The Road to MADE: Is it Worth the Cost?

Additional photos by Nic Morales

Ahead of this year’s MADE bike show, we knew we wanted to freshen up the coverage by sharing more than just a bunch of bike galleries, which can feel a little repetitive after a while. One of many ideas that came up while brainstorming was to ask the framebuilders and brands attending to share their thoughts on whether the costs associated with attending a show like MADE are ultimately worth it and what they gain from it. In recent years, attending these trade shows has become somewhat compulsory, despite the fact that actually getting to them incurs a significant cost for the smallest players in the bike world.

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It seems the very people who bring the biggest, best, and most innovative designs at shows are also the ones—in a relative sense—paying the most to be there. To explore this idea, we checked in with the folks behind Rare Earth Cycle Craft, Mone, BTCHN’ Bikes, Bike Friday, La Marche, Brule, Bantam Cycles, Donkelope Bikes, Sanitas Cycles, Wilde, Velo Orange, Jack’s Sacks, Neuhaus, and more. With flights and other necessary costs eating into the slim profits of small operations, learn more about their roads to MADE below.

Rare Earth link

Words by Brian Hall

As a relatively new builder, it is really worth it for me to come to MADE as long as I’m bringing bikes that grab the attention of the media and attendees. Last year was a huge boost in visibility based on the amount of media attention my bikes received. That being said, I live and work in Wisconsin, so getting out to Portland with bikes and a booth is a big expense, but it is the only show I am doing currently. It helps that I have friends in town to stay with from my days in footwear design. Beyond building my business, getting to meet and know the other builders and potential customers is great. Our work is often solitary, so it is great to have this time to socialize and share processes and ideas. I will definitely reassess after this year’s show to see if it will continue to be worth attending for my brand. I imagine I will be involved in some form or fashion.

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HotSalad Bicycles link

Words by B Vivit

Shows like MADE are extraordinarily expensive for a brand to attend. It’s not just the price of the booth, it’s also the bike, the components, the products, and the fixtures and displays. Let alone the travel. It’s the labor before, during, and after. It’s the chasing brands around and trying to ask them to help you show a complete bike. It’s the emotional anxiety of presenting your work to a very public audience and having it immortalized on the internet. It’s the other projects and things you gave up to focus on this one show, when sometimes, it’s purely a popularity contest. Some years, it can feel worth it.

It’s always worth it for me to come to a show like this because I get to chat with the builders. Because I get to share my frustration and my joy with the only people in the entire world who speak the same language as me. As a femme in the framebuilding world, that’s even smaller for me than it is for other people. So, connecting with folks I get to see once a year feels worth it to show up, but buying a booth? Being run around for parts and components, spending thousands of dollars to be at a show? It just feels disheartening some years.

MONE link

Words by Cjell Mone

I attend MADE for community, marketing opportunity, connections, and FOMO. If it wasn’t fun and I wasn’t meeting and connecting with other builders, I’m not sure the marketing alone would do it. But in combination, a trip to Portland and getting some exposure makes it an outing I can justify. I used to bemoan all the cost and time it takes. For a one-man show, it can be quite the undertaking, but the advertising upsides and camaraderie make it something I can enjoy and feel good about making the investment. At the end of the day, I’m not in this to get rich, so making a trip to see old friends and make new ones within my trade is something that isn’t that hard to justify.

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Buendia Bicycles link

Words by Greg deBoer

I am very lucky to be one of the builders who has MADE here in their hometown of Portland. I am very appreciative of that. The cost for me is primarily the booth space and materials, and I try to keep the booth materials as DIY/affordable as possible. I don’t have to factor in weight, as I am just bringing it all across town.

I’d love to attend PBE and MBBS, or even shows over in Europe, but couldn’t justify the cost right now. I would definitely work up some sort of booth design as lightweight and portable as possible (I really liked that the recent Bespoked show seemed to have identical booths and bike stands for everyone).

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I love the MADE show. I look forward to chatting about the bikes I am presenting, I love the community of builders, and it feels very inclusive, friendly, and non-competitive. I enjoy chatting with all the folks attending the show. Everybody there is stoked on bikes; it’s a beautiful scene.

I’m not sure that the show has directly led to custom frame projects, but it has helped with my exposure, so I think it is worth it for that, as well as getting me out of the shop and interacting with people. I tend toward the introvert end of things and am perfectly happy working away in my shop. I love the random shop visits from friends and customers, but the show is next level. I come away from the show juiced with all the people’s energy and the gorgeous work of all the other builders.

