2013 Interbike, Part 8
I can say with some certainty that my favorite product introduced at this year’s Interbike show that I actually got to ride, as opposed to just staring at, was the new Shimano road hydraulic disc brakes. It’s become popular for people attending the show to say, “You know, I didn’t see anything that wowed me.” That’s been the cool kid thing to say ever since Americans decided that Eurobike was the cool show. I think it’s damned cynical.
This brake system wowed me. I don’t see any point in lying. Two years ago I was arguing against disc brakes on road bikes as causing more problems than they solve. The thing is, I’m not an engineer, especially not a motivated one, but I understand the thrill of problem solving, and that’s mostly what engineering is.
For those of you who have been pulling on jerseys since they were wool, you’ll recall that Colnago was once the place to look for all the most forward-thinking ideas, even if some of them were crazier than Hunter Thompson at Burning Man. It was nice to see the storied Italian brand embrace disc brake tabs and internal routing for the hydraulic brake lines, though I could hear people crying foul to see Shimano parts on the Italian legend. That didn’t bother me, but what did make me chuckle was seeing such forward-looking technology on a bike that was glued together.
The brake set is non-series, which is to say that they are neither Dura-Ace nor Ultegra. That gives product managers the opportunity to use this brake with either group without it looking wholly out of place.
The brakes can be used with either a 140mm or 160mm rotor. The Colnago I rode was equipped with 140mm rotors. There’s been a concern within the industry about using 140mm rotors and heat buildup. You’ll notice that the rotors above feature two different colors. The outer ring of material, the portion of the rotor the pads actually grab is, of course, steel, but that inner ring is aluminum which, by virtue of the fact that aluminum isn’t very dense, allows for speedy heat dissipation.
The brakes themselves also feature fins to help them function as heat sinks. Shimano went to a number of far-flung locations for product testing, including the Stelvio Pass (at this point it seems like you can’t claim to have tested a brake system until you’ve been to the Stelvio), so when they say that heat buildup won’t be a problem with a 140mm rotor, we’ve got some reason to take them at their word.
This detail of the rotor shows the pairing of steel and aluminum to increase heat dissipation.
The lever has a couple of advantages over SRAM’s lever. First, of course, are the improved ergonomics. Shimano went with the Di2 electronic shifting so they could gain valuable space in the lever for the hydraulic master cylinder, which is why the lever looks big but not tumescent. The lever also allows for reach adjustment as well as throw or free-stroke, which is how far the lever travels before the pads engage. These are two important adjustments that help keep the system feeling as much like a traditional rim brake system as possible. Because Shimano has made hydraulic systems for a variety of applications, from cross country to downhill, they were able to select components to increase modulation without compromising power.
My experience in limited riding on the system was impressive. With a 140mm rotor, power was on a par with rim brake systems. Modulation was terrific and felt more easily controlled than with some brakes I’ve used.
I’ve been vocal in my opposition to disc brakes. I haven’t seen the need. The maintenance is more complicated, the system is heavier, the aerodynamics compromised and the increased demand in frame strength changes the flex in the frame. I still think all those issues are, well, still issues. However, one criticism that can’t be leveled at the brakes is that they don’t work. They absolutely do and it may be that with some experience riders using them will find greater control thanks to them.
Stay tuned.
The Friday Group Ride #186
So today an event took place that will make the activity of the UCI worth following. We’ve no guarantee that Brian Cookson will make all the changes to professional cycling that any of us believe aren’t just helpful, but necessary to its survival. And while the cynics among us may be ready to quote The Who’s line from “Won’t Get Fooled Again”—”Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” Cookson deserves the distinction of at least being different from Pat McQuaid because he was never banned from the Olympics.
