Bikes and Builders of MADE 2026 (Part 2)

We’re back with part two of our MADE 2026 coverage and couldn’t be more eager to share more fresh findings from this year’s show. As this is the final year at the iconic Zidell Yards venue, we’re soaking up the atmosphere on the Willamette River and have been blown away by the variety and quality of bikes on display. Brands and builders big and small have new offerings and more than a few intriguing and creative things at their booths, so let’s dive into round two for some of the best and brightest at MADE 2026.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Slow Southern Steellink

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Jesse of Slow Southern Steel is back with a subtle personal build for this year’s show. After penning a story about building his first titanium 32er, Jesse decided to make a longer, larger version of the hardtail he used for races and local trips. With some notes that acknowledge hallmarks of his build style and a few key signature elements, it’s a Black Sabbath-inspired hardtail in the style of the heavy metal his brand is known for. As I noted during my shop visit last year, all of his bikes have a dimple at the bottom bracket or chainstay. It’s done by hand and completely artistic in execution. On his personal bike, Jesse used the technique on the bottom bracket, dropouts, headtube badge, and seatpost collar, driving home this signature element.

• 
• 

The bike also has the Black Sabbath Fallen Angel, a devilish seatstay bridge reminiscent of a satanic trident, and a custom frame bag made by Anthony at Mad Monkey Designs. Allowing him full creative freedom, Jesse was ultimately quite happy with the skull-and-laser-engraved design Anthony delivered on the leather bag.

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

Diving deeper, Jesse said, “This bike was originally born from me desiring a more trail-capable, shreddy hardtail than the 120-travel, bikepacking-geared hardtails I’ve mostly built in the past. I built it last fall during a framebuilding class I teach at the University of Arkansas as an instructional tool, but I didn’t get around to finishing it until this summer. I’m toying with making this bike a permanent model in my lineup and haven’t decided on a name yet, but it just feels right to name it after a Sabbath song/album, so I am open to suggestions.”

Velo Orangelink

Baltimore, Maryland

Velo Orange is unveiling a completely new model at this year’s MADE bike show, along with a barrage of interesting components and parts built to solve unique problems. The Escargot is a step in a completely new direction for the brand, as it’s their first-ever purpose-built cargo bike. Using a headtube-mounted rack system that’s similar to the one I teased when I shot their updated Neutrino at this year’s Bike Expo in Philadelphia, the Escargot is a mullet cargo bike with plenty of room for bags of many shapes and sizes, made in collaboration with Blue Lug.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

The bike is made of 4130 chromoly and features sliding rear dropouts, disc brakes, and an integrated handle. With three pack mounts on both fork blades and two sets on the frame, there are loads of hauling combinations to try out on the new bike. The rack is also made of chromoly steel and has mounts made specifically for a Wald 157 basket, Blue Lug Milk Crate, and many other large platform portage implements.

• 
• 

The Escargot uses a 26” disc wheel in the rear and a 20” wheel up front. It has clearance for 2.5” tires on both ends, and a 68mm threaded bottom bracket. It also sports one of their newest components: a square-taper crankset designed for modern wide gravel cranks. Sitting further out on the spindle, the latest colorway of their Chessie gravel bike only needed a 113mm spindle-length bottom bracket to clear the stays. For reference, I ran their old square taper cranks on the same bike and had to spec a 128, which just barely cleared. The cranks will be available in the coming months and come with a stock 42T chainring.

Neutrino Gen 2

Also teased at Philly Bike Expo but out in full force at MADE is the newest version of their iconic Neutrino mini velo. The brand says the 2.0 brings updated geometry for an improved fit range and even sharper handling. They’ve also updated the frame tubing with targeted heat-treating and custom-butted profiles, alongside 12mm thru-axles on the front and rear instead of the quick-release system on the 1.0. The front cargo capacity matches what’s featured on the Escargot: fully integrated into the frame setup, with a dedicated headtube mount for Brompton-style carrier blocks and an all-new custom mini front rack tailored to the platform.

