After two days of railing the trails in Bootleg Canyon, most Interbike attendees are ready to get out of the sun. Some are battered and some are bruised, but most are just looking forward to a day without dust and sweat. The inside show also ushers in a different feel, where the Outdoor Demo is about the ride, inside Interbike is much more about the business.

Exhibitors and attendee’s break out their branded button down shirts and they caffeinate early. For a day on the Interbike show floor is somewhat akin to a hard stage of a week-long race. During our first day, we covered quite a bit of terrain.

Michelin
Michelin unveiled a redesigned range of 60tpi tires, to supplement last years focus on its dual compound 127tpi tires. The new tires come in a variety of sizes and tread patterns. For cross-country, the new tires are labeled XC. The XC Dry2 is available with the 60tpi casing it’s also made with a longer lasting black carbon rubber tread. The lower thread count means the casing is slightly stiffer than the 127tpi version and it’s slightly heavier. The tire weighs 590 grams in a 2.00 as apposed to 480 grams for the XCR version. The XC A/T is based off the same tread as the XCR AT. It is available in 26x1.85, 2.00 and 29x2.00. The XC A/T marks Michelin’s first foray into the 29-inch wheel market. The majority of the 60tpi tires will sell for less than $40.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Race Face
The news at Race Face comes in a number of forms, from cranks to clothing. The new Ride series cranks come in cross-country and downhill configurations. Both of the cranks feature a hybrid X-type/ Isis bottom bracket.

It is a two-piece design that relies on an Isis bottom bracket spline for attachment. The cross-country version doesn’t offer any chainline adjustment, while the downhill version does offer six millimeters of adjustment. Both of the Ride series cranks will cost around $200.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Besides the new mountain cranks Race Face unveiled a complete set of cockpit components to complement its Cadence road cranks. The new components will be offered at two levels Cadence and Revolution. Cadence is the more economical of the two, featuring 2014 alloy for the seatpost, the clamp is made from 6061, and 6061 forged aluminum for the bars and stem.

Race face also makes clothing. One of the trendiest items is sure to be the Race Pod hoody. It is a technical windstopper fleece sweatshirt made using Malden Mills materials. However, the real story is that it’s wired for an I-Pod. Your digital music player fits and plugs into a hidden inside breast pocket, controls are wired to the sleeve and headphones come out of its collar.

Giro
In nine months Giro has become more than a helmet company. We first caught a glimpse of its new casual shoe line at Eurobike in early September. The new shoes are a project that partners Giro with TRG a manufacturing group from St Louis. TRG is known for making Callaway golf bags and Lands End luggage, not to mention Riddell sporting equipment. The design concepts for the shoes have been a collaboration between the two brands. The new shoes created quite the buzz on the first day of the show. But the brand didn’t focus all it has on the shoe project.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Its helmets look sharp as ever for 2007. The Atmos ($175) is available in a number of new color schemes, as is the Xen. In fact, the Xen comes in a limited edition hand painted model. Giro did considerable research to find a paint that wouldn’t harm the integrity of its helmets. As for the Atmos, it is offered in a women’s pink, a sharp looking black, red and white and a special edition Lance Armstrong Foundation model. The LAF helmet ($190) comes with a helmet pod and five percent of its purchase price is donated to the foundation.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Litespeed
Titanium manufacturer Litespeed unveiled two new hardtail mountain models, the Obed and Ocoee. The Ocoee is the company’s flagship cross-country race hardtail with steep angles for sharp handling, while the Obed has slacker angles and is meant to accept a longer travel fork.

Both bikes are made from 3AL-2.5V titanium and feature the RDS dropout system, which allows conventional and single speed dropouts to be readily switched. The Obed costs $2200 and the Ocoee is listed for $2700. Darrin Wheeler is a new addition to the Litespeed team, his talent is paint and it is showcased on Q Roo’s triathlon bike, but available on any of Litespeed, Merlin or Q Roo’s bikes as an upgrade.

Topeak
The entire Topeak booth was filled with new products. The company is known for its innovative designs and is proud to advertise the awards certain products have garnered. Inflatable fenders and high-powered compact lighting systems were just a few of the products found in its booth, but a few of the simplest yet striking items were molded out of EVA foam. The ProPack comes in two sizes, one for mountain bikes and one for road. The road version weighs 62 grams.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Both feature separate compartments for a multi tool and tube, so that the former doesn’t destroy the latter before you need it. The PocketShock DXG also features an EVA case. I carry a shock pump on the trail most of the time and the professional looking molded case would be a great alternative just throwing the pump into my hydration pack unprotected. The EVA pump case costs $12.

