THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Interbike: Well worth the effort
Days of life under bright fluorescent lighting, breathing air-conditioned air and listening to the thump, thump, thump of “tunes” emerging from the BMX section of the showroom floor is enough to put even the cheeriest bike geek in a foul mood. And, were the Interbike International Bicycle Expo anything else, say, a convention of ladder salesmen or mobile home dealers, we’d have lost it by now. But the great thing about the country’s largest bicycle industry trade show at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas is that it’s all about bikes and that part can make the lights, the air and the bad music worth all the trouble.
The three-day expo marks a highlight the selling season for most of the industry and a host of independent dealers, manufacturers and the usual array of backyard inventors are populating the acres and acres of aisles at the Sands.
Wandering the halls, sans booth, this year was the one product that was most often named when one offers up the usual Interbike greeting “see anything cool yet?”
John Bell of Nyx Illuminated Clothing simply needed to walk down the aisles of the trade show to catch attention. It wasn’t really Bell that drew stares, but his jacket. The darn thing features a programmable display on the back upon which one can flash messages, images or even a sound-responsive light show.
Still in the prototype stage, the jacket’s display can be programmed via a handheld computer. Currently, the system requires a user to connect via a USB port, but production models will feature Bluetooth wireless. Unfortunately, the display is hard to photograph, so you will have to take our word for how cool it is.
Once beyond the prototype stage, the jacket will probably retail in the $200 to $300 range. Bell says that messages of infinite complexity can be loaded into the jacket, meaning that we will have little or no trouble typing in our favorite message to motorists: “Put down the coffee, hang up the phone and DRIVE!”
The technology can be used in all sorts of clothing and Bell is already manufacturing items with small displays like armbands. Some have already suggested using the display in the back windows of their cars… mmmm. It does send the imagination reeling, eh?
Basque frame builder Orbea has made huge inroads into the U.S. market in recent years. The company is ramping up its efforts here in North America with an expansion into clothing and increasing its commitment to the old Zeus component line.
Highlighting the Orbea booth was it’s the new top-of-the-line Orca carbon monocoque road frame. The sub-kilo frame features a life-time warranty and comes in four color options: Black-and-grey; red-and-rellow; orange-and-yellow and white-and-blue.
Beautiful bikes and historic component groups aside, what really caught our eye at the Orbea booth was the new haircut atop the head of an old friend. Now an Orbea dealer Steve “Gravy” Gravenites running a shop in San Anselmo, California, called (what else?) “Gravy Wheels.” (www.GravyWheels.net). The old Yeti and Cannondale wrench has long had a rep’ as one of the business’s premier wheelbuilders.
But it was the new cut that really got us. Gone were the long tresses and tie-died t-shirts and now replaced with a shorter (and graying!) do. Gravy reassured us that the new look wasn’t a sign of advancing years, a conservative outlook or a sell out.
“I do RC (radio-controlled) gliders,” he said. “One day I was out there and the wind was blowing and hair was everywhere! I couldn’t see and almost wrecked the darn thing. I got home and all I could think was ‘where are the scissors?’”
Still, we’re not to sure if it didn’t have its effect. When we offered to bring him to the VeloNews booth for a beer, he paused, looked uncomfortable and said “I have this meeting, man….”
Maybe it’s because he’s a dad.
Speaking of fatherhood, Trek has taken a big step in helping cycling dads and moms to generate a bit of family wide interest in their favorite sport by turning out a serious road bike in junior sizes. The KDR 1000 features an aluminum frame and fork, 24-inch wheels and a kid-sized mix of Shimano and Bontrager components. The price tag of $600 looks to be a small amount to pay for the company of the best riding partners the world can offer.
In the contest to produce yet another gossamer light carbon frame, top style points have to go to Parleecycles newest and lightest road frame. Weighing in at a scant 820 grams, the Z1 comes still features some of the most beautiful finish of any carbon frame out there.
Parlee – whose carbon background comes from the racing yacht side – has a good reputation for building remarkably strong frames that still weigh close to nuthin, but weight and strength aside, you really have to see these rigs up close to appreciate his fine custom work.
Other small frame builders may soon be able to offer up their own custom carbon rigs with a considerably smaller investment than before. Columbus has released its new Mecano Frame Kit, featuring a set of modular carbon components that a builder to take a sort of plug-and-play approach to frame construction.
Pedros announced that it purchased the rights to the rights to produce a shop quality workstand using the bombproof RockStand design with the Pedros name (see VN issue #10, 2004 for the complete review). The $240 workstand features a uses a sliding clamp mechanism for fast attachment of bicycle frames and seatposts of wide varying sizes. Also shown was this clever tool with built-in guide to set the star fangled nut of a headset straight.
Maverick American showed off its six inch travel “trail” bike that utilizes the same Paul Turner design rear suspension as the ML-7, but with an additional inch of travel. The frame will retail for $2300 and should be available in November.
Park Tool showed off its new PRS-20 workstand that is designed to better accept odd-shaped frames with sensitive carbon seatposts. Instead of clamping to the seatpost, the $210 stand attaches to either the front or rear wheel and the bike’s bottom bracket for a more “European” style method of working on your bike.
VeloNews technical editor Andrew Juskaitis contributed to this report.
