A record number of exhibitors are expected at the 2008 North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland, Oregon next February, where 175 of 185 exhibitor spaces are already sold.

The 2007 show in San Jose, California was the largest to date, featuring 103 exhibitors who collectively occupied 130 booth spaces. So far 134 exhibitors have signed up for the 2008 Portland show. That’s almost exactly 30% growth over ’07 in exhibitors, and 43% growth in booth spaces sold.

NAHBS organizer Don Walker says, “I am truly delighted. The show has had three good growth years already, but heading into our fourth we are growing beyond my expectations. I am very confident we will sell all our booth spaces. With seven weeks until the show, we only have ten spaces left, and I am talking with companies that wish to fill those spaces.”

For more information, see the NAHBS website.

This is wintertime from the seat of my bicycle in California. Eat yer heart out, Minnesota!

I took this photo this morning while riding my shiny, brand new Strida 5.0 folding bike. My son tried to steal it from me last night.

I posted my initial thoughts on the Strida 5.0 over at Commute By Bike. Summary: It’s very cool. I brought it on the bus and train this morning and rode it the three miles to work. It took me a little over 20 minutes versus my usual 12 to 15 minutes, but I still beat the work shuttle bus.

Da’ Square Wheelman posted some “bhaiku” from the City of Big Shoulders. Remember the rule: If I see a bicycle haiku, I must link to it. I’m most likely to see it if you link to Cyclelicious or comment somewhere.

And bikesgonewild, feel free to shoot me a note anytime.

Don’t forget: You can win a $50 gift card from Ultra Rob.

Here are some unique and (mostly) inexpensive gift ideas in this Shameless Commerce edition of Cyclelicious. You won’t get these in time for Christmas, but who says gifts are limited to holidays?

• My buddy Ken is an excellent cycling photographer who has had his photos published in VeloNews and Road Bike Action. He’s offering professionally framed, conservation quality prints of his cycling photos for sale now. Visit Ken Conley’s website for details. That picture of Alberto Contador in Missouri is his.
• Jim in Colorado sells his cute Oil Free and Happy patches online. He also has stickers and t-shirts for sale.
• These Zero Per Gallon patches and stickers are getting popular in the SF Bay Area. Be the first in your area with these fun “$0.00” patches and stickers. You can also get shirts, belts, and bling to “show off your true bike dorkiness.”

  

• Moving up the price scale are these gorgeous bicycle bags from Basil. In the United States, Clever Cycles in Portland carries the “Blossom” and “Jasmine” panniers, and they’ll ship them to you with a credit card payment. The nice folks at Clever Cycles are very very helpful. If you order any panniers from Clever Cycles, be ready with rack measurements and (for rear rack mounting) distance from the pedal at its rear-most position to the front of the rack.
  

  Borderline consumerism

• If you’re lucky, you might win one of two $50 gift cards from Ultra Rob. Go visit Ultra Rob’s shop for more gift ideas.
• The Danish Reelight Bicycle Lights mount to the wheels for no battery always on flashing action.
• Robert Hurst’s The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America is the best book I’ve seen on practical riding in the USA.
• The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair comes from Park Tools, which is probably the bike tools company that your bike shop uses. It covers everything from basic skills to servicing hydraulic brakes and suspension forks.
• Any potential art bike builders and Burning Man participants may want Atomic Zombie’s Bicycle Builder’s Bonanza.
• Absolutely free, of course, is Cyclelicious! Tell your friends about the joy of cycling.

Remember, it’s not a gift if you get it for yourself! Enjoy the holidays, all!

Several of my fellow bike commuters are talking about the “heavy” rain that’s been in the Bay Area. I heard one guy talk about the “sheets” of rain falling from the sky the other week.

For those outside of California, I’ll describe the typical California rain storm. Take a spray bottle — the kind you use to mist your plants. Hold it about six inches from your face and spray yourself until the bottle is empty. That’s a heavy rainstorm in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m not joking. It’s not even a drizzle like you guys up in Seattle get. Occasionally we’ll even have a mild zephyr to accompany the storm.

A heavy rainstorm in just about any other location is hauling a 30 gallon trashcan up to a second floor balcony and filling with water. Optionally add an 8 pound bag of ice (for the hail), small twigs, frogs, puppies, scrap lumber, etc. Stand under the balcony as several of your friends lift the can up and over so the contents of the trashcan fall directly on you and your bike, with the trashcan tumbling immediately afterwards into you. That’s a spring storm anywhere in the U.S. Midwest and South. Of course it’s not really a storm unless 80 mph winds knock down utility poles.

This is kind of a sidebar for my article about bicycle fenders at Commute By Bike.