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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...
The Industry Cup was supposed to be a fun race for bragging rights...ehh, not so much. It was elbow to elbow racing from the gun with little room for error. At the lineup, a buzz passed through the racers as word spread about that guy in the red kit - Mario Cipollini. After we all peed our lycra in excitement, the race was off. The early laps were carnage all over. It wasn't so much about power or skill, but being lucky enough to avoid coming to grief. I was able to avoid most trouble except for one wreck that put me into the steel barrier, but I was able to lean into it with my shoulder and jumped back into the race. Other BikeHuggers MarkV and Mike Rogers didn't get such a good shake and had to fight bad wheels and dodging crashes. I saw that Mark got 9th for the Media contest, but Mike wasn't listed (damn transponder technology).
Once I made it safely through the first laps, I bridged a couple gaps back up to the leaders with one goal in mind - go find CIPO! I knew that everyone with a camera would be shooting him, so what better way to get some love for the Hugga than to get in the press. It worked.
From Velonews: (that's BikeHugger.com green on the right)
I had the opportunity to test out the new HED JET 60's. I learned that I was one of two people to get on these- thanks again to the HED clan. The change for this model is a wider rim, expanded to 23mm. This allows for an increase in stretch to the tire, thus increasing the amount of the tire surface to the ground.
I took the opportunity to take the wheels through the Las Vegas strip and up into the canyons. Climbing the wheels did great. Once you get them up to spped > 18 mph they start to roll good, but on the way down over 25 mph plus they ROCK. These wheel just roll. They did a great job soaking up the road chatter and vibration.
The second test was the Industry Crit or better know as test your bike skills. The wheels perfromed awesome. They accelerate out of the corners quickliy and the breaking surface is spot on. I got to experience this first hand as I skidded into the barriers as one of the many crashes occurred
Overall impression is a great solid wheel that could be used for crits to TT
The production version of the Yuba
Check the Hugger Photostream for now. LOTS of photos in the upload queue. I'll write something later. Quick highlights:
1. Civia Bikes announced - some cool stuff, but worth $2k?
2. Ritchey Breakaway Single Speed - pretty trick
3. Rock Racing's Lamborgheni - what for? Who knows, but it looked cool
4. Longtails all over!
5. Seven Cycles "cargo" bike
6. Snapping a shot of Anti-Doper Greg Lemond talking to Anti-doper extremist Matt Decaino
Demo Day 2 was about riding bikes (many fewer pictures). I did the Tour of Lake Mead which you can read about on Bikehugger.com.
Joe and I after I took the Redline Conquest Pro out for a tear around the dirt. I really like the SRAM Force stuff it's spec'd with. I was supposed to go out and ride the SRAM RED group, but I wasn't able to put that together. Joe and the guys hooked me up with a nice Redline fleece hat and all I had to do was bring them a couple cold beers - what a trade!
Day one was the Dirt Demo out at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, NV (25min outside of Vegas). I got there at 9 and hopped in the registration line with 100s of other drooling folk. Today was a shorter day for me, so I brought the camera, a notepad, and the messenger bag to collect all the info I could (tomorrow is for test-riding). I noted in other posts about the cool stuff I saw at Felt, Raleigh, and BionX, but I wanted to capture the rest of the stuff in a "catch-all" post. Mostly this is about pictures, so I'll do my best to cobble all them together. See the rest if the picks in the Hugger Industries Flickr Photostream.
In the "hmm - maybe I need that" category is the BionX electrical assist. I've been telling my wife that I need a scooter for those days when I just don't want to ride into work, and driving the car 2mi to the Park&Ride makes me feel bad. She hates the idea and I think the fix here is the electic-assist. There are a number of players in the market, but the BionX might be the coolest. It comes in 4 trim options, from the PL350 ($1600) down to the P250 ($1100). They require a special rear hub that looks like an oversized internal geared hub, but rather than just pedal for you, they amplify your effort. You can set it from 25% - 300% of your pedalling effort depending on a. how hard you want to pedal, and b. how fast you want to go. I first saw it in line for registration when this guy went tearing UP the hill like he was barely pedaling. Pretty cool idea - and it'll mate up with a standard bike, or a long-tail (Xtracycle and you've got a battery powered way to make the ride home that much simpler. That - and it's cheaper than a Vespa.
One of the first booths that you come to in the Dirt Demo is the offering from Felt, and somewhat surprisingly, they actually had the best offering on show from a "city riding" perspective.
Continue reading "Interbike 2007 - Felt bringing City Back" »
Probably the best-looking "production-grade" bike of day one was the Raleigh Sojourn. I spoke with folks from Raleigh about this one and they are obviously really excited to bring a bike to a market where people typically spend well over $1000 on the frame alone. The Sojourn had some nice, simple touches that really dressed it up. The first thing that stands out is the bar-protector. These are pretty common on track bikes where there are no brake cables to keep the bars from denting your top-tube, but this chrome one really added a touch of class. The spare spoke holder is a pretty trick add-on as well. The tubing is tried and true Reynolds 520 steel. All-day comfort in a touring bike - just what the (back/hand/neck) doctor ordered. The Saddle is a pre-worn Brooks with matching bar-tape. The rear rack comes stock, and they are working out the front-end kinks to get the front rack going as well. The downside (sorta) is that it's HEAVY. I'd guess that 30lbs isn't out of the question. All told, it's a really nice off-the-shelf touring bike that looks great - and for $999 - you can't beat the price.
Get yourself to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, around 6:00 PDT on Thursday, September 27, 2007 and we're in Tent Number 3.
We’re expanding our Interbike presence and coverage this year with the Hugga Hookup, during the Criterum Championship. At the hookup we’ll have products, industry, racing coverage, blogging, and podcasting. The hookup is about creating community during Interbike, talking about what we do, hanging out, and watching the bike race.
Interbike predictions from the Bike Snob NYC, including
YO HO! All ye Bike Hugger jim lads and saucy wenches. In honor of our favorite holiday, "National Talk Like A Pirate Day", we'll call ourselves Bike HuggAAAARRRRRR on Sept. 19. So get out ye eye patches and fill ye guts with grog. And if you want to find ye "inner pirate" (and official pirate name), go to www.piratequiz.com/. If ye are a scurvy novice on pirate speak, go to for an official pirate language workshop.
signed Iron Prudentilla Flint
While as bloggers, we're s'posed to be anti-establishment media; doing our own thing, a bit subversive and podcasting instead of broadcasting, BUT it sure is fun to have access to Interbike's Media Center and hang out with everyone! Interbike just announced that the Media Center is back and bigger than ever
"The 30- x 40-foot Media Center will include a TV studio interview area for media companies or exhibiting manufacturers interested in conducting, recording or broadcasting news about new products, celebrities, panel discussions, advocacy, etc"
And broadcaster Cycling.tv will also help Interbike produce its own daily interview show, Good Morning Interbike.
Bike Hugger will blog Interbike again this year -- big, bloggy style -- with me, Andrew, Mark, and Mike. We have no other plan than to just cover the show, focusing on our particular interests, stumbling upon the unique, weird, and odd stuff, and sharing it here.
We'll also race the Industry Cup.
Leading up to the event, Interbike has been cranking out the press releases, inlcuding
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