Normally, you won’t have any trouble identifying a Geekhouse bike. Known for their bright, candy colored powder coat finishes, it’s no wonder they have an extension of their business in powder coating – known as Sugarcoat. However, the Boston, MA builder isn’t afraid to change things up with darker colors, customer’s needs, or unique bikes all together. Geekhouse was founded by Marty Walsh in 2002, and expanded to a two-man operation in 2010 with the addition of Bradford Smith. Together they continue to turn out unique custom builds, worthy of the Geekhouse name.
Check out Marty’s response to the NAHBS 6 pack of questions, after the break.
Bikerumor: What materials do you build with? Which is your favorite and why?
Geekhouse: We prefer to use True Temper OX Platinum when at all possible. This is an American made steel that also features an amazing heat treating process. The tensile strength of this material is above most other manufactures (220ksi vs 135ksi) and we are convinced it provides a crisper feel, and added strength over other brands. Plus we have personally visited the factory, seen tubing in production, and met the people who personally make the tubing. How cool is that!?!
Bikerumor: What have you been working in since NAHBS last year?
Geekhouse: We didn’t attend NAHBS last year as we were busy with the shop move. We have however revamped our line a bit for 2013. Previously the Woodville was our all encompassing touring/rando/porteur model. This year the Woodville will be strictly a touring model. And we are introducing the Brentwood as our Porteur style city bike. We’ve also changed our Hopedale road bike to be more of a Rando/Dirt Road style bicycle. This means that Geekhouse will now have 6 styles of frames that we offer, as well as a matching line of Segmented “Yo Marty” steel forks.
Bikerumor: Any killer custom bike builds?
Geekhouse: We had a great response to our 2012 Mudville CX frames this past year. We built one of these for John Watson over at Prollyisnotprobably.com . John was nice enough to take some really nice photo’s of it above. This version of our Mudville is the first to use the tapered head tube, and we really love how these bikes turned out.
Bikerumor: Did you see anything at NAHBS last year that’s inspired you?
Geekhouse: Vanilla, Signal, Pereira, Ira Ryan I just love the Portland guys, they’re always doing great things and I’m always excited to see what they’re building next.
Bikerumor: What are you bringing to the show this year that’ll have every other builder standing slack jawed in awe?
Geekhouse: We pride ourselves in bringing 3 very nice bikes that we worked hard on and are very proud of. I think the showstopper of the three will be the CX bike. Prolly will debut on Friday before the show.
Bikerumor: Scenario: A customer commissions you and one other builder to create the ultimate bicycle using the same parameters, same base material and same budget in an Iron Chef style competition. Who would you want to build against that would push you and elevate your game?
Geekhouse: I think I’d choose Tony Pereira, even though he does Fillet Brazing compared to TIG. He has won so many awards and different competitions in the past and I really respect what he does. He would definitely push me to my limits, and I know I’d have to pull out all the stops.
Updated 2/23/13 with photo credit
