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BIKE GUY: OUTDOOR DEMO EAST – BIKE GUY RIDES CARBON
Bill Humphreys
October 28, 2008
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I had no idea when I started my one-hour drive to OutDoor Demo East that I would be actually test riding some of the best carbon fiber bikes in the world. Sure, I had packed my cycling clothes with SPD pedals for easy walking around and I planned on taking a spin on a few mountain bikes and a road bike or two, but my main purpose in this trip was to refresh my aging rolodex and find some sponsors for my Junior Team.
I spent the morning hours running into industry folks I had not seen in a few years and chasing down the elusive marketing guys and gals that control the sponsorship purse strings. Getting their names and email address’s written down or obtaining their business cards was a key accomplishment for the early hours before they all got busy talking the talk.
At some point I checked my email to find a reply from Road Bike Action that they had nobody covering this event and that I could include it in my blog. Time for some test rides.
Giant has a huge selection of test bikes and my junior team, was sponsored by Niantic Bay Bicycles who had recently become a Giant dealer. They set me up with what had to be their hottest road model and off I went. The test loop set up in Roger Williams Park had some short out of saddle climbs, some fast S Turn descents and some bumpy pavement in what seemed to be about a 2-mile loop. The ride of course, was fantastic it was quick, stiff, light and responsive. What else could I have expected from a bike that won stages in the Tour.
Let it be noted right now that the Bike Guy is not going to give you a Marcel Wust or Frankie Andreu review here. Each bike tested had a different shifting system, wheels, frame size, stem length, and bar width, I did not even want to know about the crank length, I just wanted to ride. As a former Litespeed rep back in their heyday, I had done enough tech talk, clinics performance oriented test rides and demo days that I knew better than to get into any long winded discussions about the different construction methods used in making these modern day light weight rocket ships. Besides, there were just too many bikes to ride and not enough time.
 The question is whether SRAM's new internal front shifting will find its way to road bikes.
Next up was a mountain bike with the new SRAM front end internal shifting system. With just a push of the lever it would shift from the equivalent of a 36 chainring to a 25 and this under extreme pressure of climbing a steep section. There was a cool little single-track test loop that included an abrupt uphill with no time to shift a conventional front ring system. I hit the button and was able to climb up this wall sitting down.
Wandering around the expo tents I came across BMC and their exotic line of proven road machines. I had been reading and watching this brand emerge since the early Phonak team days and now they were the title sponsor of their own continental pro team managed by Gavin Chilcotte. Figuring out the shifting on various test bikes took a little time but I tried not to get distracted by it and just found a good gear and pretended to work these bikes out. Mark Fischer and his crew were very helpful and enthusiastic about the different technologies used in putting these frames together. These bikes have always had a totally different look to them and now even the Bike Guy has a better understanding of why the bike handles so well. I did get some dropped jaw looks when I mentioned how things had changed just a little since I rode the World Championships on my 22-pound Cinelli back in 1973.
Now for the next rock star carbon bike, the Kuota which will be ridden by the Healthnet Team in 2009 and placed 2nd in the recent Ironman Triathlon while being the 2nd most ridden bike in that event. Once again these were incredibly light bikes with some different configurations of accessories. I rode two different models from this Italian manufacturer, maybe Patrice heard me mention that I was writing a blog for Road Bike Action, because when I came back from the one ride he had his personal KOM model waiting for me.
At this point I am starting to get warmed up and really thinking I am putting these bikes through some paces on the 2-mile loop. Picking up the speed through the downhill S turns and laying the bikes over does bring out some differences in handling. These bikes were noticeably stiffer at the bottom bracket, and wanted to stay underneath me more. I will say that stomping all these bikes through the bumpy pavement sections in and out of the saddle felt very stable and did not tend to skip about in the rear.
These two French Quebec guys were very informative and proud of Kuota’s track record of success with pro team Agritubel in Europe and of course the potential with the Healthnet team next season.