BTCHN’ BIKES link

Words by Tyler Reiswig

For us, MADE is the event that shapes our year. It is the impetus to create something jaw-dropping, and the venue to spur conversation in bike design. Simply put, MADE is our megaphone to the world. Not only does it take a ton of work to design and build a show-worthy display, but also to populate it with inventory is quite the task. Not to mention, we aim to bring three show-worthy bikes each year as well. It goes without saying that the price to play is quite high. Billy, the founder and director of the show, absolutely has the best interests of the small builders at heart. A way he shows that is by keeping the booth pricing reasonable. Of course, we are allowed to do business at the venue as well, which is key for us to pay for our trip with merch and product sales.

MADE is centered around the builders, and the biggest value from a business standpoint is the collection of media outlets that are invited and cover this event. Our reach is expanded every time we have a new interaction/interview/article written from a media outlet that is outside of our normal wheelhouse.

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Maybe most importantly is how this becomes a community builder for those of us who are linked in our crafts and passions yet are spread all over the continent and world. Every year, we get a chance to deepen our relationships with those who support us and those who inspire us. Showing at MADE feels like a Hail Mary, but every year, it feels more and more worth the effort.

Bike Friday link

Words by Oscar Hearnden

First and foremost, the most important thing to our brand is community. MADE also gives us the rare opportunity to engage with the press in person, connect with other builders, and build industry relationships. Crucially, it lets customers see our bikes in person. One of the most valuable parts of this is the feedback we get from the public. The conversations we have at MADE have directly influenced the direction we take in our R&D. As all of us run small businesses, it is difficult to meet each other, share the news, see what’s new, and build relationships in person. A show is a rare opportunity for that. Otherwise, we are busy with our heads down in our separate shops.

It is, however, a significant investment for us and our most costly marketing activity of the year. We do not sell many bikes at the show, so there is little chance of directly recouping that cost. We also could not afford to attend multiple events at this scale. The high expense comes from the length of the event, staffing, hotels, and the impact of pulling staff off the production line. For us, a two-day event could potentially provide similar value at a lower cost. That said, the organizers have done a great job engaging exhibitors and offering multiple avenues to get added value from the show.

La Marche link

Words by Tom La Marche

Bike shows are an enormous cost and effort for builders. You put your queue on hold for a month while you build show bikes, unless it lines up perfectly, where a customer agrees to use their bike. I have been fortunate enough to tag on to booths this year (Firsthand/Reynolds) and last year (Brooks England), so that was definitely worthwhile for me. The first year of MADE, I drove across the country with a booth and bikes, and I’m not so sure it was worth it. I still had fun, though.

It’s difficult to quantify media coverage into potential sales. I don’t think most builders are making direct sales/deposits like they once did in the NAHBS era. The sentiment I’m getting from a lot of people is that it’s just too much every single year. It creates a lot of burnout having to stress over this stuff as a one-person shop. I think there are marketing opportunities and connections to be had, but don’t expect just attending the show to do any of that for you. I enjoy seeing friends from across the country and globe, and the best part is riding bikes after the show.

BRULE link

Words by Julian

I think many builders are probably in the same boat of being rather isolated working away in small shops in their own heads most of the year. This is really one of the only times I get to be surrounded by other builders and bike enthusiasts who actually want to discuss bizarro ideas and geometry schemes, friction and tire sizes per application, and all those other things I spend so much time thinking about. It’s always a tight budget for me, but it’s such a mental boost to get to be around so many awesome creators and cyclists. I don’t want to be a total suck up, but Billy is just kicking ass, cultivating the stoke with this show.

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Significant Other Bikes link

Words by Ashley King

MADE, like all bike shows, is a huge cost. Between booth fees, components, materials, travel, shipping, housing, prep, and lost shop time, it adds up. For a small builder and new business, every dollar is precious, so it’s not a decision I take lightly. But I see MADE as an investment in my future. In one weekend, it offers: community, exposure, press, connections, and conversations with other builders. That kind of visibility and momentum is rare, and depending on your goals, it can be worth every bit of the effort and dollar.

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Is it “worth it”? For me, yes. Not just for the orders that sometimes come, but for staying part of the conversation, contributing my voice to an evolving industry, and showing up alongside peers I respect. Long term, I find that vital. Without spaces like MADE, independent builders risk disappearing into the noise. I’m not saying bike shows are the only path to success, but for me, I’m not sure how I could have begun sharing this work without them.

Bantam Cycles link

Words by Bob Kamzelski

I’ve been going to bike shows for over 15 years. It’s always expensive. And I’ve never been sure if it ever pays off. I don’t think I’ve ever actually made a sale at a show, though I’ve been able to attribute a few sales to customers having seen pictures/reporting of my work at shows. So I would say that I mostly do it for the marketing. It seems like something I need to, or at least should, do in order to keep my brand alive. I can also say that I really do like meeting other builders and seeing their work in person.