• 
• 
• 

The new Neutrino features clearance for 20 x 2.5” tires, has sliding dropouts, a 68mm threaded bottom bracket, a 31.6mm seatpost with internal dropper routing, and mounts on almost every part of the frame. This Neutrino also sports their new Muskrat bars: a 780mm-wide, 140mm-rise handlebar with 23 degrees of backsweep and 5 degrees of upsweep. They also gave us a sneak peek at their new aluminum handlebars. They’re still in development, but the specs so far are a 25.4mm clamp diameter, 15 degrees of flare, 97mm of reach, and 123mm of drop.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Though the Escargot is just a sample and requires some adjustment, much of what you see here should be available before the year is through. The Neutrino Gen 2 is expected to arrive later this fall, and the other small components should be available soon as well.

Rodriguez Bikeslink

Seattle, Washington

Alder Threlkeld owns and manages Rodriguez Bikes in Seattle, Washington. Carrying the torch of one of the most storied shops in the Pacific Northwest, Alder has now taken the reins of the shop as the sole managing owner. Though Rodriguez specializes in specialty tandems and other atypical offerings, they’re also adept at building high-quality steel bikes for any purpose, with a special focus on coupler-equipped travel bikes. Given he has a few trips on the horizon, Alder commissioned himself a new bikepacking-oriented gravel bike.

• 
• 

The impetus for the bike came while visiting Japan with family and friends last year, when he happened upon a special set of externally rifled, lightweight tubes. Because he’d only seen internally rifled tubing, he was taken aback by the quality and precision. He quickly ordered a set and had the Rodriguez shop builder test it. Happy with the results, he decided to port the geometry from his beloved cow-themed gravel bike, adding a little more tire clearance, and his new bikepacking bike was born.

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

Alder’s in the middle of his race season, but he’s eyeing some longer trips abroad, since the bike has S&S couplers that let him easily store the bag in a travel case. Something of a lightweight fastpacker, Alder manages to get away from the shop most weekends for extremely high-mileage overnighters in the wild just outside the city and says he’s been enjoying the new Expedition collection from Apidura.

San Util Designlink

Bellingham, Washington

Adam from San Util Design had a few new bags at this year’s show and was excited to show them off alongside this special Good Grief x Drust collaboration Pinion mini velo. Though he’s just moved his shop from Colorado to Washington, he’s back in full force, offering production bags and unique logistics solutions to keep bag quality high and prices down.

• 
• 

The two new bags are their Fault Line top tube bag and Whirlpool V2. The former comes in three sizes: 9″, 12″, and 17″. The smallest size is bolt-on only, while the two larger sizes feature a 3D-printed attachment system that fits both rounded steel tubes and larger, wider carbon and aluminum shapes. The top tube bags have a hard plastic internal liner that keeps them rigid while still allowing enough flex to wrap around whatever surface they’re secured to for maximum stability, since they have no forward stabilization.

The Whirlpool V2 is everything Adam ever wanted to change about the first iteration of the hip pack. It adds spinal column pads, a dedicated pocket in the same area, stretchable side pockets, a new external storage mechanism, and tons of interior organization. Loaded with pockets and dividers, it’s a huge step up from version one.

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

As stated, he’s also partnering with various production houses—both stateside and abroad—to reduce the time it takes to make the bags. Adam says this lets him offer the bags at a more approachable price point without sacrificing quality. Currently, Whirlpool is the only bag they use a production partner in Vietnam to make. They also have relationships with a cut-and-sew facility in Denver to make elements of the Fault Line a little smoother.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Adam took the time to make some custom bags for the Good Grief x Drust mini velo that was sent over from Europe. Per the creators, it’s a super stripped-down ATB, with most of the mass concentrated toward the center of the bike. They said they wanted long chainstays (500-525mm) and track dropouts, with QR wheels front and rear. It has as much fork rake as possible and a fantastic anodized finish that contrasts with Drust’s fillet brazing, making the whole thing pop.