A brief reminder of that event. McQuaid organized a trip to South Africa for the 1975 Rapport Toer. He talked brother Kieron, John Curran, Sean Kelly and Henry Wilbraham into violating the ban—due to apartheid—on competing in the country. The five riders were competing under assumed names. A journalist following the honeymoon of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor discovered what was happening and when he published his story, they were found out. As a result, the entire bunch, the majority of whom would likely have been part of Ireland’s 1976 Olympic cycling team, were banned from the Olympics.
Cookson, on the other hand, has no such sordid history. He’s known as the man who helped forge the alliances that turn British Cycling into the powerhouse it is. Team Sky simply wouldn’t exist had he not laid the groundwork with the British federation.
But the successes Cookson has enjoyed could be harder to notch once he’s in Aigle. Many of the UCI’s staff have been close to McQuaid and it’s unrealistic to expect that everyone there will be eager to dismantle McQuaid’s legacy, such as it is. But change is as necessary as it is imminent. A great many practices will need to change if only to demonstrate that it’s not business as usual.
But just how much will change and how soon? Will the Tour of Beijing survive? Will the UCI persist in promoting races other than the World Championships? What of the frame certification process? Will positive tests by the leader at the Tour de France take three months to announce? Could a Truth and Reconciliation really happen now?
Rather than air suspicions and reservations, let’s make this positive. If you had an audience with the man, what would you ask him to change first? Which fire, in your mind, burns brightest?
BREAKING NEWS: Brian Cookson Wins UCI Presidency
By a vote of 24 to 18, Brian Cookson has succeeded Pat McQuaid as the president of the UCI. This would be where you breathe a sigh of massive relief.
Details of the proceedings in Florence approached farce, with the UCI’s legal team stating that McQuaid could stand for election because the Swiss nomination was withdrawn after the deadline for nominations. This, despite the fact that it was never a valid nomination. Cookson, to his credit, was the person who asked that the procedural wrangling end and that the decision simply be put to a vote.
There is much work to be done to give cycling the reputation it deserves as the cleanest professional sport out there, but this is an important first step toward something the UCI didn’t previously possess the will or moral compass to accomplish.
Pardon us while we go do a little happy dance.
The Election
The president of the UCI will be chosen today in Florence. The outcome of this election will have a significant impact on the course and credibility of professional bike racing for a decade to come. Should Pat McQuaid be voted in, we can be assured that some efforts will be made to make cycling look clean. Under his leadership the UCI will, however, do less than is possible, less than the public wants to see, less than would be done by a person with a strong moral compass.
Brian Cookson took Great Britain from the lowly status of cycling backwater and helped turn it into a veritable cycling David, knocking off Goliaths as if it were only a day’s work. To be sure, should Cookson be elected to the presidency of the UCI, the task before him is similar to his previous one in that it involves a turnaround. However, it will be a turnaround of a very different flavor and he won’t have had the benefit of building years of consensus within a smaller organization with a more unified goal. His will be a gargantuan task, to give the UCI credibility where it has little. He’ll be charged with making transparent processes that weren’t so much conducted behind closed doors as carried out in secret.
Has he proven that he can do it? Certainly not, but the delegates have but two choices and that one thing we know for sure is that McQuaid has proven he will fight transparency and good governance like they were a bunch of harpies bent on his destruction. (Given the way he has presided over the UCI, that’s not far off the mark, though.)
Last week I wrote that I believed McQuaid would win the election for UCI President. My reasoning was simple: The election is decided by secret ballot and he controlled who counts the ballots. Well, in the most stunning and pleasant turn of events since this charade took flight, Cookson has prevented UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest, who is close to McQuaid, from being the person to count the vote. So Cookson now has an actual shot at a proper election.
USA Cycling’s Steve Johnson has indicated that the dossier of charges against McQuaid haven’t entered in to his considerations regarding his vote. It’s fair to wonder how many others will disregard some of the most damning charges against McQuaid. This would be where Lance Armstrong could have done the sport a real favor. Were he to look beyond his desire to compete and consider the sport’s best interests, he might appreciate that he has had interactions with McQuaid and Verbruggen that could fill in some of the shadows in their character. I believe he had the power to further the process of showing McQuaid to be the despot he is.
