2016 NAHBS: The Celtic Triad 1, Shamrock Cycles

All members of the Celtic Triad were showing their bikes at NAHBS, which was a good thing since I otherwise would not have been able to use the word Triad for an imaginary collaborative group. Anyway...

The Scotsman and the Welshman will be taken in turn. For part one I turn to Tim O'Donnell, the man behind Shamrock Cycles. O'Donnell builds his bikes in the "mountains of Indiana." That phrase, right at the top of their webpage kind of starts a tingle of interest, doesn't it? Like maybe there is some kind of funny work going on here. I mean "mountains" and "Indiana" don't really seem to be a match. Anyway... While I have heard the Shamrock name before, their lack of proximity to the west coast has kept them on the fringe of my radar. That really is a mistake I will be looking to correct. O'Donnell builds all in steel, for the reasons he specifies on his website (by all means check it out, though it does not seem to be as up-to-date as I would like it to be). He builds frames for road, mountain, cross, and track.

You really can not go wrong with classic frame geometry for ride-ability, that is why frame design has, largely, remained true to tradition. The trick of elevating basic form to art is in the details. Shamrock has those details - from stylish lugs to smooth fillet brazing, custom paint, and extra flourishes - like little shamrocks challenging you to search them out, or basket-weave dropouts (very Irish) which I would almost kill for, but don't need to, because I could order them on what ever potential build I might dream of.

Yes that cross bike was an obvious attraction at the Shamrock booth, but so was the blue road bike with intricate woven branch filigree, and the wicked purple track bike which, though it did not win best paint job, certainly collected much acclaim. Check out Shamrock Cycles at the link above, or by liking their Facebook page.