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The cost is prohibitive, for sure. I don’t think I’d be able to do it if MADE wasn’t in Portland. I’m mostly just paying for booth space and my time. If I needed to pay for transportation, a hotel room, shipping, five days of eating out, etc, it probably wouldn’t be affordable for me to be here. There are other shows that I’ve wanted to display at, but I could never justify the expense.

Donkelope Bikes link

Words by Greg Heath

Monetarily, it hasn’t been “worth it” to attend, but I don’t feel it’s super expensive to be here. I also don’t build bikes just for the show. And I’m within reasonable driving distance. I get to see lots of folks who come to the event. And Portland can be pretty fun.

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Slow Southern Steel link

Words by Jesse Turner

It’s a massive cost coming from Arkansas, but it’s something I want to do, and last year, it helped my brand out quite a bit. I can’t necessarily say that it’s financially “worth it,” but it’s a lot of fun to see the bikes and meet other builders, and it’s a good excuse to road trip across the country.

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Sanitas Cycles link

Words by Bradford Swaim

For a small company like ours, having two 10-by-20-foot booths showcasing three brands and 12 bikes, this is our biggest event spend of the year. We felt that this show had to be our launching point for the Gunnar and Waterford brands back into the limelight, and for the public to see what we are capable of. With the NAHBS show no longer, the MADE show has become our Super Bowl of events, as it allows us to be extremely creative and share our bikes with a target audience that is most appreciative of our builds.

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Camp and Go Slow link

Words by Casey Clark

My costs for MADE were pretty low, but my situation was special. I was invited by my friends at Tumbleweed to set up shop in their booth (Thanks, Daniel!), I live within driving distance, so travel was cheap, and since I’m not a frame builder, I didn’t shoulder the big cost of bringing show bikes. But even with all that going for me, it’s still a chunk of money to make it happen, and for a small operator like me, taking a week away from the usual workload can be tricky. In the end, I decided to go because I wanted to see my friends, and I justified it by calling it a marketing opportunity. Basically, I get to hug my people and then write it off on my taxes, so yeah, 100% worth it.

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Wilde Bicycle Co. link

Words by Jeffrey Frane

MADE is easily the single biggest expense each year. It’s not the cost of the booth space, it’s the time spent building these show bikes, the cost of buying parts for said bikes, the transportation costs, booth prep time, travel costs, etc. Brad’s labor to build these bikes gets especially hairy because it’s just a lot of hours, and those are hours that we aren’t building our regular commissions.

We go for community, pure and simple. To support the handbuilt industry, to support our friend Billy (MADE show founder), to get a chance to meet with the media, and to see our far-flung industry friends. There is also certainly a bit of FOMO involved.

Is it worth it? Very hard to say, but last year, for instance, we made a contact that led to an EU distributor. Just based on that win, I’d say yes. More subjectively, coming out of MADE last year, it felt like something had shifted, that we had momentum. Sales felt a bit easier. Wilde’s challenge currently isn’t that people don’t choose us, it’s that they don’t even know we’re an option, so every bit of coverage helps tremendously.

Velo Orange link

Words by Igor Shteynbuk

Our recent shows have included MADE, the Philly Bike Expo, and the Baltimore Cycling Festival. Since we’re based in Maryland, Philly and BCF are easy choices. MADE requires a bigger investment, but it’s well worth it. It’s a fantastic gathering of builders who use our products, as well as friends and colleagues from around the world: Japan, Spain, France, Canada, Taiwan, and beyond. Portland’s strong cycling culture also makes it a natural fit for what we do, and many attendees were excited to finally see and handle our products in person.

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Overall, MADE is absolutely worth attending. That said, I do hope the venue changes in the future. This year’s show was blisteringly hot for three days, and last year’s rain made things difficult. Neither is ideal for exhibitors or attendees. The show itself, and the concept behind it, are excellent: it’s fun, energizing, and full of opportunities to connect with the community and build relationships. With a few adjustments to make conditions more comfortable, it could be even better in future years.

Tumbleweed link

Words by Daniel Molloy

For us, the Made show was a significant cost, but a big part of that was the fact that we had never attended any kind of industry or consumer-oriented trade show in our 10ish years as a brand, and we didn’t have any of the trade show infrastructure yet, such as banners, bike displays or brochures, so we had to start completely from scratch. We also built up several high-end bikes specifically to show at MADE, plus hotels, food, and transportation for everyone. We are a small company of three full-time people and a wonderful part-timer, and we all came, so this was a big deal for us. We’ve always stayed busy at the shop without doing much marketing, but we figured there must be a reason so many brands go to these shows, so this was the year we gave it a shot.

