Bike Hugger@Interbike

I need a trainer

For those of us that have to slug it out in the dark rainy winter sometimes you need an alternative. The trainer that caught my eye was the Tacx Cosmos www.tacx.com. It provides all the information you could possibly want HR, Power, Cadence, % grad and connects to your PC to download your workouts. It is compact and the display is easy to use and it can exceed over 2000 watts. Tacx also makes a virtual reality trainers that let you suffer up Mt Ventoux-display model was or race the Tour of Flanders. These can definitely help the winter work outs pass a little quicker.

is your stem high enough

With the invention of the A headset and the demise of the quill stem so went the adjust ability of stem height until now. With the ATS solution www.nvocomponents.com you have unlimited stem height adjustment with any threadless system. This helps with all the new bikes that have super short head tubes to help shave wt and only give you a small amount of stack ht and allows you not to have that ridiculous MTB stem look on your over priced Italian carbon bike

Bad Ass Wheels

I found the toughest wheel out there and some nostagia at the same time with Tag wheels www.tagwheels.com They are designed for free riders, but would have a great use for the urban rider on bad pavement. They reminded me of my old Z rims from my youth in BMX. But I was soon informed these wheels are bullet prrof and you can't put them in the freezer to make your wheels true again. The wheels come wheel DT Swiss hub that any non-mechanical type can service. This product has a ton of potential in the MTB world, but I would love to see a road version for the wet rides in the Seattle  winter.

Power and more Power

The big thing in training is Power. How many watts can you produce over a length of time is the name of the game. This year for 07' some new companies are taking on SRM and PowerTap. The first is Ibike www.ibikesports.com. The unit uses aerodynamic and barometric pressure to determine ones power output. This is what the aerospace industry uses. It is relatively small unit, with easy to use functions. The things that make this a great unit are, it does not require a special wheel, only costs $400 and is compatible with cycling peaks software. For someone looking for a basic power meter this could very well be it.

Another power meter I found was Microsport www.microsporttech.com. This uses a pressure sensitive plate in the shoe, a receiver that attaches to the back of the shoe and a computer unit. What makes it a cool unit is totally wireless and portable. again no wheel changes, so you can use those new ceramic Zipp wheels. The company did not have a $ as of yet but they thought it would be less than the Power tap system.

Bloggers, Podcasters at Interbike

In the Interbike Day Two issue of Bicycle Retailer's dailies, an article about bloggers and podcasters was featured and includes Tim Grahl's Crooked Cog podcasts and Bike Hugger. I was outta Vegas there by Friday, but Sean Hong was nice enough to send me a PDF of the article.

Flickr'ing Interbike

Here's a quick circuit of the Flickrverse, checking out everybody's Interbike pics.

Of course, what everybody's looking for at Interbike is the new stuff, and there were a number of new ideas for bikes on display:

The Moots Snoots is a one-off ultramarathon snow bike (left) -- it's got super-wide tires, racks, and even built-in stove fuel storage (look for the bosses on the fork tubes). Here's everything you need to know from the guy who commissioned the Snoots.

We weren't the only ones who loved Surly's new “Big Dummy,” the Xtracycle-capable long bike. Here's a detail of the latest Surly and here's another.

Somehow I get the feeling that, well, maybe the whole pedal-forward thing is going too far...

Here's ANT's Shimano Alfine contest bike with it's signature sunburst rack.

Mobiky showed their “Genius” (at right), a folding city bike sort of like the Sinclair A-Bike, but with wheels bigger than a roller skate.

PV Glider is a pedal-less “bike” made out of PVC pipe that's intended to help kids learn to ride (more at PVGlider.com). This is an interesting evolution of what many parents do, taking the pedals off a small frame so kids can scoot around, getting their balance down pat before they have to worry about pedaling.

The 3G Stepper is reminiscent of a NordicTrac on wheels. I have a feeling this is a question nobody's really asked.

There were actually two companies with “Coasting” bikes: Trek and Raleigh; here's Raleigh's take on the Shimano freehub system.

Felt's Royal Flush (left) splits the difference between beach bike and cruiser.

BMC brings their carbon fiber frames to cyclocross.

Here are maybe as many Brooks saddles as you'll ever see in one place.

Surly's “Fixxer” is a body to replace your Shimano freehub, converting the wheel to fixed-gear.

One of our favorite bikes, year after year, is Bianchi's Milano, a cool and practical way to get around town.

Finally, I found a number of pictures of cycling royalty: new US champion George Hincapie, former world champion Mario Cipollini, 2006 Tour prologue and final stage winner Thor Hushovd, greatest rider of bicycles ever Eddy Merckx, and Italian master framebuilder Ernesto Colnago.

Finally, there was at least one celebrity frame: Robbie McEwen's Ridley.

Leaving Las Vegas

By now everyone should be back at the office, home, shop, or studio recovering from Vegas and Interbike ("No point in mentioning the bats"). I'm already following up with the contacts I made and glad I flew in with Mike, blogged, got out and didn't exceed my maximum of 36 hours in Vegas.

At the expense of all the other booths, I focused on the utility of the industry and observed the trend towards integrated solutions to transportation problems. Today another post about fixies from Mark V is up at Bike Hugger and a post about small builder innovations From Marcus. More from the Interbike o' sphere

• Interbike 2006 was a very big success, by my terms
• Interbike 2006 People
• Interbike 2006 Wrap-up
• Interbike tasty
• RideFetish Galleries
• Interbike: The Two Faces of Vegas
• Interbike’s Last Day: Elvis Has Left The Building

Add Bike Hugger to the chorus of voices calling for Interbike to be somewhere else. For me, just somewhere else were smoking is banned in public places so we can all breathe easier.