Blogs rock, bike builder tells USA Today

A long and detailed piece in USA Today shines a spotlight on the growing interest in craft bicycle builders in the US.

Some have five and a half year waiting lists. Dropping $20,000 on a 9-pound bike is easy, and specialist, connoisseur bike shops are springing up to cater for the upscale demand.

The USA Today piece interviews some of the craft builders, as well as Don Walker, organiser of the North American Hand Made Bicycle Show. 4000 people visited last year’s show.

Walker said: "This niche is expanding as the riders out there grow more sophisticated. People just don’t want to pull up to a group of riders and see 10 other bikes just like theirs."

One man band bike builder Richard Sachs said: "There’s no way we’d be as well known to the biking community without blogs."

Steve Madden, editor of Bicycling magazine, said: "Buying a hand-built bike is like sipping a great wine, slipping into a bespoke suit or having coffee roasted just to your taste. In the past few years, there’s definitely been a surge in the number of people who want just that."