MADE 2026: Sour, Rodriguez , Sanitas Cycles, and Significant Other Bikes
The biggest handmade bicycle show in North America was truly something! And I’m reporting back with some real "bangers", the kind that may or may not leave you drooling in front of your screen. So be ready because there is a healthy number of releases coming over the next few weeks, with some truly incredible bikes on display.
Having had the opportunity to work with American framebuilders in the past, I was especially excited to see so many of them gathered under one roof. MADE felt far less like a giant industry trade show and much more like an extended family reunion.
The only difference is that visiting your parents is usually free, while air travel and accommodation for this kind of reportage, unfortunately, are not… Which is why this year’s MADE coverage has been made possible by Old Man Mountain.
Having previously reviewed Old Man Mountain racks and bags on SSS, it felt especially fitting to have them support my trip to MADE this year. Only so YOU can enjoy the 20-plus bike checks I shot throughout the weekend.
I did spot some of OMM’s new FLiP system appearing on a range of builds across the show, alongside a few of their rack setups adapted to the particular needs and personalities of each rig. Displayed here is a collection of OMM’s mounting systems I saw, paired with custom-made bags from Beans Outdoor, a Portland-based bag maker. Talk about a perfect fit!
So once again, a big thank you to Old Man Mountain for kindly sponsoring our coverage of MADE 2026.
Sour Space Cake
Detailed Parts List
Frameset
Sour Space Cake
Goupset Ultegra Di2
Crank
Easton EC90 ALX
Seatpost and Saddle
Tune, Reform
Stem and Handlebar
Tune, Easton EC90 AX
Wheels
Hunt 5AM Limitless with new Silca 38mm RCR Protocole tires
Starting with a European bike on this American show, this newer Sour Spacecake leans fully into the modern, integrated all-road direction, specially built to showcase the new 38mm RCR Silca Protocole tires.
Also featuring the very fast Hunt 5AM Limitless wheels, Josh is among the first to ride this incredible-looking setup, with these new tires pumped to around 50 PSI. The finishing kit keeps it light and color-matched throughout: Ti Silca computer mount, Tune seat post and stem for that Euro touch, a pair of single-sided DEL pedal (these might have been the mark 0 series with a titanium axle), and a color-matched Silca pump, all wrapped up in a confetti paint job that ties the whole thing together. Very much a rider's bike.
Rodriguez Team Race Bike
Detailed Parts List
Frameset Rodriguez Team Race Bike
Groupset
Sram Force
Crank
FSA SLK
Seatpost and Saddle
Vision Metron ,Fizik Argo
Stem and Handlebar
Vision Metron 5D ACR EVO
Wheels
Vision Metrom 60 RS
This is one of the Rodriguez and Roadholes team race bikes, and the brief was pretty clear: make it as modern as possible, with full internal routing and a tubeset that is built for speed. Octagonal top tube and a U-shaped down tube giving the whole bike a very sharp, contemporary profile. Up front you’ll find a No.6 Composites fork to keep the front end clean and fully integrated. 60 mm-deep carbon wheels with carbon spokes, wrapped in Schwalbe tyres around the 45 mm mark. Tire clearance is tight, with the rubber sitting super close to the frame, but in a way that makes the whole bike feel very intentional.
The drivetrain is a classic SRAM Force 1x setup, a 42-tooth chainring, and a 10-52 cassette out back, with a purple chain simply because “It looks sick”. Add Time pedals, a Vision Metron 5D ACR EVO cockpit running the full ACR system, a matching Vision Metron seatpost, and a carbon-railed Fizik Argo saddle, and you get a very clean, very modern team race bike with nothing left hanging in the wind.
Road Holes S&S Travel Bike
Frameset
Custom Rodriguez bandito
Groupset Shimano GRX
Crank
Dura-Ace, Absolute Black chainring
Seatpost and Saddle
FSA, Specialized Power Saddle
Stem and Handlebar
FSA Stem, FSA K-WING AGX
Wheels
Custom-built Mavic set
This one is Alder’s personal travel rig, built around a set of externally rifled, no-name tubing that he got from a “mysterious” manufacturer in Japan. Because the frame runs S&S couplers, Alder needed a round tubeset, and what better way to make this build totally unique than with such exotic tubing? Add to that hydraulic couplers on the brake lines, and the whole thing breaks down and packs into a compact S&S case. Of course, the new wireless GRX 1x12 also made the most sense to make the bike as easy as possible to take apart and rebuild.
