Gates Carbon Drive

If you enjoyed our previous post about the winners of the Gates Carbon Drive design contest at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, well, here’s a second helping. Twenty-two builders entered the contest, and Gates’ judges picked seven bikes to receive more than $13,000 in cash and prizes. Here are some of the bikes that we loved, but which didn’t win. But hey, everyone’s a winner in the world of cool bikes.

That’s Corey Collier of Glissando pictured above. His entry was a work of art, mixing a laminated bamboo top tube and seat stays with titanium. Judges described it as “elegant.”

Connor Cycles entered a beautiful hardwood bike with a frame sculpted of laminated ash reinforced with kevlar.

Stijl Cycles is located in Richmond, Virginia, and they entered a 29er mountain bike with an Ironman theme (the bike’s buyer owns an iron foundry). Judges loved the style and color scheme.

Check out the Ironman head badge:

Steve Potts is a legendary builder based in California’s Marin County. Steve is known for his precision work with titanium. He built this belted commuter for a cyclist who wanted a low-maintenance, all-season bike.

Dean Bicycles, based in Colorado, is another brand known for its titanium frames. Dean entered this full-suspension mountain bike with a Rohloff internal hub. Want it.

Speedhound is based in Minneapolis, and has a growing following in the Twin Cities. Builder Chris Cleveland rides his entry below.

The Speedhound features an innovative gunmetal blue stained finish.

Legacy is a new brand based in Chicago. They built a refined city commuter with hub brakes and the works for urban fun and style.

Chicago chic! Look for her on the streets of the Windy City.

Singlespeed cyclocross bikes are a popular category for Carbon Drive because it gobbles up mud and is lighter than a chain. Several builders submitted cross bikes in the Gates contest. Below is the entry from Predtor, based in SoCal. This bike actually was raced in the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships. It cleans up nicely!

Mosaic, based in Boulder, brought this sweet ti cross racer:

Blaze was the third entry in the cross category. Check out their orange dirt machine:

Sweet bars and saddle.

Paketa builds magnesium rockets and is known for its racing tandems. Check out the Carbon Drive and Carbon Drive timing belt on their double-belted contest entry:

Stephen Bilenky of Bilenky Cycle Works in Philadelphia is a legend in the City of Brotherly Love. He entered this sophisticated commuter made for all-weather riding:

Next up are several belt drive builds that weren’t in our contest, but which turned heads on the show floor. First up is Stinner, which showed an adventure touring mountain bike with a Rohloff hub and belt–the same combo that last year’s winner of the Tour Divide rode to victory. Here is Matt Stinner posing with his creation.

Geekhouse displayed this sexy CX bike:

And now a few more shots of the winners (check out this previous post if you want to see more hero shots of the winning contest bikes).

English Cycles won for Best Belted Adventure Bike. Built to race the Tour Divide from Canada to New Mexico, this bike can be disassembled to fit into a suitcase for travel and features custom packs for carrying everything needed for a long lonely journey down the Continental Divide.

Judges liked the bike’s ingenuity, but also the stealth black badass aesthetic.

Boo Bicycles, the bamboo specialists, won for Best Belted Fatty for their fat bike with the sweet ti fork.

Muse had one of the loveliest bikes on the show floor, and builder Lyle Harlow took home the Primal Wear prize for most beautiful belted bike.

Paragon Cycle Works won the Best Belted Mountain Bike category. This bike had a boatload of innovations, including this quick-release tensioner that they are calling the Toggle Drop.

The fun-loving lunatics at Ti Cycles won for Best Belted Cargo Bike. We love this beast!

Sycip took the prize for Best Belted Commuter for their gentleman’s town bike with Shimano Di2 electronic shifting paired with a Carbon Drive.

Co-Motion won the Shimano Alfine prize for best Carbon Drive/Alfine internal hub build. It features Di2 electronic shifting. Purple rain…purple rain.

Last but not least, our great friends over at Oskar Blues Brewery, the canned beer specialists who kept NAHBS attendees well lubricated and having fun, showed off their fat bike in the Gates booth. Snowbound cyclists rejoice: now you can charge the slush and snow without having to worry about getting a rusty chain.

If you are hungry for more images (all shot by ace Gates photog Tim Lucking) check out the Gates Carbon Drive Flickr set. It has 200 images and closeups of all these bikes.

See you all in Charlotte, NC, for NAHBS 2014!