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NAHBS 2016 – Kent Eriksen wins twice for best cyclocross bike & best TIG welding, plus more

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kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

Kent Eriksen is in rare air having taken home two awards in a single NAHBS show, but 2016 was his year. He won best in show for Cyclocross and TIG welding, and you’ll soon see why.

The titanium cyclocross bike shown above is a pristine example, but at first glance it’s another titanium ‘cross race bike that uses modern standards like a 44mm head tube, disc brakes and thru axles. But, as usual, the devil’s in the details…

kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

To be sure I didn’t miss anything that made this an award winner, I simply asked Kent “What makes this bike so special?”

The answer isn’t anything crazy, it’s really just a matter of clean, perfect execution of the small things that make it one of those bikes you keep for a lifetime. The welds are flawless, the finish perfect, etc., etc. On to the details… Starting up front you notice a hydraulic brake hose feeder tube with rubber seal. Others use tubes to route the cables or hoses through the frame, few take the time to seal the hole. Then, the hose remains inside the frame all the way through the BB shell…

kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

…and out just in front of the caliper, on the inside for an immaculate appearance.

kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

Same for the Di2 wire, which runs through the top tube to the seatpost battery, then down past the BB and into the chainstay. And those are big, 1″ chainstays to create a stiff platform on which to power through the mud. It’s hard to tell, but there’s subtle shaping to them, too.

kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

The flat mount brake mounts are cut into the chainstay, and a chain keeper tab on the driveside takes (a little bit of) the misery out of a wheel change.

kent eriksen best cyclocross bike nabs 2016

This bike, built up as shown and with their very clever MTB-to-Road crank spider adapter, would run about $10k.

kent-eriksen-titanium-thru-axle-dropouts04

This bike and others in their range now use Eriksen’s new machined thru axle dropouts.

kent-eriksen-monster-cross-gravel-bike01

kent-eriksen-monster-cross-gravel-bike02

This monster crosser shows a bigger, more aggressive take on the cyclocross bike. It, too, gets the offset spider to run a double road chainring set on a SRAM direct mount MTB crankset.

kent eriksen etap titanium road bike nabs 2016

kent eriksen etap titanium road bike nabs 2016

Erikson, like Mosaic and others, is now offering a hole-free eTAP specific build for his road bikes.

kent eriksen best tig welding nabs 2016

His second award was for best TIG welded frame, which was welded by in-house builder Brad Bingham. It went to this full suspension mountain bike, which is pure eye candy:

kent eriksen best tig welding nabs 2016

kent eriksen best tig welding nabs 2016

kent eriksen best tig welding nabs 2016

kent eriksen best tig welding nabs 2016

Congrats, Kent!

KentEriksen.com

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satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
8 years ago

butter

Antipodean_eleven
8 years ago

Really lovely work. That FSer IS pure eye candy. What saddens me though is the dwindling amount of mtbers that really appreciate the beautiful simplicity of such a frame, victims of ‘marketing design’.

Having designed frames, I have come ever more to appreciate the simple fact that a clean double triangle is as good as it gets when executed well; either that or going totally the other way (for road anyway) and pursuing designs like the (loathsome) UCI Lugano Charter unfriendly Lotus or Zip beam frames which take full advantage of the materials rather than trying to shoehorn them into the forms of the past.

Greg
Greg
8 years ago

I’d pay 10 grand for that

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
8 years ago

So beautiful. If they would just put a Horst Link on that sus frame it would become my dream.

BA
BA
8 years ago

I have no problem sending him my money. He’s correct, these are bikes you keep for a lifetime.

fasterjason
fasterjason
8 years ago
Reply to  BA

I talked to him for a while at the 2014 show, unlike some other builders who will literally turn their back on you.

Brett
Brett
8 years ago

One of the most humble person I’ve ever met.

J N H
J N H
8 years ago

Eriksen will be the maker of my next mtb, although on what I earn after a year of saving I’m only half way there! The attention to detail in his/their frames is really something special.

traildog
traildog
8 years ago

Wow that chainstay yoke box

traildog
traildog
8 years ago

@ripnshred, I don’t know, I’d happily ride a linkage-driven single pivot to get custom geometry and that kind of craftsmanship. I haven’t seen the leverage analysis, but with that kind of pivot placement it’s not like it’s going to be miserable like a Heckler or Superlight.

red
red
8 years ago

this is pretty. puts into perspective the 10k carbon bikes, which dont cost as much to make and dont look as good, wont last as long (even thus they might perform slightly better)

Erik
Erik
8 years ago

Best cx bike with road pedals on it?

Duster13
Duster13
7 years ago
Reply to  Erik

Yeah, lots of guys do it. Particularly when they are riding combo road and off road and they know they are in dry conditions and won’t be walking/running with the bike, (deleted). I did it in europe for 2 months using speedplay X1’s on a cross bike. 🙂

Matt
Matt
8 years ago

REALLY want a ti-fully from them now!

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