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For us, the effort and work to prepare for and attend the show was definitely worth it, mainly because we don’t have any dealers in the US that display our builds, and it was really important for us to connect with so many people who had seen our bikes and products online and on social media but never in person. Being there gave us a chance to dive deep into all of the details and design decisions that we have made over the years with our bikes, and really give long-form answers about we chose Rohloff vs. Pinion, Chain Drive Technology vs. Belt Drive, etc. The other big benefit was just the industry networking; nothing beats face time with new connections and old friends. We ran into a couple of my old bosses and mentors, and my employees Walt and Dan got to hear some embarrassing stories from my early days in the bike industry.

We weren’t really sure what to expect at the show, but we ended up with a good amount of media coverage, and our booth had a steady stream of both fans of the brand and people who hadn’t heard about us. We all had a really great time, and it was a positive experience overall.

Jack’s Sacks link

Words by Wes

Is it worth it? Absolutely. Financially, an accountant might raise an eyebrow, but the real value goes far beyond numbers. Sales at the show usually cover the upfront costs—booth, shipping, travel, food—but profit isn’t the main goal, and chasing that alone would miss the point. Each show takes over 200 hours of work, plus custom sacks for show bikes, and there are never guarantees. It’s a risk—but one that feels worth taking every time.

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The true payoff comes in the connections. Meeting the people who support me and Jack’s Sacks is why the brand exists in the first place, and there’s no better platform for that than these shows. The conversations I have there spark confidence, ideas, and future possibilities, and that’s where the long-term value really lives.

Neuhaus link

Words by Daniel Yang

Here is a rough breakdown: travel from the Bay Area, housing, logistics: $3,000. Each show bike costs us $3,000 to 4,000 in materials and parts. It takes over 100 hours to build the bikes and prepare them for the show. All told, our expenses and labor add up to more than $15,000 to attend MADE, and that’s being pretty frugal. We only showed three bikes, and one of them belonged to a customer. We had generous support from Industry Nine, BIVO, 5 Dev, PNW, Light Bicycle, Maxxis, and Vittoria. To save costs, we built up a singlespeed, reused my Ultegra drivetrain, and even “borrowed” some palm trees from Home Depot.

Marketing investments are always difficult to value. On paper, it would take us a dozen sales to break even. And the thing is, our custom build queue is already full, and our Core lineup is selling pretty quickly, so we don’t even need the marketing exposure right now. We come to MADE to engage with fans, connect with other builders, network with industry people, and chat with media. Big picture, as a framebuilder, I believe it’s our role to contribute to the cycling zeitgeist. Our bikes are art that is meant to inspire and represent the riding, needs, and desires of the everyday cyclist. They are not commodities that sell on a trade show floor.

So, is it worth $15,000? Strictly financially, probably not. As the bike industry, media, marketing, retail, and e-commerce continue to evolve, I think it’s worth asking how the “bike show” model itself should evolve, too.

Ultradynamico/Ron’s Bikes link

Words by Ronnie Romance

We have a little bit of an advantage since my tire business partner lives in Portland. We ship out a bike box of tires and wheels to him with some T-shirts and caps stuffed in there, and pack up our show bikes and take them with us on the plane from Connecticut. Our display is pretty simple, so we don’t spend any money on that. Our tires are on a lot of bikes in the show, so we also end up kinda getting a bunch of booths for free in that way, I suppose!

For us, namely ULTRADYNAMICO, it is always a worthwhile show to be at. We started our tire company with the idea that we wanted to supply tires for the more curated build custom bike market, and MADE is the largest show in the world for stuff like that. It is really important to us that we get to meet and form/nourish relationships with these brands and builders. It also allows them to learn more about our offerings so that they can select the tire from our lineup that best suits their customer. It’s kinda old school, but I think putting a face and name to a brand goes a long way in these relationships. We are all really small and trying to earn a living off bike things, so there is a lot in common with all of us.

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As for my other company, Ron’s Bikes, it is an opportunity to get press coverage for new things we have been working on, as well as show off some of our bike builds on some of our in-house frame sets. I also really like meeting our customers, and we meet a lot of them at MADE. The marathon of it all can be a little brutal, but it would be a missed opportunity not to attend each year. That being said, it is hard to stand out, and I can see why many brands spend a lot of money on the meticulous builds and booths, but it remains pretty affordable for us, and it has not been a problem fitting it in the budget this year. It’s really just plane tickets and going out to dinner a bunch for us since we already have a free place to stay. It’s certainly a different challenge for others. It was a super busy and successful show from my perspective, 10/10.

That about does it for our written 2025 MADE Bike Show coverage, but you can find all of our content, including four Bikes and Builders roundups, our story on the 32-inch bikes at the show, the attendee bikes roundup, and all of Neil’s video coverage here. Neil still has a few more videos in the pipeline, so stay tuned for those.

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