Finally, yesterday, Greg LeMond released an open letter to the voting delegates. I, for one, hope this can sway anyone who hadn’t already committed themselves to making cycling the laughingstock of world sport.
Dear UCI delegates:
Tomorrow is one of the most important days in modern cycling. The future of our sport will be impacted greatly by the election of the new UCI President.
Earlier I made clear my belief that the sport needed new leadership and I still feel the same today. Pat McQuaid has had many opportunities to take that leadership, to tell the world of cycling that the past is the past, and that this sport will never allow what took place over the last 20 years to ever happen again. He had his opportunity and failed. It is time now for change.
I truly believe that if there is no change in the leadership of the sport that the impact will be felt for years to come, in every aspect of the sport. From the parents that do not encourage their children to take up cycling as a sport of choice, to the sponsors who are sick and tired of the scandals and their costs, both social and financial.
We need to show that there is a democracy in place at the UCI. That cycling’s officials can be trusted to act in the best interest of the majority, not in their own private interests. Why would anyone invest in cycling without trust in the sport and its governing body?
I beg of you to vote with your eyes open. The UCI has been dragged through the mud for way too long. Pat McQuaid has demonstrated he is not capable of being an effective and stable leader. His history of bullying, public denigration of cyclists and rule bending is unacceptable. What this sport needs more than anything right now is positive change. The only way for change to happen is with new leadership: someone that people can count on to put cycling first and not their personal ambitions.
When I look at all of the countries in the world and see which country is thriving, it is impossible not to think of British Cycling and what Brian Cookson had done for the sport in England: look at his track record. Look at what he has done for British Cycling, not just at the elite level of cycling, but look at the explosion of non-racers riding their bikes in England. Who would not want this for cycling?
It is up to you, the voters that get to decide the future of cycling. If you truly care about this sport there is only one option, and that is to cast your vote for Brian Cookson.
Please do the right thing and vote for Brian Cookson.
2013 Interbike, Part 7
Cyclops showed a new trainer interface that allows you to ride over videoed courses. You’ll have to put together the big-ass monitor set-up yourself. but it dials up wattage on the hills and changes the speed of the video relative to your speed. Tacx has a similar unit, but this one appears easier to operate. Maybe we’ll get a chance to find out.
Saris was showing off a new hitch-mount rack that comes in two and four-bike configurations.
It, like the Thule, comes with locks integrated into the rack. I wouldn’t leave bikes on the rack overnight in Fresno, but it should do an adequate job of keeping honest people honest.
Shimano showed off the new 11-speed Ultegra group. My sense from my limited chance to play with the group is that this is the closes that Ultegra has ever been in performance to Dura-Ace. The difference in the two levers is fairly negligible.
The crank uses the same asymmetric bolt pattern found in Dura-Ace. It’s a look I still haven’t fallen in love with.
The longer parallelogram of the front derailleur and the lines of the rear derailleur only reinforce the the impression that this is a heavier version of Dura-Ace.
For anyone who had a difficult time justifying the extra expense of Dura-Ace previously will find it much harder to do now.
Shimano also introduced a new apparel line. It’s not meant to go after the upper end of the market and compete with Assos and Rapha. Rather, it’s meant to be another affordable alternative for shops.
In addition to a line of clothes for the road, they also showed apparel for mountain biking as well.
Shimano showed some new hydration packs. This one intrigued me because of its relatively small size. It’s ideal for rides in the two to three-hour range.
Most hard-shell helmets, such as the ones worn in skateboarding, are known for being long on durability, but short on protection. Bell has undertaken a novel approach to using EPS foam in a hard-ish shell helmet.
The shell is flexible and populated with multiple sections of EPS , making it able to take a variety of abuses.
