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Photos and research by David
Ferguson (unless noted)
Decoded by Cam McRae
Interbike has been shuffling around a bit the last few years. Companies hold on to their spot year after year unless they want a bigger booth, they partner up with someone or they scale down or vacate their previous square footage. This year Cannondale went large at the dirt demo with over 100 bikes but they were a no show for the big dance in the Sands. Trek has done the same for the last two years. They have all their dealers out to check out the new product late in the summer and they do a media launch (this year in Colorado) so they don't feel they need to shell out big bucks for a booth inside. Scott bikes made their big North American reappearance last year and this year they slid nicely into the prime acreage vacated by Cannondale. Hayes purchased Sun/Ringlé who had a sweet booth near the entrance so they are all one big happy family in that prime real estate. Syncros is owned by Ritchey and for the last two years they had their own booths. After a bit of a shuffle Tom decided it would be best if they stuck together and they now share Ritchey's cherry location. Manitou moved to a smaller booth this year but they still managed a strong showing. I think they may have swapped with Sugoi; now that Sugoi is owned by Cannondale I guess they have deeper pockets. Specialized had a relatively small booth - I guess it was a 20 x 40 - and there was a sign outside asking you to stay out unless you were media or a Specialized dealer. I see their point - it was crowded in there.
Here's a look at the floor plan. I think it's supposed
to be 600,000 square feet of space. Below is a detail of the grey area
I have highlighted near the bottom.
Here is the grey area you see above enlarged.
In the bottom right hand corner you'll see Ellsworth. I think they had
a 20 x 20 booth. The place is big and getting lost is a piece of cake.
Our friends from Transition bikes decided to go guerrilla style this year. Instead of throwing down a lot of cake for a booth the boys set up at Summer Bay Resort - a short walk from the Sands. A break from the florescent lights and the concrete floor is always welcome - and they even had sandwich fixings and beer to sweeten the deal. The lads from Ferndale Washington (just south of 49 from us) have a trio of new bikes in the line and they seem to be nailing it again this year.
When you buy a bike from Transition you get to choose your rear shock. Some frames offer Manitou, Fox and Marzocchi options and every duallie has at least a pair to choose from. On top of the two bikes below Transition is offering a short travel slopestyle/freeride bike called the Bottle Rocket. The BR has a 1.5" head tube and 5.5" of rear wheel travel.
The Covert is an all mountain ride - the first time Transition has offered something a wee bit less agressive and substantially lighter. The frame sans shock rolls in at 6.7 lbs and it provides 5.5" of travel. The good news is that since it's from Transition you know it's built for some burliness as well - you can bet it was tested extensively on the Shore, at Whistler and at the Woodlot.
The Double has 3.5" of travel, a very low bb and short stays. It's essentially a dirt jumper with a little squish to iron out the bumps some.
Brad Walton is a friend of Kyle and Kevin from Transition and he was displaying his clothing line (Spectrum Techwear) from their off site location as well. Here he is reluctantly modelling the General Lee jersey. He's also got some great shorts in the line that were clearly designed by someone who has spent a lot of time in the saddle - and almost as much in the air. Their slogan is "Engineered apparel for the technically insane."
This gets my vote for sexiest big bike at the show. The Giant Glory DH compresses to the tune of 8.8 inches. MSRP down south for this out of the box rocket is $4500 US. Giant tells us that the Maestro technology allows both Glorys (Glories?) to be 'fully active over the widest variety of impacts, but also fully independent of pedaling forces for split second victories.' Who wants to win by full seconds when you can win by split seconds? Photo ~ Cam McRae
Its sister ship the plain old Glory bounces on 8" of travel and sports a single crown Marzocchi 66 SL up front and a Fox DHX 4.0 in the rear. The difference between this bike and the DH isn't just spec - this frame is taller, steeper and a little shorter than the Glory DH. US MSRP $3500 (no word on Canadian $ at press time). Race Face bars, stem, cranks and seat post are a very nice spec ona bike at this price point.
This Giant STP hardtail's design was 'inspired by Jeff Lenosky.' I dig the colour. Photo ~ Cam McRae
Balfa is back - sort of. The original company was bought by Rocky Mountain's parent company but some of the original team are back together and calling themselves Appalache. The Real, pictured above, has a more than passing resemblance to the old BB7. Some differences include a steeper head angle, shorter stays and a higher bb - but you still get the chromoly rear end.
Hope brakes look fantastic. On top of this six piston
beauty, Hope was displaying a dual layer rotor that vents from the middle keeping
things cool for long descents.
Camelbak worked with Skull Candy to produce this iPod friendly hydration pack. The small red buttons on the right hand shoulder strap control your volume and allow you to go forward and back. There's also a little softcase to keep your unit mud and dust free.
Straitline Components from Victoria B.C is a new entry into the CNC parts fray. These shiny pedals are very low profile and trick and the come in four colours. They are bearingless with self sealing sleeves and Straitline tells us they are manufactured to 'perfect tolerance.'
More from Straitline. Their stem stays put thanks to a vertical wedge that pushes down just in front of the steerer tube. Once it is bolted into place you can actually remove the bolts - although Straitline doesn't recommend this for agressive riding. Everything they make has nice details. Their bar end caps are ODI lock on compatible (nothing new there) but they also have a recess so that the etching doesn't get destroyed when you dump your ride in the gravel.
The Syncros chain devices utilizes carbon fibre, spring steel, aluminum and aerospace plastics - all to keep your chain in place. This product was developed with extensive input from the nsmb.com Freeride Team.
Syncros has expanded their popular white theme to include stems, bars and hubs.
David Ferguson: GT IT1. New for '07: free wheel rear hub to reduce drag, slacker geometry all around, longer top tube and shorter wheel base, prototype shimano rapid fire shifter for internal gearbox. Overall weight is down two pounds. The somewhat unwieldy rig has 9" of rear wheel travel full time. Riding impressions: No pedal bob at all but engagement always felt late (GT is in discussion with Shimano to address this issue)
This GT Ruckus hardtail comes ready to roll for USD$1149. GT will be only sold through bike shops this coming year for the first time since their reorganization. No word on whether we'll see more of them up in Canada.
The t-shirts actually say 'Cobbles Baby' and these young ladies were promoting DVDs from the Behind the Tour De France. Photo ~ Cam McRae
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