Vulture Cycles’ owner Wade Beauchamp built this step-thru commuter bike for his girlfriend and named it, appropriately enough, Jessica’s Bike. Sorry for the blurry pic.
It has a host of nifty features, like external “internal” cable routing, laser cut skirt guard and fenders, built-in racks and lights and a geared belt drive NuVinci planetary gear hub. Gates NuVinci even had this bike featured at their pre-NAHBS soiree to show what can be done. (Ugh. Long days…my mistake on remembering NuVinci as Gates. – Ed.)
Check it out along with his tall bike and full suspension mountain bike after the break…
The front rack is built into the fork, and the curved handlebars are custom made. Take a look at those silver cable housings…
Wade used the same steel tubing that frame builders use to guide internal cable runs, but kept it external to great visual effect. He also used it to run power from the front hub dynamo to the head light.
The dress guard’s floral pattern and the fender’s Vulture logo were laser cut. The fenders were hand hammered by Wade, leaving them with a rough, weathered look…a nice contrast to the gloss paint on the frame.
The kick guard keeps shoes from scuffing the paint while stepping through the frame. You can also see a bit more of the hand-hammered finish on the front fender from this angle.
The NuVinci rear hub shifts smoothly through an infinite gearing range from easy to hard with no “indents” along the way.
Vulture’s full suspension mountain bike’s curved top tube gave it a slightly smaller appearance than the 29er wheels and 100mm/120mm of travel (rear/front) would suggest. He also kept the cables following the curve:
His tall bike is, admittedly, a gimmick to draw people to his booth (and he wasn’t the only one using that trick, but his was the only one with a jousting rod).