I imagine the helmets made with this new approach will give parents at least two or three different kinds of peace of mind.
The Belkin team wore this aero road helmet at the Tour de France (the hot new term for them is “sprint helmet”). Bell was showing it but indicated that this helmet won’t be put into production. They were showing it off as an indication of things to come.
Blackburn undertook a pretty radical reexamination of the brand’s identity and priorities this past year. The upshot is a reinvigorated focus on bags and racks. Among the new products was a locking rack so that when you lock up your bike, you can rest assured that the bags will stay put.
This new rack is stronger than a skunk’s odor and more adaptable than a character actor. I confess that I failed to take any pictures of the bags. My excuse if Friday afternoon lameness. The Blackburn line impressed me enough to make me fantasize about everything from grocery shopping to loaded touring.
In addition to showing off the new 810 computer, Garmin was showing off this new GPS-enabled video camera. It would be an ideal way to record video for the Cyclops trainer interface above.
Something To Ride For
I didn’t pass him. That would have been a dick move, so just as I was about to make the catch I sat up a little and coasted onto his wheel. As far as I could tell he never even turned his head to notice I was there, but I was trying to get my lungs back in my mouth and keep my brain from bursting out my temples, so maybe he did.
I don’t know why I did it. It was just one of those stupid commuter games you play. “Can I catch that guy?” you think. “I probably can’t. Maybe I can. Well, screw it.” And you go.
He was probably 50 meters out in front of me on the long climb that leads up to my house, but I could see he wasn’t going very fast. He had a bag on, like me. He wasn’t rushing. He was just going home.
I closed half the distance pretty quickly, as you do on a climb, but my heart was red-lining, so I had to back off. That’s where it gets challenging, right? It’s hard to know how much to slow. Your brain is telling you to let the pedals go slack, to coast until the engine room gets the fire under control. You have to find that middle point, fast but not heart attack fast. You have to maintain enough progress to continue the chase, to maintain motivation, but not go all in like a poker player with a pair of nothing.
Like much of what I do on the bike, there was no real point. I was commuting. He was commuting. Why race someone who isn’t racing you? Why go so hard on the way home? It was stupid, but I needed something to ride for. I hadn’t realized that until I was getting close enough to believe I would make the catch.
The pros calculate their every effort by whether they have something to ride for or not. A chance to put a teammate in the winning break? They ride. A chance to save a podium place? They ride. A chance to set up for the sprint? They ride.
I can’t be so discerning. I don’t stand on many (any) podiums, but I need to ride. I need that something to motivate me, or I let the pedals go slack. I coast.
After D2R2 this year, I swore I would take my fitness and plow it into trail riding, that I’d double down by running on days I couldn’t fit a ride in, that I’d play more soccer, that I’d keep it going. Instead, I gave myself a week off. I slept. I drove. I ate stuff. One week became two became three.
I needed to ride. That poor bastard didn’t ask me to chase him. He was just the right challenge in the right moment. By the time I turned off his wheel my breath rasped in my chest painfully, that bronchial ache made of effort and car exhaust. I didn’t pass him, because it would have been the wrong thing to do.
As I stood in the kitchen after, sweating like a summer soda can, I wondered aloud, “WtF was that?” But it felt good. It focused my mind. I thought, “I’m going to ride every day this week.”
Image: Matt O’Keefe
Interbike, the Debrief
Trade shows are an odd phenomenon. They are like little artificial malls where you go shopping but no actual commerce is conducted. The best you can really hope for is the promise of future business. I’ve been to trade shows for the musical instrument business, electronic security, computers and, best of all, bicycles. Only the trade show for the music biz could hold a candle to Interbike. But oh my God, it was louder than the Chinook helicopters that plucked friends of mine from the flood waters in Boulder, Colorado.