Significant Otherlink

Denver, Colorado

Miles is the other, smaller part of Significant Other and recently decided to paint his own Dead Reckin after sizing down from the review bike Neil spent time on just before the show. A fantastic rider in his own right, he’s also skilled with tools and paint, having worked in both the car and bike industries in finishing and custom manufacturing.

• 
• 
• 

Inspired by a digital music box he messes with in his free time, the orange-and-green paint job adds a spot of color to his new, slightly smaller Ded Reckin. Though he’s about the same size as Neil and rode the bike Neil ended up reviewing, Miles says he gets a bit more travel out of this 470-reach model. Watching him bunny-hop all over the back of the venue, I couldn’t help but notice some of the smaller details in the build. The Chromag saddle, weathered and sporting a stain he couldn’t quite place, is one of the oldest components he owns. The Tectonic x Significant Other pedals are another piece of the brand’s lore, made ages ago for the BMX bike Ashley made custom for Miles. It was cool to see the personal side of one of the people who make the brand tick.

• 
• 

• 
• 

Mad Monkey Designslink

Humboldt, California

Everyone’s favorite mad scientist of a bag maker is back at this year’s show with his first small-batch run of bags. Slightly deviating from the typical one- or two-bag sets he makes from rare materials, Anthony of Mad Monkey Designs has a special, Baja-inspired run of top tube bags with a unique story. Each bag contains scannable RFID chips that link to the blog post that dives into the full tale, and they’re made from sun-damaged blankets Anthony found while bike touring in Mexico. Kissed by the Baja sun, he thought they’d make the perfect colorful run of top tube bags. There are 12 bags available at the show, which he’ll list online for $300 if they don’t sell out at this year’s MADE.

• 
• 

Tumbleweed Bikeslink

Boise, Idaho

Though they didn’t bring any new products, the Tumbleweed booth is chockfull of interesting finds. If you’ve followed our coverage, you’ll have seen Daniel’s titanium Sunliner. However, the model he had on display at this year’s show was fresh off his trip on the Iceland Divide. After pedaling over 300 miles on terrain that looks more like the Moon than anything on Earth, Daniel said he felt excited and refreshed by his time out in such an incredible landscape. With temperatures that made anything but a puffer jacket inappropriate, some of the photos he shared with me provided a glimpse into this wild environment. Of course, he said his fat-tired Sunliner was the perfect tool for the job.

• 
• 

His bike also featured a custom Bags by Bird top-loader that Daniel made specifically for it. It uses a special, lightweight X-Pac-like fabric and is longer than your run-of-the-mill Piccolo. He’s a big fan of how it worked on the Sunliner in Iceland and found it the ideal length and width for the front of his long, large headtube.

• 
• 
• 

32 Sunliner

The star of Tumbleweed’s booth this year was a massive lilac touring bike, which is essentially a 32-inch version of the Sunliner. Or, as Daniel puts it, it’s a “rigid-specific, 32-inch, flat-bar off-road touring bike.” It’s made by Curtis Inglis of Retrotec.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Curtis built Daniel’s first custom bike in 2010, which he toured on in India, so it only felt right to ask Curtis to build a show bike for the MADE bike show. It’s truly optimized for off-road touring, with rack mounts, Tumbleweed’s new Macro Pannier Racks, and Curtis’s signature segmented fork with a scalloped crown and curved fork blades. Despite the massive 32-inch wheels, he designed it around the 355mm rack height, which is Tumbleweed’s shorter option. It looks like the lower rack mounts were slid slightly higher on the seat stays to accommodate the larger wheels. Daniel is excited about how the bike came together, despite the last-minute timing, and is looking forward to taking it on a trip later this year to test its capabilities.

• 
• 

Tumbleweed’s standard Sunliner is built around 29 x 2.6-2.8″ tires and has a well-balanced geometry that makes it capable on a broad spectrum of surfaces and all-terrain rides. Logan spent six months testing it ahead of its launch, and praised its stability, comfortable ride quality, and rigid-specific frame.

That’s it for part two of our MADE 2026 coverage. Make sure to stay tuned throughout the weekend as we continue to share the amazing finds from this year’s show!

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...