You won’t see full bike photos in this post because Tim O’Donnell of Shamrock Cycles doesn’t believe in giving up anything but sneak peaks until his customer can see the complete bike in person.
Dramatic, sure, but that’s Tim’s style. Every one of his bikes is a dramatic endeavor. Shamrock waterbottle boss reinforcements/internal routing ports/dropouts/headbadge/decals? Check. Obsessive finish work? Check. Ridiculous paint? Check. A matchy-match parts kit? Check. Despite all the drama, each of his complete bikes underscores Tim’s sense of humor and love of his work.
BIKERUMOR: What are your main building materials?
Tim: Steel. Always steel.
BIKERUMOR: What’s new with your company since NAHBS last year?
Tim: Hmm, not much really. I continue to build bikes that get me excited and thankfully I have enough of a customer base where I have people that want to buy them. I continue to sponsor a ‘cross race team and that is the bulk of my annual marketing budget. It is also what keeps me sane. I have no clue what I’d do if I couldn’t race cross.
BIKERUMOR: Any killer custom bike builds in that time?
Tim: All of my bikes are custom and I’d like to think they all are killer! The bikes I am bringing to NAHBS this year I think are some real head turners. In terms of the construction, paint, and component spec these may be the best bikes I’ve brought to the Big Show. But I decided to not show any pictures of the complete bikes until the show because most of my customers are coming to NAHBS and I want their first view of the bike to be in person. I’ve attached a few up close pics of some of the bikes though. Erotic yet tasteful. 😉
BIKERUMOR: What were some of your newer inspirations for recent bikes?
Tim: One of the bikes I built recently was a cross race bike for a customer. He already had ordered a bike from me a couple years ago that he used for pretty much everything (commute, long distance, light singletrack, etc). This go around he wanted a cross race bike. Given that I didn’t have to make any compromises since this was going to be a pure race bike, that was all I cared about. Make this the best f***ing race bike I can. And I think I did. My customer agrees and loves the bike. All of the subtle differences in the way his race bike should ride versus his original bike he notices. He appreciates them and enjoys the purity of what I built for him. Plus, it’s drop dead gorgeous (in my very biased opinion).
BIKERUMOR: What are you building this year that’ll draw a crowd?
Tim: Interestingly, I don’t think I have just one bike that would be on the “main stage at 8PM” and a couple others that would be on the “side stage at 2PM”. All of these bikes could easily stand on their own as really special. But one of the bikes my painter went a little nuts on and designed a paint scheme that incorporates frame, fork, stem, bar, seatpost and wheels. I can’t imagine people not stopping to look as they walk by. A polished stainless cross bike that I am taking is pure sex. Pure race and it looks fast sitting still. The last one I would mention is a fairly basic frame, fork and fendered road bike. This bike is a wedding gift to the wife of a previous customer (Josh owns the maroon cross and commuter bike I built for NAHBS Austin). I had a local artist paint the frame and I think the design is great. Subtle but definitely original. Remember though, these are customer bikes and not built for NAHBS, they were built and that coincided with NAHBS. So these aren’t “show bikes” complete with jazz hands.
One other item I am bringing to NAHBS is a custom Silca SuperPista Ultimate floor pump. The fellas at Silca offered me one and I figured we would customize the hell out of it. Custom paint, base, anodizing, laser engraving, etc etc. And we are raffling it off to support Midwest Devo. Devo is a local junior development race team here in Indy.
BIKERUMOR: If you had to build a bike for a Kentucky Derby style race (think short, all out effort on deep, loose dirt), what would you build and why?
Tim: Wait, do you mean I have to race horses? In that case I want a minimum of 300cc with a knobby tire.
BIKERUMOR: Bourbon or beer?
Tim: Actually, I’m a single malt scotch guy. But a good local IPA (Summer) or a rich porter (Winter) is hard to pass up.
