NAHBS | 2011 | North American Handmade Bicycle Show | Helm Cycles

As a complete newcomer, Herbie Helm presented a handmade frame that showed off lug work typically reserved for someone much older, a juxtaposition that is further exaggerated by the fact that he’s still a student.

For 2011, Helm moved from a table exhibit to a booth and has several bikes on display.

The centerpiece of his booth is a highly ornate randonneuring bike with 26 inch wheels. “These lugs took me about 2 ½ weeks to cut,” says Helm. He explained that his customer had seen his lugwork from NAHBS 2010, and ordered a bike with every imaginable detail incorporated into the design.

But Helm does not want to only be seen as a builder of highly stylized lugged frames. He’s a triathlete and, based on his own triathlon bike which is also in the exhibit, he’s equally adept at building simpler race bikes.

So what became of his bike from a year ago?

“I’m keeping it,” he says, pointing the frame he brought to show again. “I’ve had offers for it, but I have a lot of time invested in it. It’s a relic from when I began building bikes.”