NAHBS 2010 – I’ve long admired Vanilla Bicycles’ bikes. They’re beautifully built with clean, crisp paint schemes. Sasha’s booth had several prime examples, and the booth itself was one of the few on the show floor that was well decorated and themed, too. That said, they only had a few examples of “Vanilla” branded bikes, reserving most of the news and new features for their “pret a porter” Speedvagen line (explanation of that here). So, this post is picture heavy and detail lite, with lots more on the upcoming Speedvagen post.
Shown above is his daughter’s mixte lowrider cruiser bike. Set up with internally geared rear hub, disc brakes and fenders. They also had an army green commuter with wooden front rack and great paint details. Pics of both and an unfinished frame after the break…
While you can’t order one just like this (well, if you’re willing to pay a handsome price for something that’ll be outgrown before your credit card has forgotten about it, you could), Sasha says he’s working on a more Speedvagen model for family/cargo bikes that’ll be more affordable (but still high end) and more readily available.
Dynamo front hub powers the lights.
This army green commuter featured dual headlamps with a very ornate steel and wood front rack. Classic Vanilla touches include the small circles just above the lights with polished interiors.
Striping on the downtube continues to seat tube, and the branding on the fenders is subtly obvious..a good mix.
Small touches like the painted flower and “V” in the dropouts add class.
Cool unfinished frame.
