About a month to go! Who’s gonna be there?
I’ll be showing with Cal Poly Bike Builders and look forward to meeting all of you in-person.
Anyone have tips on transporting bikes to the show? I’m trying to get a gravel bike from the Bay Area and am not sure about flying it with me on Southwest vs bikeflights, etc.
I will be there along with Neuhaus! Somehow we end up doing these things last minute…
I have had good luck flying with my bike. Most airlines treat bike bags like oversized luggage, so they are free to $40. Southwest seems a bit ambiguous. It comes down to the person at the check-in whether they charge you or not. I have gotten away with oversized bike bags on Southwest without additional charge.
I found this MADE/BikeFlights discount MADE 2024 - Portland, OR - BikeFlights.com
We will be there! Calvin, Dave, Luis, Jacob, and I will be there to say hello and answer any questions!
I’ll be there! There will be at least one of the squishy bikes 
Hi, this is Aaron from Madrone Cycles. I offer upgrade / rebuild kits for SRAM AXS Eagle derailleurs.
If any frame builders who will be exhibiting in a booth at MADE Portland have a bike with AXS Eagle or Mechanical Eagle derailleur on display, I’m happy to do a free rebuild and parts for you (including free shipping to/from me). I have 4 color options for the derailleur links, and they work and look awesome!
My goal is simply to have Madrone products on display on beautiful bikes at MADE where there will be lots of journalists taking photos.
If this sounds interesting, please email be at support@madronecycles.com so we can get it done before the show.
Thanks!
Someone make a BINGO card, please 
I’ll be there! This’ll be my first show!
I’m curious - those of you who have been before - do you leave your bikes there overnight? How do you secure them? Or do you cart them back and forth each day?
The organizers say they have security overnight. I think it’s a 50/50 split between locking their bikes up in the venue or carting them out.
It depends on your risk tolerance and how much your bike is worth!
I think this year, we will leave the bikes locked up in the venue.
Right, so what’s all the gossip from the show? Hits? Misses? Was it your first or second time?
Overall the show was good. The weather was much nicer this year. I stayed much closer to the venue which was nice in many ways.
I was able to sneak away Saturday to get a few extra props for our display Sunday.
MADE is definitely turning into another mainstream bike show (not just handmade bikes). I’m unsure if that is good or bad, just how things progress.
I made this long-form video interviewing Retrotec, Blandsford, Significant Other (Ashley), NO22 PROVA, Mischief, and Rob English
All the interviews were >15min long. Had to chop them up to 2-3min each. If people want, I can post the extended versions.
Here is Adam’s recap:
I wasn’t there, but what things made you feel this way? I also haven’t been to many mainstream bike shows recently, so I’m curious.
It was fun to see all the builders in @Coco_PMW’s instagram feed. There are a lot of folks out there building frames! Especially considering this was likely a mostly regional crowd (for the small-time builders). It really shows the level of passion and accessibility there is in the framebuilding world, since they certainly aren’t in it for the $$!
The two larger component/accessory companies I saw (Yakima, Shimano) had bikes, that was cool. I wasn’t sure about the Wheels Manufacturing booth, but I did get a few stickers and a tire measuring stick from them. The companies that had production bikes kinda threw me, but, as you/Daniel have shown in your previous posts, bikes are mainly produced/welded by hand, no matter from which country they are born. But, it’s always up to the event hosts to make the show rules.
I had fun taking photos, and I really do apologies for missing half of the booths. I took a bunch of photos that either didn’t show the framebuilder brand well, or my shots were wiggly.
I didn’t appreciate the Taiwanese sales rep trying to sneak framebuilding supplies catalogs and business cards in the PMW booth. Ha ha.
Would love to see the extended interviews. Thanks!
I am glad you asked! I was waiting for someone to take the bait 
Just look at the name: 2023 was promoted as “MADE handmade show”. For 2024, the “handmade” disappeared.
To be clear, I’m not taking a side for or against big bike, medium companies, small framebuilders, Chinese, Taiwanese, South American, or American bikes. I am also not against MADE, I thought it was a really cool show, much better than Sea Otter. However, I think framebuilders, event promoters, and bike companies need an honest conversation about who is using who, and how we can help each other.
