The Balvenie Video

A few months back BCW was honored to participate in the celebration of American Craft organised by The Balvenie. As part of this, a short film about each participant was produced. Want to hear Stephen talk about the art and craft of a framebuilder? Watch the BCW video here >>>

- BCW

Sea Otter Classic 2014

Although we didn't have a stand or any demo bikes there, we did send one of staff away from the office to check out this year's Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA, a four day extravaganza of bike stuff and one the biggest US bike events. It has road races, downhill, an expo and is generally a great place to hang out in the spring sunshine in a beautiful part of the country.

BCW met a lot of interesting people and saw some great bikes, and noted lots of new products. Who knows; maybe next year BCW will make the cross-country trip to have a full presence there... In the meantime here are a few photos and comments about the event.

It was good to talk to the people at Bike Friday, demonstrating their neat set-up for a folding travel bike and matching trailer.

Shinola from Detroit had an elegant display of their handmade steel bikes, which you could try out, and which definitely stood out amongst all the mountain bikes and fat tires that pretty much dominated the event.

There was a lot of attention for the new bike that Salsa displayed (for the first time in public?) - their new evolotion of the fat-bike, with full-suspension: the Bucksaw.

And away from the Expo we had a lot of fun watching the racing, though sadly we didn't get a chance to try out the downhill track.

See you next year?

- BCW

Adventure by Viewpoint

We know that people do great things with the custom bicycles we build for them, and that many of you use your Bilenky for trans-continental adventures and general two-wheel globe-trotting...

And every so often we receive an email or even a photograph in an envelope, showing a Bilenky propped against a wall or in front of a mountain in some far-off land, or of someone's favourite bike that we modified with S&S couplers to make it all ready for long-distance travel.

Photo by Royce Christensen of his S&S modified 1984 Stumpjumper.

So it was great to hear from Dave and Loren, who are about to embark on Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier Route on the Bilenky Viewpoint semi-recumbent travel tandem that we built for them, similar to this one. With S&S couplers the frame separates for packing into airline-size cases.

They've set up a blog at which you can follow their journey:
crosscountryviewpoint.blogspot.com

We wish them all the best and look forward to more updates as they start the ride...

And do you have a great photo of your Bilenky out in the world? Send it to us and we'll put together a gallery of riders' pictures.

- BCW

Field Testing: Sinewave Cycles' "Revolution" USB charger

The "Revolution" made by Sinewave Cycles is a neat bit of kit that we recently got the chance to test out, both here in the shop and on a Bilenky expedition touring bike that went on a trip to South America.

Sinewave Cycles (formerly BikeBright) is based in Cambridge, MA, and their products are made in the USA too. Here's why we like them so much.

The Revolution is simple and effective: plug it in to your front-wheel dynamo - in this case a Shimano DH-3D72; but it worked just fine with a Supernova Infinity too - and then use the USB outlet to charge up your iPhone, iPod, digital camera, or pretty much anything else with a USB port. (We even managed to charge an iPad with it, though we're not sure whether that's officially recommended!)

Although touring cyclists are not usually so concerned with the weight of their rig, for us one of the great advantages of the Revolution are it's size and weight. It really is about the same as a box of matches. It's sturdy and compact, easily tucked into a framebag. It's even water-proof (though thankfully we didn't have the need to test this claim)!

So we highly recommend the Revolution for touring. It doesn't have a battery for storage, but we simply unplugged the lights during the day and used it to charge electronics. It worked flawlessly. And there are other options too that you check out on the Sinewave website for charging or running multiple items.

The set-up was very simple. A Topeak RideCase iPhone holder mounts easily onto the stem without taking up handlebar space. Then just add your iPhone and the useful Gaia GPS app (maps can be downloaded) and hey - you're all set to explore...

- BCW

The Balvenie & American Craftsmanship

BCW was honored to take place in the recent celebration of American Craftsmanship supported by those fine makers of single malt Scotch whisky, The Balvenie.

Full information is available here. See if you can spot Stephen in the picture...

We were amongst five unique businesses who are masters of their craft selected to participate in this award. We would like to thank The Balvenie and the American Craft Council for giving us the opportunity to feature our work alongside so many other talented and skilled people. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate just how good 'Made in America' can be - and to show the time, effort and cost that go into to crafting something of the very highest quality.

And we'd like to take this opportunity to salute the four other participants in this event and refer you to their remarkable products...

Douglas Brooks
Boat-builder, Vermont - Winner of the 2014 Rare Craft Fellowship Award

Scott Baxendale
Luthier (Guitar builder), Athens GA

Ubaldo Vitali
Silversmith, Newark NJ

Ina Grau
Shoemakers, Minneapolis MN

- BCW