22lbs for the show.

3. 18th Street Scorcher: This super fast singlespeed tandem was displayed with no chains. Adhering to the Gates philosophy, we used a belt for the drive and also for the timing. It rides so quiet and clean. The most unique thing is that we built the bike to allow the drive and timing belts to both be mounted to the right side, allowing the use of any crankset.

4. Scud All-road bike: The Scud road bike we presented at NAHBS is a slick looking bike. It’s matte black finish mates perfectly with the finish of the ENVE carbon fork, rims, handlebar, stem, and seatpost. JP built this bike with Campy Record EPS, and did a fabulous job of concealing the wires. The bike also featured Hayes road disc brakes, and the entire brake line was routed inside the frame, leaving no cable clutter on the bike.

5. V2 Time Trial Tandem: The V2 time trial tandem is a speed machine. I can’t keep track of the number of people who have won races on this setup. Everyone at the show loved the Sweet Wings titanium tandem cranks that are on this bike too. What a great touch.

6. D2r Tandem with four couplings: This bike is a sight to behold. It’s flashy paint job really brought a lot of attention at the show. The frame is powder coated with a super chrome base coat, then Lollipop Berry faded to Ink black with a clear vision top coat. It has matching pink American Classic 420 Aero wheels, metallic pink bottle cages, and some other pink flare parts that really bring it all together.

Here is the 18th Street Scorcher. A fast single speed tandem

a slow moment at the Paketa Booth at NAHBS 2013

JP Burow and Dave Walker discussing

The Scud All-road bike with Campy Record EPS, Disc brakes, full internal cable routing, and tapered fork.

WAC corporal 29er with Double/Double belt drive

V2 Time Trial Tandem

Paketa Magnesium bikes at NAHBS 2013 in Denver

Double WAC in action

I got a chance to ride the new Double WAC the other day, and had a great time. I haven’t done a lot of single-speed riding, and this bike got me excited to do more. I always found that I liked the simplicity training aspect of single-speeding, but I didn’t like the fact that the gear was never quite right. Or almost never. I like to be able to pedal a little bit going downhill sometimes, and every single speed setup I’ve tried was geared too low for downhills of even low grades. They were all geared okay for decent climbing. Or the gearing may be good on the trail, but not good for the road from house to trail. The Double WAC helps to make single-speeding a little more practical for the types of trails in this area. We often have long climbs followed by long downhills.The Double WAC setup is basically a double/double belt drive. There are two sprockets on the front and back with different sizes. The sprocket sizes have to, of course, be chosen carefully since the belt cannot change lengths. This makes it possible to have two different gear ratios with the same length belt, which means an uphill gear and a down hill gear. You just have to pop the wheel out of the dropouts, switch the belt onto the other sprocket on the front and rear, and re-clamp the wheel into place. It’s obviously not something you would plan on doing a lot, but if you have a long downhill, or a long flat road ride to get to the trail, it’s definitely worth switching it into the higher gear.

Apart from the gearing, the WAC Corporal 29er was great to ride. I know I’m biased,  but the shock absorbing qualities of the frame always surprise me when I get on a Paketa magnesium bike. It always feels smoother than I expect. This bike is also really stiff and responsive, and the geometry is great. I feel right at home on this bike, which is a size large. Paketa has great stock geometries, and JP can do each frame custom to the rider.

Installing the belt is super easy, and the connection that JP makes to break the rear triangle apart for belt installation is simple, clean, and functional. The frame separates at the dropout where bolts would already exist for the standard sliding dropout installation. It’s super strong, and it adds absolutely no weight or potential failure points to the frame. The video explains a little more on the belt installation.

Paketa is also now offering a straight 44 mm head tube on all bikes. This mountain bike uses a 1.5″ tapered steerer fork for better fork stiffness. The bigger headtube adds stiffness and durability to the frame as well, and it makes the bike track and steer very precisely. The upper headset cup is inset into the headtube, and the lower bearing is external. If you use an 1 1/8″ steer tube, you can use a fully inset headset. Click here to check out more information on the WAC Corporal custom mountain bike.

Gearing information for the bike in these photos: (all Gates CenterTrack):
Low gear: 39T front/30T rear; 1.3:1 ratio (37.7 gear inches)
High gear: 46T front/22T rear; 2.3:1 ratio (66.7 gear inches)