Dahon
Made for the serious rider who travels extensively, Dahon offers two mountain bikes that pack down into an airplane legal bike case. The Flo hardtail is made from Reynolds 631 steel tubing and breaks down via Ritchey’s breakaway design. The full Fuego suspension model is made from double butted 7005 aluminum and designed by Joe Murray. Dahon’s vice president, Joshua Hon explained that the concept is for people who don’t want to rent or borrow a bike at their destination.

“If you’re going to ride you want your own bike where everything is dialed in,” he said. “It just works better.”

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Ultimate Support
After years of making custom stands for professional race mechanics within the industry, Ultimate Support has put their custom requests into production. The Ultimate Pro UltraLight weighs 10.5 pounds and packs down to under 37-inches. The stand uses Ultimate’s classic slide lock clamp. The shaft and legs are made from 6005 anodized aluminum, which rely on the no tool quick release system for set up and tear down. The Pro UltraLight is compatible with all of Ultimate’s repair stand accessories. It is set to retail for $190.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

SRAM
While almost all of SRAM’s new components were released earlier in the year, the brand did unveil a new line of lubricants, cleaners and maintenance items at Interbike. The supplies also include SRAM brand cables and housing that will be available at retail. The brand is also making a huge push this fall in cyclocross.

Michael Zellmann, SRAM’s media manager, explained that the components attributes, namely the Double Tap shifters and 1:1 actuation ratio make it perfect to deal with the rigors of cyclo-cross.

Just this past weekend the Force group took its first UCI win at the Vermont Gran Prix of Cyclocross a UCI C2 event. The components were mounted on Tim Johnson’s (Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com) new CAAD 9 Optimo SI Cyclocross.

Moots
Steamboat Springs, Colorado titanium fabricator Moots had an eye-catching custom bike on display in its booth. The company sponsors long distance adventure specialist Mike Curiak.

In 2005, Curiak won the 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational setting a new course record in the process. He did it on a Moots Mooto-X. The concept bike for the Iditarod is a one-of-a kind Moots Rigor designed for a 500-mile solo Alaskan Adventure Curiak cooked up.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

The downtube is sealed and it can hold up to 1.5 liters of white gas. The tube can be pressurized via Schrader valve then a camp stove can be run directly off the bike.

Curiak uses the stove for cooking as well as melting snow for drinking water. Both the front and rear roll on 150mm spaced cassette hubs attached with SRAM Maxle quick-release thru axles.

Curiak depends on Surly’s Endomorph 3.7 tires mounted on Remolino sand rims. Both the front and rear racks are custom made from titanium.

Brad Bingham, Moots Production Manager, said that he has about $4500 worth of labor built into the bike, but that he wouldn’t build a bike like this for just anybody.

Interbike heads back to the great indoors.

Crankbrothers
The wait is over; crankbrothers is ready to ship its long anticipated stainless steel and aluminum crank. It will be available in a 175mm length and weighs 565 grams with chainrings. It costs $350. In conjunction, Crankbrothers will have two different bottom brackets available. Each will be offered in titanium and chromoly steel.

The 113mm mountain bottom bracket is called Cobalt. The titanium version weighs 180 grams and costs $200. The Cyan comes in a 108mm length, it is advertised for road use, but Carl Winefordner, Crankbrothers partner, said that it will change a bike’s chainline but will likely work for those looking for the narrowest stance width. It weighs 172 grams. The chromoly bottom brackets cost $80 each.

Specialized
While most of Specialized’s products were unveiled earlier in the year, there are still little things to find that may have been overlooked. The company has so much new product each year it is hard to take everything in with one glance. The striking new Roval Fusée Star wheels are easily recognized by their giant forged 7075 alloy Star hubs. The concept behind the wheels was to reduce the frontal area, Specialized says by 50 percent, thereby reducing wind resistance.

It’s hard to make a judgment on performance, but they are without a doubt narrower than a conventional wheel. The width of the hubs flange and spoke path are the features narrowed. The Roval Fusée Star wheels are a second set of carbon clinchers in the line, and this year Specialized has new brake pads specifically for their carbon wheels. The new Roval brake pads are made by SwissStop, who also makes the pads used by Carbon Sports, the makers of Lightweight wheels. The new pads are sure to improve the wheels performance. The wheels weigh in at 1790 grams as per our scale and cost $2350.