Rodeo was in Oregon for a weekend of racing at the Gorge Roubaix series, and we were the invite to stop by The Vanilla Workshop to take a tour of one of the finest hand built bike manufacturers that we know of. Rodeo co-founder Peder Horner has a Vanilla touring bike in-production at the shop, and it was a great excuse to check in and see how one of these beautiful bikes comes together. Most of the Vanilla crew was out to lunch, so we had the place mostly to ourselves while Tom Rousculp showed us around the facility. Thanks Tom! We brought the camera along so that we could share the experience of what lies beyond this unassuming door. Willy Wonka style.
This is the stand where Sacha White does most of his work. Both Vanilla and Speedvagens are entirely hand built works of art, built for the long haul, so it isn’t uncommon for a bike to be well loved and later sent back to the workshop for repairs, repaints, or modifications. Steel is nice like that, and unlike most modern frames these are not disposable. On this particular frame the brake bosses have been removed, which left me wondering if it would end up as a fixed gear or perhaps a disc brake frame.
