Igor's big Taiwan Adventure

by Igor

Chris and I got back from Taiwan just in time for NAHBS,  It was a great time meeting with manufacturers, going to the Cycle Show (one of the biggest bike shows in the world, only rivaled by Eurobike), eating amazing street food, and lounging at the skin melting hot springs. A photo tells a thousand words, so..... onward to the photos! A full gallery is available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eccentricvelo/sets/72157642695296584/

To Japan, over Canada

Longshan Temple

Delicious treat. Strawberries and tomatoes in a hard gelatin.

Anyone know the model?

Frames are tested to the literal breaking point here

All of our frames are handmade

Grand Cru Stems being boxed up to us!

Obligatory cat photo

 Arthur from Voyager Touring Co is a great guy and does some amazing touring and rando style builds featuring our products as well as many products sourced from USA, UK, Japan, and right at home.

Koi pond in front of the shop. Great place to relax at home.

I also had a chance to stop by Sense30 bikes. Not only do Yeh and Lee have a great sartorial style, they also know their old bike stuff. Fantastic selection of NOS French, Italian, and Japanese components and accessories. In addition, they have their own custom frames brazed locally for customer builds.

NOS Colnago outfitted with NOS 40th Anniversary Campagnolo

Shop dog

Old and new at 2/28 Peace Park

That's one way to do it.

Mini Velo Fat bike

The road in front of the Presidential Palace was closed down for a scheduled protest.

Gondola going into the mountains

Low visibility

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall is overwhelmingly huge.

The steed. A bit small.

Mid ride snack

Bo'Ai road, also known as Camera Street. Eye candy and fancy glass abound!

Seriously, 7-11: Bring these Sushi Triangles into the States. I will buy them.

On the way home, to go straight to NAHBS.

NAHBS Photos

by Igor

We just got back from a great NAHBS show. Thanks to everyone who came out and stopped by the booth. It was fun putting faces to names and meeting our dealers who made the trek out.

There was tons of eye candy, but I looked for the details of bikes that were easily overlooked and overshadowed by new bike trends.

Grand Cru brakes on a Cielo.

Beautifully crafted Ellis road bike with NOS 25th anniversary DA

If Batman had a bike

Crazy internally cable routing by Bilenky on a steel TT frame. Yes, that's a baboon.

1st gen PolyV in the wild

Bilenky has a history of making stunning tandems

Paul Brodie's bike. Modeled after an early 1900s style. All components fabricated in-house, down to the brass crankset.

VO Job Opening

We have a job opening in our warehouse, just in time for the spring season (if it ever gets here!) Our warehouse is fast paced and deadline driven, servicing retail, wholesale, and distributor customers. Attention to detail and the ability to meet daily shipping deadlines is a must. A background in cycling is strongly preferred.

The main part of the job is packing orders. We'll train you on order and labeling software and the nuances of international shipping. This is primarily a warehouse job, so you must be able to lift 50lb+ overhead onto shelving. But we try to involve everyone here in designing and testing products. So if you're interested you'll have a chance to influence and evaluate our new frames, components, and accessories.

Velo Orange prefers to promote from within the company, so job growth is always possible. Almost everyone here started in this position and moved onto other jobs at VO. Benefits include paid leave and 401k.

For more information, shoot us an email and experience: info@velo-orange.com.

NAHBS 2014

This coming weekend is the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, in Charlotte NC. For the first time since 2010, Velo Orange will be there. This is the most attended consumer show (versus industry show) that we'll exhibit at this year. This is also the first time in four years that it's been held on the East Coast; our other exhibiting and travel commitments have kept us away from it since the Richmond, VA show in 2010.

We'll be packing up the contents of our 20' by 10” booth on Thursday (March 13) for the drive southward.

Here's your chance (other than visiting our Annapolis shop) to inspect the full range of VO components, including Casey's Crazy Bars (of course), rim cross sections,  fenders, and our made-in-Baltimore Grand Cru handlebar bag.

Show information can be found here (though our booth, #310, doesn't seem to be on the floorplan - we're right in front of the awards stand). The show Friday-Sunday, March 14-16. Note that exhibitors are not allowed to sell their goods on-site, so you'll have to be content pawing our wares, tastefully arrayed on black and orange backdrops...but you can walk away with a sticker!

We'll be down a few people at the shop during this time, so bear with us if your email doesn't get answered as quickly as usual.