I think people love Neuhaus and Artefact, as well as my mission, but the number of leads we got was less than 10. I can’t trace a direct sale from the last two years to Portland. In comparison, the last time I did a 1hr podcast, we probably got 2-3 sales. People going to those shows are going because they love bikes, not because they are shopping for a custom bike.
We had a humble presence this year, yet it still costs >$1000 in logistics, $1500 for our booth + displays. In order to show our best work, we have to build our own complete bikes. Customer bikes will never have the right buildkit, or the right timing. A show bike easily costs $2000-3000 out of pocket. Even if you build it for a buddy, that is not making money. You end up sending $5k+ and several weeks of time (the biggest cost) to attend these shows.
What is the net result? 5 sentences and a few photos packaged in a gallery with 10 other builders. This is not the media’s fault either. Their budgets are neutered because of the shifting landscape of advertising dollars. Our great American framebuilder Rob English was doing double duty covering for Escape Collective and manning his booth. I am sure the outlets that sent their full-time staff lost money on the event. Marketing and advertising are so optimized that the little guys (builders and independent media companies) get steamrolled.
So what is the net result of $7k, weeks of prep, and 4 days of backbreaking work?
)Is that worth it? I guess that is for the consumer to decide. We worked HARD to get our bikes onto those outlets. We had friends volunteer time to staff our booth so Nick and I could network (and so Nick could race BMX ). We are lucky to have already built connections with media. I feel bad for brands like Cherubim who flew all the way from Japan but had almost no coverage. Even worse, for the new builders who have to fake it to make it, but didn’t make it.
There is also a potential conflict of interest, whether intentional or not. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the bike frame companies that ECHOS represents end up in every media outlet with favorable positioning. I mean, I don’t blame anyone. Those companies make great bikes and they pay ECHOS to do exactly that! However, it is a grey area that I wish did not exist. I am paying to be a part of a show with the premise of selling bikes, but that show’s parent company gets paid monthly to represent competitors? I do believe MADE is aware of this and does its best to prevent favoritism, but the conflict of interest is inevitable. One medium sized bike “brand” didn’t even have a booth, yet they ended up on multiple publications? Oh. Wait. That bike might have taken the spot of a small builder who paid to attend the show.
I am not saying those bigger companies don’t belong. I like that smaller brands with non-hand made frames get featured (Ritchey, OTSO, etc). I think it elevates everyone’s work. However, we need to be more realistic about how framebuilders compare to mid-size companies.
I knew this going into MADE, which is why I spent so much time making my MADE video:
That video has 700hrs of watch time. In comparison, how long do you think people glanced at our bike photos or even read the web copy? In 2024, you have to tell your own story. You can’t rely on others to do so.
There is a model for what could work. The smart builders at the show, like LaMarche and Amigo, built a bike and placed it in a bigger company’s booth. They didn’t have to bring a massive display; they got to walk around, talk to media, and network. However, this only works if you already are a “framebuilder personality” and have connections with a company and with media (not to mention they both build really awesome bikes).
So here is a potential solution:
Maybe that works, maybe its worse. Regardless, we need to talk more openly about this stuff, or it ain’t gonna change.
To be clear, I’m not just complaining. I really enjoyed the show, loved chatting with builders and the public. The Escape and Radavist features still make me feel proud of my work, and with my youtube video, I was able to use MADE to promote myself to another level. However, that was a TON of work, and I think for 95% of other builders, they were not as lucky as me.
Thta pretty much echo’s my own experience with the two Australian shows this year and from previous years with just one show. To paraphrase Rich, the results don’t even go close to the effort/cost. I use the shows for the exposure and it is just not there. At the moment I have given up on them and won’y be attending any for at least the next 12-18 months.
See, that is a big loss for everyone: people at the show don’t get to see your awesome bikes, media gets one less thing to report on, and all the component companies get less visibility.
If shows are using framebuilders for marketing, it must be done sustainably, or everyone loses.
I hear you but I can’t sustain spending 1000’s of dollars each year and get no return for it. I spent more on this years shows than I made profit for the year so far. Without my day job its impossible to do and it is just an expensive hobby at the moment. Just the stark reality of my place in the ‘market’.
