Road to NAHBS 2015: Cherubim to Stop Show

Written by Anna Schwinn Feb 27, 2015 10:00 a.m. ET

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If there is anything that Japanese builder, Cherubim, can be relied upon to do, it’s to stop NAHBS in its tracks with a real stunner of a frameset. This year, we can look forward to having our minds blown by the obsessive detailing and polish on a race-winning frameset built for Keirin champion, Yuichiro Kamiyama. More of this winning track machine after the jump.

BIKERUMOR: What are your main building materials?

Cherubim: Steel and Stainless.

BIKERUMOR: What’s new with your company since NAHBS last year?

Cherubim: 2015 is our 50th anniversary year. We are doing new special projects including an anniversary bike, a new premium model, and more improvements to our Keirin racing bike. We are headed for the next 50 years.

BIKERUMOR: Any killer custom bike builds in that time?

Cherubim: An actual racing bike for Keirin legend, Yuichiro Kamiyama (SS grade rider, and top racer for more than 20 years). He got several wins as soon as he got this machine.

BIKERUMOR: What were some of your newer inspirations for recent bikes?

Cherubim: The voices from riders and factory staff.

BIKERUMOR: What are you building this year that’ll draw a crowd?

Cherubim: “Pistrada,” the street training machine for actual current Keirin racer.

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?

Cherubim: Fat bike with drop handlebar and road bike geometry.

BIKERUMOR: Bourbon or beer?

Cherubim: Beer, definitely.

Cherubim.jp

Anna Schwinn

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19 Comments

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il Bruce

9 years ago

My, that track frame is lovely.

9 years ago

Wow. Just wow.

Antoine

9 years ago

Actually i found first bike pretty meh, it’s just too much bling and old school for me. Other frames were fantastic though.

JasonK

9 years ago

That’s some beautiful work, but:

Spelling matters. Copy editing matters.

“Cheribum” is, perhaps, a trashy brand of women’s jeans. “Cherubim” is the (Hebrew) plural of “cherub.” It’s also the business name of the frame builder interviewed here.

I don’t fault Ms. Schwinn for this…lots of bad spellers are very bright and otherwise completely competent. But is there NO ONE at Bike Rumor who picks up on these errors? Catching this stuff is a big part of what editors do, and BR’s masthead features several people with the title of “editor.”

I’m a word geek, obviously, but also a former journalist, and there’s a bigger issue here: Getting a company’s name so wrong throughout the article is a lot like meeting someone at a dinner party named John and consistency calling him “Jim” throughout the evening. One or twice is a slip of the tongue…but after that, it becomes just disrespectful.

Does BR care about getting major details right or not? If the nominal editors can’t or won’t catch this stuff, hire a copy editor.

JasonK

9 years ago

Not “consistency” but “consistently.” It’s not that you make mistakes, it’s that you make a real effort to catch them. (Mea culpa).

Author

Anna Schwinn

9 years ago

Thanks for the feedback, JasonK!

asg

9 years ago

Any dealers importing Cherubim? I checked out their website, but no apparent path for US folks getting this product.

9 years ago

I’m no word worder but can JasonK send a similar message to Cherubim about their usage of “bend sheet stay” on their frames according to the website.

suede

9 years ago

To each his/her own opinion, and interpretation of beauty, but that track frame is honestly disgusting to me with the paint/decal placement and color choices. You could pick any of the color combinations in pairs, and some of the combinations in threes and have a classy machine, but all together they just don’t work for me. Not my bike so it doesn’t even matter. One thing that can’t be argued is Cherubims’ incredible attention to raw frame detail and quality of construction, they could leave the frames rusty and unpainted and they would still qualify as showstoppers IMHO.

Topmounter

9 years ago

I’m glad someone is keeping the art of frame building alive. An art that mass produced carbon frames and cookie-cutter customer acceptance is killing.

JasonK

9 years ago

Anna: thanks for the positive response. I see the article has been fixed, which is great.

By the way, I’m a fan of your work at QBP. That All-City sliding disc brake dropout is awesome.

J: (a) I’m not the word police, obviously…I wield all the power of Some Guy on the Internet; (b) Cherubim is a Japanese company, so their web site was likely put together by a non-native English speaker. Plus, framebuilders make no claim to writing or editing competence. So…yeah.

For what it’s worth, I used to work with a bicycle publication’s longtime tech editor. He’s a very smart guy and does his job (journalism) with aplomb. He’s also an extraordinarily bad speller. But his editor knows that and cleans up his copy before it’s published. That’s an example of why I’m arguing that responsibility for errors like this ultimately rests on the shoulders of the editor, not the writer.

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Anna Schwinn

9 years ago

Well gosh thanks, JasonK. I appreciate it.

bsimon

9 years ago

“Actually i found first bike pretty meh, it’s just too much bling and old school for me.”

Maybe, except for the fork, which deserves an article of its own.

Icycle_Bay

9 years ago

Incredible craftsmen. Also probably will win the derby.

dingbat

9 years ago

Seriously, bsimon… that fork’s outta hand.

Psi Squared

9 years ago

@asg: If you’re interested in getting a custom bike from Cherubim, contact Fair Wheel Bikes, in Tucson. In fact FWB has a contact link specifically for customers interested in having a Cherubim:

https://fairwheelbikes.com/c/custom-bikes-and-builders/cherubim/

Admin

Tyler Benedict

9 years ago

JasonK – agreed, we just missed this one.

JasonK

9 years ago

Fair enough, Tyler. Everyone makes mistakes.

Brian

9 years ago

I had a Cherubim custom made for me last year. It’s my best riding bike and the most beautiful new bike I’ve seen in person. If you want one, email them! I think I had to wait between 6 or 9 months.