It used to be that Interbike was the place where dealers came to see the new line of bikes and then sit down with their rep to place their preseason order. It made perfect sense. Go to the virtual showroom, see the bikes in person, go over colors and pricing, and then sit down with the order sheet and start writing numbers in blanks. As recently as 2004, I can recall seeing a dealer sitting at a table with his rep and an order sheet. But lead times have grown over the years. Today, forecasting times have grown to the point that a bike shop’s preseason order needs to be placed before they ever arrive at Interbike. Trek, Specialized, Giant and Cannondale all have dealer events more than four weeks before Interbike. The single biggest driver on the product management end in this is ordering product with Shimano; lead times with SRAM and Campagnolo are somewhat shorter, I’m told.
The other big driver that no one likes to talk about is the one on the sales end of things. No one wants unsold units in October. Those bikes get discounted and all the profits made through the year get nixed when you take a loss by dumping bikes. To the accountants, it’s not as simple as that, but the career of a product manager can end with a single bad forecast. Those discounted bikes used to be welcomed by retailers looking for Christmas deals. What has changed is that retailers are now being asked to guess how much product they will need for the year more than six months prior to singing “Auld Lang Syne.” The burden of forecasting has been shifted from the manufacturer’s shoulders to the back of the guy who is far less sophisticated. As a retailer, if you order too many bikes, it’s up to you to figure out how to get them all out your door. And if you order too few? Well, then it’s up to you to figure out what to sell because the manufacturer will be sold out of their most popular model by June, July at the latest.
So bike shops order the bikes they hope to be selling in July in … July.
The dealer events that the bike companies hold are pretty genius because the events serve their forecasting needs and give them a multi-day audience without the distraction of other companies. If a shop employee wants to go for a ride, and he’s at Trek World, it’s on a Trek, or a Trek.
The trouble for dealers is that these preseason events are smack dab in the middle of the selling season. Attending one is tantamount to leaving a dinner party you’re throwing at home to drive to work for a conference call.
All this begs the question of the point of Interbike.
Those who are desperate to see the latest, greatest, suggest that Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, Germany, could serve the whole of the market, but that misses the fact that there are models and colors peculiar to that continent and this. Further, if a dealer actually flew to Germany, he’d have the shock of finding out his rep wasn’t there. Who’s going to take that order?
Timing aside, Las Vegas continues to be anathema to all that the bicycle stands for. Cycling is a triumph of clean living and Vegas celebrates nothing so much as excess. All you need to do is wander through one casino at 8:45 am on a weekday morning and witness someone at a slot machine with cigarette dangling and Jim Beam on the rocks to know that Vegas aims to be the home to coloring outside the lines. This also begs a question, but a different one: Why Las Vegas?
That part is easier to answer. Because Las Vegas markets itself more effectively as a travel destination than any other locale in the contiguous U.S. Don’t believe me? Try to find a three-star hotel in any bona fide vacation destination that goes for less than $50 per night and you’ll be looking until the cows have come home and left again. Airfares are similarly discounted. You can fly for less than $200 round trip from any major city in the U.S. so long as you don’t book the day before departure. There’s not another city that wants you as badly as Vegas does.
That part creeps me out. Every other city on the planet is happy to see me leave. ‘Cept maybe Santa Rosa. Damn. I digress.
Interbike’s former marketing director, Rich Kelly, put forward the idea that the show should give into all the cries to move the show to Denver or Anaheim or Timbuktu and then let the disaster unfold for a year, maybe two before moving the grateful hordes back to the surface of the sun, er, Nevada. To demonstrate the particular genius of this idea, I note that a political pundit put forward the idea that if conservatives really thought Obamacare wouldn’t work they should let it be enacted and then allow—you guessed it—the disaster to unfold.
