Days 2 and 3

Interbike is HARD.  You walk all over this HUGE building schlepping a laptop, a SLR camera, etc, but you fail to do simple things like...eat/drink/sleep.  It's Friday night after a great weeklong Vegas trip.  Obviously my highlight was the Industry Cup, but there were plenty of goodies to talk about as well (isn't that really the point?).  I've been good about posting stuff up to the HuggerIndustries Photostream, but not so much about the post detail, so here goes...

I have to start at the top - my "best in show".  Apart from winning the Industry race last night, I have to say that RaleighUSA showed me the most cool new stuff.  I already posted about the Sojourn that they had at the Dirt Demo, but to their line they also incorporated similar features into their existing "simple" bikes the One-Way and the Rush Hour.  I love the simple touches that really dress up the bike.

One-Way:

Rush Hour:

The next hot bike that I almost overlooked comes from Litespeed.  I have to admit, I intentionally overlooked them because I've never really been a fan of their stuff.  I really didn't expect them to venture out that much of their year-after-year Ti flagship designs, but their new city bike is just plain cool.  Wood fenders, Internal gears, and a Brooks Saddle make it a pretty nice looking setup.  That, and it runs the sought-after Shimano Alfine group.

I like small clothing makers.  I found Harlot on the outer-reaches of the Interbike space.  My wife loves stars, and this designer uses a red star as her moniker so I may be shopping on their online site soon.  Plus, their messages are so simple and accurate.

I love Ritchey stuff.  I have it trimming out all my bikes.  I've wanted a Breakaway since they first came out, and now they have one just for me (almost).  I'm in the process of building a single-speed cross bike, and someday I'd like to cut it into a travel bike.  I raced a Breakaway in the Industry Cup and it was flawless.  If only this Single Speed had Cantilever bosses I would have cancelled my order and not left the booth without promise that I could buy it on the spot.  Regardless, this new white and red combo looked great and will be another nice option for travellers.

Coolest thing I can't even buy? - this SWEET Timbuk2 bag.  I've got 4, but you can never have enough and this one is the best looking one I've ever seen.  I guess they made a limited run of 50 for QBP a couple years back.  Drool.

Lastly - I gotta say that even though it wasn't on display, this guy's wheelchair was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. We saw him at the crosswalk outside the show and Byron told him loved the HED3's. I ran into in the show the next day and he was happy to show of his rig for the camera. We didn't get into details, and I didn't even catch his name, but that chair looks to be more dialed than any bike I've ever had.