 |
|
First off, I’d like to clarify something from my last post.
1) The Santa Cruz Blur 4X truly is an amazing handling bike. I like it a lot.
2) The Bike had a 5th Element Air Shock on the back. We fiddled with it a little
bit when I first grabbed the bike but didn’t really take the time that
we should have to set it up.
3) It wasn’t my intention to be critical of the suspension performance
of the bike. It didn’t feel great to me and I thought I was clear that
was probably due to not setting up the rear shock correctly. Over-sensitive
people didn’t read it that way.
Now, moving along. Inside the Sands proved to be even more overwhelming than the dirt demo. Oppressive heat and crowds were replaced by excessive hype and even larger crowds.
Cory Leclerc couldn’t wait to hop on the back of Chad Reed’s mini moto bike. Once onboard, the Marzocchi girl kept touching his nipples. At least one person’s day was made.
Every company remotely attached to bicycles was represented inside (except for Trek). Most journalists seemed pretty focussed on covering stuff from the big players so I decided to spend a bit of time over in the don’t-make-eye-contact booths (because if you do they’ll run over and give you a brochure). These are a few of my favourite things.
Remember the Moto Bike that the kid down the street had when you were growing up? Somebody else did and decided to create an X-Games branded model. Fantastic.
Apparently somebody in Taiwan is afraid of welding. Tremendous. (Editor's Note - this is a full sized bike with 26" wheels. It looks like a toy because DT had the DTs from the night before)
These guys didn’t thing that the Razor scooter was Xtreme enough. They have a model with skis on it as well. Spectacular.
This company wants us to “ride into the future on five wheels.” Awesome..
Every person that was in this booth had matching greying ponytails. I can’t wait until they have a Louis Vuitton version. Hot.
I bet all kinds of kids will break their arms on this thing. Stupefying.
Dave Tolnai