As a journalist, Interbike is very useful to me. It’s useful to all of us in the media. Oddly, we may be the one user group for whom Interbike remains an unqualified success. It’s true that no one walks out of Interbike with a signed ad contract anymore, much the way dealers aren’t filling out order sheets, but the edit side of things often prides itself on being as clueless about actual commerce as possible, especially when it’s the commerce of one’s employer. I can’t be quite so cavalier as I’m the one cutting commission checks to my ad sales team, but I do my best to separate church and state. Sometimes it’s a bit like being at Four Corners with one hand in Colorado, another in Utah, one foot in Arizona and another in New Mexico, but you do your best.
Our ad sales director, Wayne, bumped into some guys from one of the local shops on his flight. In tow was a kid from the shop for whom this trip was a verified travel trifecta: It was his first trip out of Wisconsin. It was his first plane flight. And, of course, it was his first trip to Las Vegas. Last I heard that kid still wasn’t sober. That kid, [name redacted], is the perfect example of why some folks are perfectly happy with Las Vegas. The thing is, you could leave home everyone who is there to party and the show wouldn’t suffer a bit. Weirder still, by clearing out the halls a bit, people rushing from one appointment to the next, usually five minutes late (no names mentioned), would probably save 30 seconds of dodging the hangovered. Trust me, every little bit helps.
That last point is meant to help bring into focus the many conflicting elements that make up the single most important trade event for the bike industry in North America. By keeping the show in Vegas it continues to attract people for whom business isn’t their first priority.
This year, Interbike made two significant changes to its format, one small, one big. First, it allowed consumers to visit on Friday; second, it changed locations. Consumers have long visited the show as part of shop staff. This was just the first time that it was actually okay for that to happen, but only on Friday. Given the number of people we all see who don’t actually work in the industry who make their way to Las Vegas to attend, there was some concern that the show would be mobbed on Friday. I know people who made sure to leave Thursday night so they could avoid the influx. Only the multiplcation didn’t happen. If anything, the fear of the masses was so great that more people left than showed up just for Friday. The overall population seemed down.
The second change, that of venue, took it from the Sands Convention Center where it had been held for 14 years to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. I heard exhibitors complain about increased cost, poor placement, a lower ceiling (making it harder to raise big banners sufficiently high above above their booths to attract attention), gigantic support columns that were as easy to see around as a school bus stood on its end and tighter aisles. All of those may have been true.
For me, and all the other journalists with whom I spoke, the selection of Mandalay Bay was a certified miss. The biggest single issue was one of geometry. The Sands Convention Center is more or less laid out in a rectangle. Mandalay Bay? Not so much. The show floor was laid out in a kind of squared-off “J.” The upshot is that there were parts of the main show floor obscured from view. Navigation was an ongoing nightmare. I can’t recall ever being in a room with such a confusing layout that even after two days of walking around it I could still become—there’s no other word for it—lost. I pride myself on my sense of direction and I was 90 degrees from the direction I needed to head more often than not.
For the vendors who stood in their booth all day, this wasn’t a problem. Retailers, who have a fraction of the appointments that journalists do, had plenty of time to find their way around, but because my colleagues and I needed to move quickly from appointment to appointment, the confusion of the layout, the tight aisles and the lack of multiple aisles that stretched the length of the show made it easily the worst trade show layout I’ve ever encountered. I can put it in perspective this way: I’ve never actually criticized a trade show layout before. How badly do you have to screw it up to be criticized?
Wait, it’s gets better (or worse, depending on your view). There was a “paddock” outside on the hot asphalt. Nevermind that I was too busy to head out there, I didn’t even know how to find it.
As a business, Interbike benefitted from the return of a number of companies, such as Felt, to the show floor, but I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for Interbike. Exhibiting at Interbike can present the same expense as adding another full-time staff member. I think it’s just a matter of time before someone figures out better timing and a better venue and in that creates a better business model.
2013 Interbike, Part 6
Co-Motion introduced a new model, the Klatch, aimed at the emerging gravel-grinder category. This bike paired a Shimano drivetrain with TRP’s cable-actuated, double-cylinder hydraulic disc brakes. The frame easily has clearance enough for 32mm tires.
