Just two weeks after the RBA wrecking crue were in Germany partaking in all the Euro glory of the EuroBike trade show, here we are in the Nevada desert to bring you the latest in 2010 cycling gear.
However, as a prelude to what you'll be seeing in the coming days, here's a brief primer. The Interbike show has been America's premier industry only bike show since the mid-80's at least (heck, even I haven't been around longer than that!). And yes, I did say industry only. For some reason as much as the collective bike industry complains about always needing more bike sales and promotion, they have never shown the spine that their European show counterparts have in dealing with the masses by allowing public access to their hallowed halls. Be that as it may, the Interbike show has found a home in Reno, NV, Long Beach, CA., and when there used to be an east coast version, it was found in Philly and Atlantic City. For what seems like the past century, the show has been in Las Vegas. Half the industry loves it here, the other half loathes the place.
What moved the meter for the Vegas show is when they started the Outdoor Demo. Held about a half hour drive from the Strip in Bootleg Canyon, the site is a rough and tumble, windy and dusty, cactus and boulder strewn location that couldn't really be more unfriendly to road bikes...and yet the skinny tire exhibitors still show up as a distinct minority to all the mountain bikers. This is where we found ourselves this afternoon and the following is what caught our eye on day one with four days to go....hooyaaa!
Castelli was showing off their all new Body Paint bib short that is chock full of unique features intended for the high-end cyclist. Over three year in development and race tested this year in the Giro and Tour by the Cervélo squad, the Castelli short uses an all new material that uses a single wrap-around panel (versus the more standard eight panel short) to minimize seams. Two inch wide leg gripper and bibs lie totally flat on the skin. The “seat pad” uses a combination of dual density foam and three gel inserts for maximum comfort and seating efficiency. The Castelli logos use 3M reflective material. All yours for $250. You want history? Castelli has been around since 1876.
Just as the afternoon dust storm was finally starting to settle, we rolled up to the Easton booth where, as usual, there was more cool new stuff to look at than we had time for. But really, though time may have been short, how could we resist their new EC90SL carbon clincher wheels?! Easton's Sean Coffey said the new carbon hoops are nothing short of “ground breaking” with their performance and durability test standards. The wheels hot the scales at a claimed 1460-grams and will sell for $1850. The wheels feature Easton's own “ThermaTech” sidewall treatment which provides a the consistent braking usually found with aluminum side walls and come with Swiss Stop brake pads and Easton's own R4SL hub and No tool bearing adjustment. Two other key features? No weight limits and hecha en Mexico baby!! For more info, head to Easton Bike.
Besides the carbon clinchers which should excite 90% of all right minded cyclists who rightly eschew all that tubular puffery, Easton was also showing off a wild looking EC90TT wheel that, as the name implies, has 90mm deep walls. Due to their unique design that maximizes the aero efficiency of the wheels on their trailing edge, along with a narrow 50mm wide hub, the Easton TT hoops are said to be "faster than Zip 909's! Whoo, them are some fightin' words for the aero boys eh? Sean said that 1424-grams a pair, the Easton wheels are 30 gram lighter than their Zipp competition.
Moots was using the Interbike show to introduce their new lightweight Vamoots RSL However, by the time we got to the Moots booth the sun was already setting, the new bike was stashed and everybody had wisely made the move back to their hotel. Look for more soon.
Felt company namesake Jim Felt was closing down the booth on day one and reminded us that they'll have a new Felt racer ready for us to ride tomorrow morning when we head out on a Garmin new product test ride along with team riders David Zabriske and Christian VandeVelde.
Dirt or no dirt, Shimano was ready with a fleet of test bikes fitted with their new Ultegra SL and Dura Ace components.
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