Don Walker Interview on South Florida Fixed

There's a pretty solid Q&A with local frame builder and NAHBS founder, Don Walker, over on South Florida Fixed. He has some interesting stuff to say about custom frame building and the cycling industry today.

indycog launched about 2 weeks before NAHBS opened here in Indy last February, and Don was hugely supportive of us, which I'll forever be grateful for. To be honest, it was NAHBS and some beers with Don before and after that kind of opened my eyes to how the world of cycling is at once huge and small. I had been riding for 3 years by then, but had never really dealt much with the "industry" before I walked in to his shop to interview him for NUVO. Throughout the event, he introduced me to some awesome, supportive people who were nothing less than stoked to see what indycog could become.

Don Walker on WTHR this morning with Dave Patania

I heard from Don Walker over the weekend that he's being featured on WTHR Channel 13 today. He was live with Dave Patania this morning for the Sunrise 13 program, and they evidently recorded an interview with him that will show on today's noon and 5 p.m. airings.

Great to see some more local coverage of cycling from WTHR. They're doing a pretty solid job of covering some cycling related stories of late.

Go Figure.

Our buddy, Jeremy, snapped some great shots around NAHBS last Saturday. Just just up'ed them on his Tumblr.

Follow the link at the end of his highlights post for more shots from his Flickr that include some new pals--Don Walker, the Urban Velo crew, Alexis from Villin Cycle Works, and others.

NAHBS got the cover!

If you find yourself near a NUVO stand this week, check it out. You will see a cover that looks a lot like the cover in this picture:

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After some hard work, we managed to get NAHBS on the cover of this week's issue of NUVO. As I mentioned before, Don is a really great guy, with a real heart for bikes and recently, Indianapolis. He and NAHBS deserved this cover, and a lot of people are happy that he got it, to say the least.

The cover photo, along with the photos featured with the article, are compliments of that one guy we keep talking about on here, Jeremy Albert.

For those of you who don't know much about the journalism world (including myself), whether or not a story gets the cover is about 30% dependent on the quality of the story/writing, and 70% the quality of the photographs taken to run alongside the story. Let's face it: good writing isn't the first thing that captures a person's attention when looking at a newspaper cover.

So, in short, I got the byline, but the real credit goes to Jer. Next time you see him out and about, offer to buy him Yats or a new tube (that Dano will likely need in the near future anyway).

Click here for the full, online article in NUVO.

Click here to see Jeremy's photogallery of Don Walker.

NAHBS next week in Indy

Sitting here today, I realized that we've posted about a lot of things surrounding the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), but nothing specifically about NAHBS. If you're sitting an Indy, and you like bikes, and you haven't heard about this show, then you're already missing out on getting to rub it in to thousands of cyclists around the nation/world who would give a left nut to make it to this show. Um. Women, and Lance, you can give...something else. Your left arm? I got nothing.

Anyway. NAHBS. It's going to be in Indy this year for the first time. Ever. For the past 4 years, it's been on the west coast, and cyclists all over the Midwest and east coast have said, "Damn. I'd give my left nut/arm/whatever to go to that; I wish lived closer." Well, you can this year. It's happening next weekend, February 27th-March 1st at the Indianapolis Convention Center downtown.

It's going to be ridiculous. Some of the prettiest bikes you've ever seen are going to be at this thing. Seriously, if you're not going, you're doing yourself a diservice.

And, if not for yourself and pretty bikes, then go for Don Walker, the owner/namesake of Don Walker Cycles here in Indy and founder of NAHBS, because he's an awesome dude who created something amazing and brought it to Indy for us, and deserves to see it succeed.

And, if not for yourself, pretty bikes, or Don, do it for Indy and the Midwest. We all know how often we are underdogged. I've heard the question, "Why Indy?" so many times in regards to NAHBS being held here; it's almost hard to stomach. Let's answer the question.

Check out more about the 2009 North American Handmade Bicycle Show here.

Local Celeb: Congrats, Jer.

Our good friend and contributor to our fledgling site, Jeremy Albert, went with me to shoot some photos for a NUVO article about Don Walker and the upcoming North American Handmade Bike Show.

Evidently, someone over at the not-so-fledging site, Urban Velo, stumbled upon his Flickr, and featured him in a post. Check out his feature on UV and show him some love.

And, if you didn't know about Urban Velo before, you should. Great dudes, and great work. Subscribe to them if you can afford it, or you can also read the copy Joe's Cycles always has laying around. They'll be at NAHBS next week, too, so check out their booth.