Next up is another one of those Boston area custom frame makers who have made it good beyond New England. This one is carbon fiber based and that is all Bob Parlee has ever used. Many times when I was trying to make some market penetration in the Boston area with Litespeed I would find my expo tent set up too close to Parlee. He has gone on to set the bar for quality custom carbon fiber in his low profile unassuming way. Now this was one heck of a ride for this old school cowboy. Of course by now I had done enough interval (LeMond type) sprints up the test track hills that I was getting really warmed up and this bike had Dura Ace 10-speed and fit me very well. I knew almost before I got on the pavement that this was a great handling bike and the ride prove that.
Now, it is time for jump on a mountain bike again and it has to be a Santa Cruz. These guys were killing the Tomac brand and me back in 2001 and 2003 when the bottom had dropped out of the mountain bike sales boom. They were the only ones selling the heck out of the Blur back then when the wait was anywhere from 3 to 6 months for delivery.
So they fix me up with a nice Blur LT with the shock pumped up to the right level and I take that single-track section apart. (In my dreams, like by now I am thinking I am Johnny T himself). So now in 2008 the Bike Guy finally knows what he was up against 7 years ago, but I also now have a nice Titus Racer X at home, so I really had a clue.
Okay, so now it is getting dangerously close to Beer: 30 and there are still so many great bikes to ride. I have to ride a Scott road bike and as I roll out of their tent I get a glimpse of Scott Montgomery who had so many good years with Cannondale before taking on the Scott project and bringing it to one of the higher levels of recognition in the industry.
 The Bike Guy with Scott Montgomery of Scott
I kept thinking of the success the bike had on the European and US race circuit. Once again I could not get any flaw to surface as I really tried to stomp it on the bumpy climbs and a couple of speed bumps. One real nice thing about this ride was being able to talk with Scott and get our picture taken.
So now my day is complete right? I head over to the Giant tent for my beverage of choice and have a just had my first sip when Mark Albert of Westwood Cycles says, “Hey Bike Guy have you ridden the Felt AR series yet?” OK so life is full of tough decisions but this is not one of them. I put my beverage down and climb on this impressive machine just as the rain begins. This to is the right size frame with the right stem and bar width and I sense that this will be an exceptional ride. The rain is getting a little more noticeable and I just take the first hill hard and turn back as it has shown me enough to know that I won’t find any flaws here either. Besides, I have a cold beverage to test.
What a day it has been, I am truly pumped but something has been nagging in the back of my mind and it started about half way through these test rides. The question emerging among all this carbon fiber, 16-pound rocket ship testing was how my 4-year-old Litespeed Ultimate would compare? Was it totally outdated and a led sled? Would it bring me back to the realities of everyday life with a thud?
I admit to being somewhat anxious the next morning as I took the pedals off my winter commuting bike and put them on the Ultimate which was all cleaned up with new shift levers, bottom bracket and rear derailleur. This was the same model that Robbie McEwen had won the green jersey on back in 2003 and even though I had never been considered a sprinter by any stretch of the imagination, I could not believe that this bike would let me down. I had not ridden it for a couple of weeks because I was seriously thinking of selling it to upgrade to this new generation of modern technology that I had been testing the day before. Guilt was coming into play here, as I mounted my trustee old steed, that I had been so proud of over the last 4 years and started off on my 10 mile ride over the Connecticut River to work in Essex.
Once off my dirt driveway and on solid pavement, I jumped on the pedals so hard that my messenger bag came swinging around off my shoulder right into my handlebars and almost took me down. Okay, time to sit up take a deep breath, don’t pass any school buses and maybe warm up just a little before trying that again.
So, about 100-meters later I tried it again and this time with a little speed on the bike. She responded just as she always had, very quick, straight ahead and lively. What had I been thinking? Could all that glitz, technology and new material have really made this bike obsolete in just 4 years? I relieved, but I continued my test ride over the bridge and really put my newfound pride to the limit, before arriving at the parking lot of my office and setting a personal best time by several minutes. There were times on this commute that I tried to pretend I was blindfolded, just to see if I could tell the difference between what I had ridden at the OutDoor Demo and I could not.
So there you have it folks, I will not be lowering my price on the Ultimate that is for sure and I probably won’t sell it at all.
This is the Bike Guy and I approve this message!
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