Co-Motion has had a reputation for excellent finishes dating back to the 1990s. This Macchiato pays homage to the Gulf racing team. It was arguably one of the most beautiful bikes I saw at the show.
It’s vaguely amazing to me that tandem companies have waited so long to do really powerful graphic treatments on their bikes.
Stan’s introduced a new 29z-inch carbon fiber mountain bike wheel that showed impressive strength and stiffness numbers while maintaing weight low enough to make it raceable.
Nalini, the Italian apparel manufacturer that is that seems to make more clothing for companies that it does under its own name, was displaying some impressive wool pieces. The construction techniques weren’t strictly old-school, though. The jersey had a reasonably long zipper—the longest possible given the chest pockets—and a gripper on the hem to keep it in place.
They also showed a matching set of wool bibs that had a Lycra bib sewn into them.
Even the pad looked like an old-school chamois. However, this is a current pad that is simply covered in a microfiber to make it look and feel like chamois.
A few companies have begun to show rain jerseys that offer a bit of insulation and some sort of wind and rain-stopping fabric while sticking with short sleeves.
The Nalini jersey featured grommets to allow water to drain from the pockets in the event of a Southern-style deluge.
This Bianchi celebrates the 80th anniversary of Campagnolo. This is the bike that Bianchi will be presenting to Valentino Campagnolo.
Not only does it sport an 80th-anniversary Super Record group, special decals call out the milestone as well.
The combination of the matte finish on both the frame and the components gave it a very choice look.
Honestly, this thing was so gorgeous, it was hard not to drool on the bike.
The new Infinito CV takes Bianchi toward a much cleaner look with fewer swoopy tubes.
The big news on this bike is the Countervail technology Bianchi is using. They are the only bike company using this vibration canceling technology. Based on a video demonstration they had, the materials are fairly effective at subduing vibration. I’m definitely interested to ride this bike.
Speedplay has been making a special pedal for the cobbled races for some time. It forgoes the plastic body normally found on the company’s road pedals. The idea is that it will shed mud more easily should a rider have to get off and walk through some mud, but it is not meant to be a cyclocross pedal as it still uses the traditional Speedplay cleat.
Scott introduced its first bike in the grand touring category, the Solace. It contains a number of visual cues that its designers aimed to make rider comfort a priority. The down tube is flattened near the bottom bracket and the seatstays join the top tube rather than the seat tube in an effort to make them as compliant as possible by increasing their length.
The fork on the Solace uses a slightly unusual design, sweeping the blades slightly forward of the dropouts. The intent is to provide a bit more flex vertically to increase rider comfort.
2013 Interbike, Part 5
Mavic is back in the pedal game. Yes, I know it looks like a Time pedal. They make it under contract for Mavic. Unlike previous Mavic pedals, this one weighs less than a bunch of grapes and has more cornering clearance than a little boy’s hips.
Guru has introduced a new frame, the Photon HL. While a great many manufacturers lead with frame weight, Guru has something a bit different. The Photon HL comes in custom geometry. Only custom geometry.
The layup work belongs to an emerging cohort of carbon builders—it’s an exceedingly short list; the only other ones I’ve seen so far are Alchemy and Argonaut. The frame is bejeweled with tiny pieces of carbon that speak to layup work that isn’t just deliberate, it’s artful.
For me, this frame was the single biggest revelation of the show.
Enve introduced some new budget-oriented builds for the 25s, 45s and 65s. They sourced different spokes and hubs without changing the rims in order to bring the cost down.
Enve also introduced a new set of disc brake hubs that are now an option for the SES series wheels.
Currently, there aren’t that many options for aerodynamic carbon wheels with disc brakes, but then maybe that’s because the demand for them isn’t quite what it is for carbon fiber frames.
Moots introduced a new model, the rather aptly named Vamoots Disc Road. It’s a gravel grinder that was gifted great tire clearance and disc brakes.
