09/06/2008

Words and photos by Cam McRae

Interbike can be a good time to find out a little more about people you've only emailed with or bumped into at the lift line at Whistler.  Kevin Menard and Kyle Young came to the bike industry in a non-traditional way.  Both were slaving away in the tech sector for T-Mobile - Kevin working on the usability of mobile devices while Kyle was figuring out messaging platforms - when they started Transition.  Their jobs provided large cash but they were leaving some innner longings unfulfilled. 

Kyle Young (right) and Kevin Menard of Transition bikes standing on their 'lawn' inside the Sands convention centre in Vegas.  Yes - that's real grass in their booth.

Since starting Transition in 2002 their plan has been to slowly build a brand by putting riders under solid, well designed rides at a reasonable price.  A quick buck isn't part of the plan. To that end the boys have slowly added models to their line while continuing to build bikes that buck current trends.  The Preston FR is a four to five inch travel freeride rig - at a time when the big companies are making XC rides with that much squish.  (Check out Richard Belson's review of the Preston here.) Now that neither has a high-dollar nine-to-five in Seattle they have moved north to Bellingham to be closer to the solid trails on Mount Galbraith as well as those across the border on the North Shore.

The brand new Transition Gran Mal - 8.75" of rear travel in an 11.5lb frame.

The boys practice what they preach on their own bikes; Kyle recently won the softies jump jam/street contest in Washington while Kevin is more of a true freerider, hucking the big moves at various locations on the Shore.  They divide the labour in their company in similar ways.  Kyle takes care of making the bikes work right as well as dealing with a lot of the business tasks while Kevin makes the bikes look pretty as well as designing the Web site doing ads and reviews on the marketing side. It's all about running a 'rider owned' bike company and following your passion for the boys.

Check out the brand new Transition Bikes Web site.

Words and photos by Stuart Kernaghan

Cam and I were happy with the prospect of moving indoors to the Sands Convention Center after spending two days baking our brains in the sun at Bootleg Canyon. We also knew what was ahead of us - one huge expanse of bikes, parts, and people. The Vegas Virgin, on the other hand, wasn't sure what he was walking in to. He would find out (and report out) soon enough.

Bell The Bell Bellistic full-face helmet has been around for some time, and it's not going anywhere in '06. There haven't been any changes other than colour, but there really isn't much need to change a product that does the job well. There are a number of new colours for the coming year, including red/white/grey, matte grey/green, blue/white/grey, and black.

The new red/white/grey Bellistic for '06

The all-new Giro Remedy CF (you guessed it - for carbon fiber)

Giro Giro, on the other hand, has made some major changes. The venerable Mad Max is gone. Finished. Kaput. Done and gone. Replacing this very popular lid is the new Remedy, which will be available in carbon fiber and fiber glass versions. The helmet is CPSC and ASTM certified, really well vented, and available in sizes small, medium, and large. The seriously light carbon fiber version has an MSRP of US$250, and the fiber glass version is pegged at $100.

The carbon helmet comes in matte coal/carbon, red/carbon, and matte smog colours. The fiber glass helmet colours are blue/silver, matte black, matte titanium, and red/white. Both helmets are scheduled to hit store shelves in winter 2005.

The carbon-free Remedy - still stylist and super affordable

The matte black camo Xen

Back for more abuse in 2006 is the Xen, Giro's higher-end, all-mountain helmet. Urban camo is one of the cool colours available in this helmet that's designed to cover more - but not all - of your melon. There are a bunch of colurs to choose from: matte white camo, matte black camo, gunmetal, matte black, matte slate, and pink.

Following in the tracks laid by the Xen is the all-new Hex, a mid-priced, all-mountain lid. Colour selection runs the gamut from red to matte black, matte chalk, slate, matte magnesium, and finally matte pewter. Matte appears to be big with Giro for 2006. Price for the Hex is US$80.

The matte chalk Hex - still in prototype stage, apparently

Maxxis
Maxxis tires have been rocking the Shore and steep trails everywhere for some time now, and while the product is fairly dialled in the freeride / DH category, there have been a few tweaks for '06.

