Max Kullaway showing off his custom made bikes at the expo.
The 26th annual Seattle Bike Expo occurred March 1st through the 2nd at the Smith Cover Cruise Terminal, Pier 91. Close to 8,000 people were in attendance to see the 175 vendors, authors, performers, and demos.
Anne-Marije Rook, Communications Director for Cascade Bicycle Club, said that this year’s event had a lot to offer including the latest gear, performances by world champion artistic cyclers, and the Washington Indie Frame-Builders Showcase.
World-class artistic cyclers Corinna Hein, Stefan Musu and Lukas Matla awed audiences with spectacular exercises on fixed framed bicycles.
Max Kullaway, Ballardite and co-founder of 333Fab, curated the Washington Indie Frame-Builders Showcase, which was a new event this year.
“It’s really a collection of local Seattle and Puget area amateur and pro builders showing their stuff. The intent is to tag onto the classic bike show that’s also happening. This way people see what has been done before and what’s happening now as far as local bike design, “said Kullaway.
Kullaway said he approached the Cascade Bike Club with the idea and they went with it.
“I thought it would be good idea to show a mix of different styles from local bike builders. As far as curating, it has been more like herding cats,” Kullaway said and chuckled.
This is the third year Kullaway has had a booth at the event for his bike building company, 333fab, a specialty bicycle design and manufacturing company. Kullaway and partner Bernard Georges custom build each bicycle frame by hand with steel and titanium.
Kullaway said that it takes about 15 to 20 hours to build a bike frame and in doing so he tailors the bike to the customer’s specific measurements and how they want the bike to perform. All that custom work comes at a high cost and 333fab bikes range from $5 thousand to $10 thousand. “They're pretty fancy,” joked Kullaway.
About the expo, Kullaway said, “I think it does a great job of serving needs in the cycling community and the industry art large. There’s advocacy’s groups here and different services as well as frame builders and bike shops, so it really serves everyone’s needs as far cycling goes.”