The wheels are also a properly nerdy highlight, 32-hole Mavic rims laced with DT Swiss Revolite, a mashup of the 1.5 mm-butted Revolution spoke and a bladed aero spoke, created for the best strength-to-weight ratio but also incredibly expensive. The rest of the build is also a smart mix: 10-51 cassette, a 38-tooth Absolute Black oval ring up front, Shimano XT flat-mount brakes, and a dynamo setup with a Kasai field-serviceable hub feeding a 750-lumen Sinewave Beacon.
The finishing kit keeps the same practical-performance balance: FSA bars and seatpost, Garmin dual-sided power pedals, SwissStop pads, and a Specialized Power saddle ripped off a cross bike after he forgot to order a new one.
Sanitas Node Cambium
Frameset
Sanita Node Cambium
Groupset
Sram XX
Crank
5DEV Ti Crank with CaneCreek Ti chainring
Seatpost and Saddle
Thomson Elite, Selle Italia Flite Superflow
Stem and Handlebar
Thomson G2, custom Black Sheep Drops
Wheels
Custom Industry Nine Set
Brad from Sanitas Cycles in Durango, Colorado, also brought his personal rig to the show, a fully custom Node Cambium. Apparently, this is what you get when a mountain biker decides to push gravel until it breaks. A "monster gravel" frame built around a 60mm RockShox Rudy XL fork, cleared for 29x2.3 tires but kept on traditional gravel geometry, so you can under-bike a mountain bike trail without committing to a full hardtail.
The paint is the first thing that grabs you, a 90s-inspired splatter job that looks even better thanks to Wolf Tooth parts going all-in on colors. The rule was as little black as humanly possible, so Brad had silver and titanium bits wherever he could get them, with the tires being basically the only thing he couldn't escape.
Some titanium parts include a custom handlebar from Black Sheep Bikes, built to Brad's specs; a 5DEV crank chosen specifically because its chainline plays nice with the bike's MTB-style wide bottom bracket shell and road rear spacing; and Cane Creek chainring. Finally, hard not to talk about the custom-anodized Industry Nine wheelset and Kogel Kolossos oversized derailleur cage, both color-matched to the frame.
Frameset
Significant Other Bikes Custom Gravel
Groupset
Custom Sram 1987
Crank
Custom Sram 1987 with Ogle chainring
Seatpost and Saddle
BTCHN’ post, Terry saddle
Stem and Handlebar
Custom BTCHN’ cockpit
Wheels
Custom Velocity x White Industries set
Saving the best for last in this first MADE bike roundup: Anna’s incredible Significant Other gravel rig. After years working in the cycling industry, Anna hadn’t attended a show since before COVID. What ultimately brought her back was simple: she missed making things—and wanted to be there to celebrate the women shaping the scene.
So she commissioned her first-ever titanium frame from Ashley King, the builder behind Significant Other Bikes in Denver. Ashley had built production bikes for brands like Reeb and Mosaic before striking out on her own, and this frame came right on the heels of the Ded Reckin, full-suspension titanium trail bike. The brief was a leaner, faster counterpoint to that rig, with the same hand-made titanium spirit.
The first thing that catches your eye is obviously every aluminum component finished in a remarkable floral anodizing, giving the bike the presence of pure jewelry. All of these were made by yet another Ashley (from @ashley.anodized.it), who pulled off a graphic floral pattern across all of these metal parts, like it’s been lifted from 1990s gallery walls and the art-jewelry world Anna grew up around. Everywhere you look there's another collaborator: a BTCHN' custom titanium cockpit and seatpost, Velocity rims laced to White Industries hubs, and Durango-based Ogle Component Design supplying the chainring and lockrings. Can’t wait to see this rig on the trails!
Thank you to Old Man Mountain for making this coverage of the 2026 MADE show possible.
💾 : Leica SL
📍: Portland
