Last weekend, the 30th and 31st of August, the Bike Cult Show Handbuilt Bicycle Show in Brooklyn was held. It featured around sixteen of New York’s most revered custom bike builders, demonstrating that the craft is indeed alive and well in The Big Apple. The show was dedicated to one of my favorite builders, Ezra Caldwell of Fast Boy Cycles, and exhibited two of his bikes that have played an integral part in his quest to Teach Cancer to Cry.
They are now up for sale via an auction which closes at 2.00pm Eastern Standard Time.
Assless Bike
Ezra tells us, “I built the Assless bike when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008. My doctor demanded that I NOT ride on a bike seat until my treatment was finished. I said, “what if the bike HAD no seat.” He rolled his eyes a little but okayed it, and I began building the bike that afternoon.
“When they heard what was going on, Chris King, Phil Wood, and White industries all donated the parts for this bike. An incredible display of generosity given that I had only even been part of the industry for about 9 months at the time!!
“To place a bid, email Ezra. You must leave your full name, address, and contact phone number. Bids will be accepted in $100 increments.”
Ultimate Tight Ass
“I put this thing together with the express purpose of building myself what I felt was the ULTIMATE mountain bike (the fact that it may well turn out to be the ultimate bike I build is a bit of a twist!), to ride until I was no longer healthy enough to do so, at which point I would auction it off for some sort of cancer related charity. In the end our decision was to donate the proceeds to the Visiting Nurse Service of NY Home Hospice Program. You can read about my decision here.
“The project was only possible because of the TOTAL generosity of the companies named. I designed what I felt was the IDEAL build, and to a company, they all came on board.
“The frame is pretty unique for a 29er, particularly in the shortness of the chain stays (thus “tight ass”). The head angle is quite slack, on the other hand, and the fork has (your choice) 120 or 140 mm of travel (you can change it on the fly). The result is a surprisingly nimble all-mountain bike that both climbs and decends with aplomb!
“I built the UTA with the help of:
SRAM
Rockshox
Formula
Schwalbe
Industry 9
Enve
Brooks
Chris King
“The bike comes with two wheelsets. One AM and one XC, both I9 classic hubs laced to Enve rims (both wheelsets with rotors and cassette… Ready to swap!). AM wheels come with Hans Dampf Tires and the XC wheels with Racing Ralphs.
“Rockshox Revelation XX dual air fork with lockout (choose on the fly between 120 and 140 travel, and you have lockout in either position). Formula T1 brakes. Chris King headset and bottom bracket. Enve seat post, stem, and riser bars. And a custom Brooks Swift Ti saddle (nose rivet is a Fast Boy heart). The MSRP on the PARTS is just over $10K. That doesn’t include the frame, of course.
“To place a bid, email Ezra. You must leave your full name, address, and contact phone number. Bids will be accepted in $100 increments. The auction will end at 2pm on Wednesday the 4th of September. The winner will receive the bike, when I am no longer able to ride it.”
FASST from Sam Newman on Vimeo.
