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ZAP: ZAP'S BEST OF 2009 PART 2
Zap
January 15, 2010
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As we move into 2010, I finish my look back at 2009. Here is the rest of what impressed me last year.
Best Breakthrough Bike: Although I'm not the type of guy consumed with the gut wrenching effort required to race a triathlon and/or ride against the clock in a TT, aero bikes remain the coolest looking bikes on the planet. They are also the one category of bikes that are really pushing the new technology envelope (and the bike everybody tried to make big-waves with one this year, see below). Of them all, the Storck Aero 2 was easily the most impressive.
How about the Stock's "invisible" brake system that uses a cantilevered carbon leaf-spring design to maximize aero efficiency. The brakes weigh about 50 grams - now that is a cool idea!
Best Floor Pump: Face it, you're already older right this second than you were moments ago when you started reading this sentence. Like it or not, we're all getting older and along with the aging process comes the onset of a few discouraging physical limitations – like diminished eyesight. Park's new PFP-5 floor pump features a (very) easy-to-read gauge, which makes squinting, guessing or having to find your glasses a thing of the past. Sweet. Additionally, the gauge is located on the base to prevent tipping.
Best People: I love the Pro racers, but o doubt the best of us all are the Super Fans who wear their passion for cycling on their sleeves. People like Ed Pedrick, who was simply beside himself at the chance to meet Bobke at the RBA booth during the Interbike trade show.
Best Way To Be Seen: Especially when it comes to riding in Los Angeles, I have one consistent goal for every ride and that's to wear as brightly colored clothes as I can. Not only does it satiate my gaudy Mexican ways, but also more importantly, the hope is to make myself as visible to car drivers as possible. And what role does Mavic play in that? In their impressive effort to branch out from wheels and become a major player in the soft goods market, Mavic has been doing some interesting things with new materials and designs. However at Interbike it was their neon/safety orange jersey, vest and jacket ensemble that caught my eye as not only setting a new standard in Mexican gaudiness, but in hopeful safety for all cyclists as well.
Best Shoes: My best shoe in 2009 was the Gaerne G.Myst, which actually just got a whole lot better for 2010 now that Gaerne stepped up the color palette and introduced some flashy red and blue versions. Beyond the color, the improvements include a new injection molded heel cup with their own heel grip. Still, the one feature I like the most is the micro-adjust closure system with the Velcro straps. I love hearing the clicks and the positive engagement is super secure.
Worst Loss: Steve Larsen. A friend, champion, and role model. There are few better examples of how cruel this wonderful thing called life can be than his early passing. We miss you Steve.
Best Carbon Bike: Giant TCR Advanced 1: The 2009 version was a radical departure from all the Giant race bikes that preceded it. We get plenty of bikes with crisp, race bike handling and effortless acceleration , but like we said in the bike test (RBA, Aug. '09), what set the Giant apart was the all day comfort in addition to the performance ride that went unmatched by all the other bikes I rode.
Rider of the Year: I mean really, who else but Lance? Despite the legions of doubters and cynics out there, simply put, there was no other race story comparable to Lance's that even came close. It was very insightful to me to see just how many people still have no idea how hard it is to race a bicycle when they would ask if I was disappointed that Lance didn't win the Tour. Are you kidding? I mean Lance was probably disappointed, but to come back off the couch after three years away...no wait, for him to even think about coming back off the couch after four years away is so amazing, because people, it is SO hard to do what he does. I mean its one thing to train for, and ride, a double century (which I would never do), but the Tour de France?! The only thing more impressive (and unthinkable) is the soldier who signs up for a second tour of duty in Iraq.
Best Outreach: As I keep reminding people, Lance is not just a bike racer like Contador, Wiggins or all the rest. He is a true international icon and celebrity. And amid all the wankers who go diss'ing the seven - yes, SEVEN - time Tour de France champ for some perceived/real/Internet spread slight, I will always challenge them - what other rider of his status (although there isn't one) will send a Twitter invite out the masses to come and join him for a bike ride??
Best Evidence That Brad Is A Trooper: In my January '10 column in RBA I made the assertion that "unlike Brad, my sense of ego far outweighed my sense of adventure." That truism reared it's ugly head just the other day when Brad showed up for the office lunch ride ready to ride – only to realize that he'd forgotten his cycling shoes at home. For me, an easy decision – forget it, no ride. But moments later, there was Brad pedaling out of the parking lot with nothing but his running shoes (not) connecting him to his Look pedals. Nicely done.
Best Newbie Who Has Been Around Forever: I first Bill Duehring back in the late 80's when he was a round-the-clock workaholic Product Manager at GT Bicycles. Bill worked side by side with the late/great Richard Long – the stories of their shared back-in-the-day experiences in Taiwan were epic! Twenty years later and Bill is now the 24/7 head honcho at Felt. At the Eurobike show in Germany this year I ran into Bill in the aisles and as excited as he was to talk about his bikes, he was even more excited to roll up his shirtsleeve to show-off the tan new line on his arm. “Zap,” he said in an almost giddy, childlike manner, “I started riding my bike again!” Yes, Bill started doing lunch rides and his kid started riding track and even won some medals. Awesome. I welcomed Bill to the riding tribe and as I started to walk away, I left him with a warning - “just don't shave your legs!” “Too late!” he said has he rolled up his pant leg exposing his clean-shaven calf. Welcome to it Bill!