The biggest news is the introduction of a triple compound tire, which will use a 42a durometer centre strip, 40a shoulders, and a 70a strip under each shoulder to keep it from rolling over. The new compound will be available in all of the popular DH and freeride tires, including the Minion, the Roller, and possibly the Swamp Thing, in both the 2.5" and 2.7" sizes. Expect to see the new-compound tires showing up in spring 2006.

The pattern may look familiar, but the feeling is all-new

ADvantage - all your mountains are belong to us

Another new product from Maxxis is the ADvantage all-mountain tire, which was designed with input from Alison Dunlap. Get it - AD (Alison Dunlap.) The single-ply tire will be available in a 2.4" size, and will use a 60a durometer rubber for durability. Again, spring 2006 for this baby.

NYC Freeride NYC Freeride has had a bit of a rough go lately, but Andy Grossi is back with shiny new parts that you will lust after. These chrome Glory Hole pedals were set up on a Canfield Balance bike, but don't expect to see them in shops any time soon. According to Andy, the chroming process costs about $25 per pedal, on top of the machinging costs and a lot of prep time. They'll likely be on sponsored riders' bikes, but that's about it. Kind of like the chrome El Caminos that were at Crankworx...

One product that will be available to mere mortals will be the new Race pedals. These gold ano puppies match nicely with the gold ano Pimp Cap bar end caps and the NYC Freeride's new gold ano stem. Stay tuned to the NYC Freeride site for updates on prices and availability.

Cateye
Cateye has made a name for itself with bicycle computers and commuter lights, but is now making a serious move into the off-road light market with its new Triple Shot and Double Shot lightsets.

The biggest difference between this lightset and others out there is the fact that they're LED (light emitting diode) rather than HID (high intensity discharge). There are two versions: the triple-beam Triple Shot and the double-beam Double Shot.

Both feature a die-cast aluminum body with large heat sinks that are both cool looking and useful in dissipating heat, locking cable connectors to prevent accidental blackouts, and use Ni-MH batteries. Claimed weight is 710g and 645g, respectively, without battery.

The new Cateye Triple and Double Shots, with battery packs about the size of a pocket camera

The Triple has a run time of 3.3 hours, and charges in 3 hours with the smart charger. It's designed to be a bar-mounted light, and produces the brightness of a 20W halogen bulb. The Double has a run time of more than 5 hours, and charges in 3 hours. It can be mounted on your lid, or the bars, depending on the technical nature of your night ride.

MSRP for the Triple Shot is US$320, and it's available now. The Double Shot will be $270, and it will come out in November.

e.Thirteteen Components
From the magical mind of Dave Weagle comes e.Thirteen Components. The company's bread and butter product is chainguides, and there have been some changes to the guide line for '06.

There have been refinements of some sort to almost every guide. For example, the DRS now comes with a thicker backplate and no longer needs a spacer to move it away from the frame. The STS gets refined plastics and smaller hardware on the lower roller. The SRS gets mud-shedding holes.

A new addition to the line is the LG1 - for Light Guide 1. It's a chain tensioning device, minus the bashguard. It runs the same back plate as the SRS, but a different top guide, and replacement part kits will make the two interchangeable. This isn't designed to be a heavy-usage / big-hit guide like some of the other e.Thirteen products, thought, primarily because of the lack of bashguard. There will be a small 'taco' available that will protect against direct hits to the leading edge of the chainring, but a 195g guide may not be the best choice for the Shore. Bike parks are another story...

The enhanced STS backing plate, with mud holes on the lower part of the guide

One half of the Ali stem - two sets of holes, two clamps

e.Thirteen turns out a bunch of other cool stuff like chain rings, crank spiders, headset reducers, and BMX chain rings. There's also a direct-mount stem for Boxxers or any fork that uses the same mounting system called the Ali. The stem will take 25.4mm or 31.8mm bars.

The big push for e.Thirteen now is the move to the new chainguide standard, ISCG '05. Replacement hardware will be available for existing guides for about two years, but new product will be made to the new standard.

One final thing - don't expect to see pedals from e.Thirteen for a while. The design work is done on them, but the custom internals are proving to be a serious headache and the project has been shelved for now. There will be a new e.Thirteen Web site up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to that for full details on the chainguide line.

Cam and I will keep bringing you Interbike updates until we run out of things to talk about. And based on the number of photos we've taken, that may take a while.

Stuart Kernaghan