In speaking with Mauricio Rebolledo, http://www.rebolledocycles.com/, I heard what I thought was a great insight. He brought a beautiful bike that he felt he could ride on the streets, pick up the groceries, then pop off the fenders, etc. and race it in cyclocross. In other words, a multi-purpose bike. Like many riders, and I suspect many commenters here, I have a few bicycles. But, multiple capabilities in one bike make real sense for the average buyer. I would love to have a purpose-built city bike, but I can hardly justify it because it would mean one more bike in the basement while others, perfectly capable, sitting idle when I needed to go to the grocery store.

The many elements of the finished bikes, even if very few could be called strictly “transport” bikes, will inspire others and perhaps make their way into production bicycles. For example, the internal cable for security and Tony Pereira’s integrated U-lock. Further, to see a number of these bikes with dyno hubs being ridden over a 78 mile course and some with internal geared hubs sends a message that these can be normal and acceptable components. We don’t need to rely upon brightly polished racing hubs to get us from a to b. Those are just two examples.

While the Oregon Manifest featured many Oregon builders, it was not exclusively a Portland or even Oregon showcase. Of the 31 entrants, 17 were from Oregon, so just a bit more than half. In fact, as I was finishing my interviews, Jocelyn Sycip, director, stressed that this was intended to be broader than Portland or Oregon. Witness the significant gallery “Dreams On Wheels” from Denmark.

As for who Oregon Manifest is, it is a domestic non profit corporation headquartered at Chris King Precision Components. I don’t know if there are such things as members or who they might be, though it’s fairly easy to find the folks managing the various programs.

With the full range of activities under way with Oregon Manifest, I think they will succeed in raising awareness of bicycling even in a very bicycle-centric town. And, the galleries, events and parties will certainly inspire some to get on a bike. That’s a win, I think.

I’m not sure who the Oregon Manifest is put it seemed like part of their mission was to promote local frame builders which would be a bit of a conflict with the mission of the Challenge.

Secondly, I thought the whole locking requirement was a solution looking for a problem. When did it become difficult to lock a bike? Tony’s lock was clever but one still needed something to carry the U section of the lock. So I’m not seeing that as an advance. I hope (genuinely) the design won’t compromise the steerer. I’m not picking on you Tony. I just wouldn’t go there. The King idea of the cable in the top tube just makes the additional weight of the lock a permanent or semi permanent to the bike. If it doesn’t rattle I’d be surprised. Again, what problem has been solved? What problems have been created? I don’t have the answers but I do know that locking a bike up is not a problem in need of solving.

Third, I’d like to see an alignment between the judging points and the race aspect. The requirements were such that most bikes were overbuilt is carrying capacity for the given race. That’s not bad and I’m not advocating transportation bikes being only able to carry 10#. But that load carrying capacity was all that was necessary for the race. Anymore carrying capacity was like bringing a knife to a gun fight. Not a bad tool. Just the wrong one for the job.

Fourth, if it’s a race then lets race. If the race is structured like Nascar where there’s rules to make the bikes very similar to each other, fine. But then spell that out in writing. Otherwise, if you call it a race well then it’s a race and I’m going to build what I think is the fastest bike for the given course.

Those are some of my criticisms but I don’t want to end on that. I supported the event by participating and will do so again if I see the event evolving into something meaningful. My rider had a great time and the promoters should feel proud for putting on a fun event.

P.S. who are the members of Oregon Manifest? That’s a real question.

To me, any bike with fenders and lights is at least a reasonable transportation bike. My commuter is a touring bike, and it works pretty well. The only issue I have with it is that the gears ice up 5 times a year when we have freezing rain. So I’m building a commuter with an IGH, chaincase and better racks. It wouldn’t work on a 70 mile multi-surface brevet, but I think it will be a good transportation bike. I wouldn’t mind a fixed gear, but I have too much climbing for that when I’m trying not to sweat on my work clothes.

I agree that there are multiple ways to get to the same solution. I think any design contest should focus on the problems that need addressing or challenges that need to be met and then give the builders carte blanche to come up with creative solutions. So example, one guideline might be keeping street cloths clean. A traditional set of fenders and chain guard is perfectly acceptable solution, but there may be other more creative ways to get the same results. The design challenge ought to promote innovation.

I do use tried and true design elements in my bike to produce a bike with the purpose of transportation cycling. Mine is not the only way, but the practical needs of the transportation cyclists must be taken into account for a design to be good.

As for a bike that accomplishes everyday needs and is also fun to ride 150 miles, I’m not sure there is a design that handles both of these objectives in a satisfactory way. The Xtracycle design is probably the one that could come closest. Randonneuring bikes can do the job as well but are usually more limited in what they can carry.

My girlfriend is a gardener and uses a bianchi\extracycle and I use a lemond “yellow jersey” with a rack and bags. both carry plenty. Ive carried 5 foot high piles of brush on the lemond and sometimes she only carries a lock.

Sometimes people only want one bike in their life and you have to weigh alot of options when choosing one. Perhaps you want a bike that will carry groceries AND take you 150 miles out of the city. If thats the case many of thes bike fit that category and the electra taking up space in the cheese isle would definitley be the wrong bike.

My main argument with the manifest was that the design callenge was really stacked with oregon builders and that (correct me if Im wrong) none of the race winners even made it into the top 5. Where sat loose racks and bikes that werent even ridden.

All in all every one worked really hard and there were many great bikes in the Manifest. Good luck next year!