Best Drivetrain: As crazy high tech and light switch quick as Shimano's electronic Di2 drivetrain is, if I lived on a desert island and had but one component group to choose (even if I had a really long extension cord) I'd still have to go with Campagnolo 11-speed. It shifts great (enough for me), the ergos are great and I just plain, plain, plain prefer separate levers to do separate jobs.
Best New Product Concept I Have Yet To Try: It's been three months since we saw the prototype of Times new I-Click pedal at the bike show, and at least a month since we were supposed to take delivery - and still nothing, nada. Despite the coincidence that Look also unveiled a new pedal with a carbon spring, I'm more intrigued by the I-Click pedal due to a design that apparently maintains an open position most/some of/all of the time making entry almost/totally pressure free. We'll see, but first it has to show up!
Best Seatpost: If you grafted the easy to adjust Bontrager head clamp with the easy to adjust BMC Streampost (shown), that my friends would be the ultimate seatpost. As it is, the while the fore/aft adjustment is a tad tricky, the quarter-turn height adjustment on the BMC post was super easy to use.
Best Two-man Band In America: Why that would have to be the Black Keys eh?
Best Push To Market: The team time trial stage of the 2009 Tour was a funny one in that all the big players broke out their latest in TT weaponry, only to face the threat of having the bikes confiscated by the enlightened forces of the forward thinking UCI who deemed any bike illegal if it was not able to be simultaneously raced and found on the dealer floor. So stupid. Giant was the quickest to react by calling a morning press conference to announce the sale of their vaunted Trinity Advanced SL at a cool $15k. Meanwhile, both Trek and Specialized dithered with their own interpretations of the rule knowing full well that there was no way their respective Speed Concept and Shiv TT bikes would be anywhere a dealer's floor within a year’s time. While no one really believed Giant's sales claim on that beautiful day in France, at least their 2010 catalog shows three different versions of the fast bike now available.
Best Reason To Ride: This has been a truism since the beginning of time - to eat Mexican food afterwards of course!
Best Poach (aka The Worst Weekend For Garmin): As with the end of every race season there's always plenty of horse-trading going on with teams shedding and acquiring new riders. One the same weekend that the Garmin/Transitions team officially lost star rider Brad Wiggins to the new British based Skye Team, it was announced that the plaids had also lost their tech guru, Allen Lim to the RadioShack squad. To some, Allen, with all his nutritional & aerodynamic smarts, is a bigger catch than many riders and his move could pay big dividends for Lance and the Trek/Livestrong U-23 squad.
Best Brand Of The Breed: Look, as I've said before, if there's one category of bikes I really don't care about (other than cyclocross), it's the fixies. However, not caring about them certainly doesn't prevent me from having an opinion or two about them. Even though every bike maker on the planet jumped on the fixie bandwagon this year, and even though the big guys brought some new technology and cool ideas to the game, I mean really, is it just me or is it not the very antithesis of the DIY niche to go out and buy a ready-built, pre-packaged fixie from Giant, Trek, Specialized, KHS, Felt or any of the other glommers-on? What's one brand that carries all the street cred you need? Cinelli - the real deal.
Best New Product Concept/Marketing Acronym That Might Actually Work As Hyped: How many of you figured that the new Gary Fisher line of road bikes would be made up of little more than the leftovers from the Trek Madone scrapheap of ideas? Well, I can't say that it's not true or not, but regardless of where the idea came from, Gary's proprietary FCC (Fisher Control Column) which includes a special fork/hub combo, the latter highlighted with a novel over-sized 23mm end cap, is intended to help tighten up the front end for better steering precision. We just recently got our hands on a test bike and early indications are that they might actually be onto something. Look for a complete test of the bike in the March issue of your favorite road bike magazine - Road Bike Action.
Best New Fashion Statement That Isn't Entirely New - Just Now Fashionable: Yes, we've seen variations on the theme before, most notably on the Look TT bikes, but this year the head tube fairing concept really took off. On some bikes it was more of just an aero feature while for others the new front ends of their TT bikes actually had something special going on. Here's a quick snapshot of just a few.
The Specialized Shiv - used to great ends by Fabian Cancellara.
Here's the set-up used by David Zabriskie.
The Rabobank bikes with the backside mounted front brake.
Lance's Speed Concept bike was one of the more complex in design.
Probably the most radical version was the non-faired, cut-a-hole-in-the-headtube design found on Cadel Evans' Canyon.
Best and Worst Day At Le Tour: Stage 16 – Lance showed another version of his old self when he dropped some top talent like a bad habit on the Petit-Saint-Bernard to bridge up to the yellow jersey group - “Hello Alberto!” Unfortunately, moments later, Jens Voigt suffered a horrific crash on the high-speed descent into Bourg-Saint-Maurice suffering severe facial lacerations and a broken jaw and cheekbone. In typical hard man style, Jens called his teammates the next day to offer his encouragement.
In case you missed Part 1 of Zap's Best of 2009, Click Here. |
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