It’s spec’d with an Enve fork with a steerer that tapers from 1 1/8″ to 1 1/2″ for great strength and precise steering.
The folks at Moots made a battery holder for the Di2 battery to place it inside the seatpost. The build used a Dura-Ace Di2 group combined with Shimano’s new road disc brakes. One of my favorite bikes of the show.
If all you ever do is write about road bikes, you miss out on stuff like this cruiser from Electra. It’s as much a fashion statement as it is transportation, but it’s a fun chance to point out that we, as dedicated cyclists, can incorporate a city bike into our lives for running errands and it can make a fun and entertaining statement at the same time.
When I was a kid I wanted to replace the grips on my Raleigh Chopper with some cool ones that sparkled. These orange ones from Electra would have been ideal. They speak to the many accessories that Electra produces that not only look good but often trade on a bit of nostalgia, and while I’m not a big fan of nostalgia, this is one time when it’s not just harmless, it’s fun.
The Electra electric Townie goes for less than many road bikes. At $2200, it’s not cheap, but this bike, and others of its ilk, is probably our best shot at recruiting more people into cycling. As the roads become ever more clogged with cars, we need all the sympathy and allies we can find. Electric bikes may be our best shot at making more friends.
The Townie comes with a dynamo front hub that powers a headlight. Nifty feature.
Focus unleashed a new road bike, the Izalco Max. This new bike is less a revision of the Izalco than a whole new bike. They’ve trimmed the tube shapes to just the structural essentials. It’s interesting that as bike engineers become more knowledgeable about bike design certain elements become more and more consistent, such as tiny seatstays, round top and down tubes and tapered forks.
This bike may look a bit familiar. Gone are any unusual tube shapes and the seatstays have been shrunken to not much more than the thickness of a pinky for good reason; those tiny stays do make the ride more comfortable.
What did surprise me about the new Izalco Max was just how tiny the fork blades were. My first guess would be that this fork would be comfortable but not handle well, but I’m told it has the precise steering we’ve come to expect from bikes ridden at the WorldTour level.
Friday Group Ride #185
Maybe we’re spoiled for choice. Classics season gives way to Grand Tour time. In between there are a veritable panoply of small, interesting races that drag the world’s fastest cyclists all over the globe. Our sport is steeped in history and tradition, and yet remains ripe for innovation, for new races like the Strade Bianche to take hold of our collective imagination.
Increasingly lost in the churn of the season is the World Championship.
Born on the track in the 1890s, cycling’s World Championships have taken myriad forms, been run by multiple governing bodies and been slotted into the calendar haphazardly for more than a century. At times, the race has been the pinnacle of the season, at others it has been what it seems to be now, an afterthought.
This is not to say there is no prestige to wearing the rainbow jersey, nor that some of the best riders of this generation will make it one of their primary objectives for the season. Despite the relative truth that the World Champ almost always has a crap season in the multi-colored top (see this bit from Philippe Gilbert), it’s hard for a bunch of go-fast lunatics not to want to be crowned World Champion.
But sitting where it does in the schedule, stuck on the end like a spare tire, it doesn’t lend itself to high prestige or fan excitement or even the intrigue of the world’s best going at it in their mid-season form. Instead, the top contenders have dragged themselves to the four corners, looking for competitive races to tune up their finishing speed rather than springing off the back of some more logical and high profile one-day racing earlier in the year.
Of course, this is also a marketing problem, and the UCI has shown itself to be mediocre at race promotion, at least when compared to the 800-pound gorilla in the cycloverse, the Amaury Sports Organtization, owner of the Tour de France among many, many others, or even an upstart sports agitator like Red Bull. Maybe the diminution of the World Championships is one more reason to change leadership atop the UCI.
The whole circus starts this weekend with the team time trial and carries on through the week, culminating in next weekend’s individual time trials and road races.
This week’s Group Ride asks, are these races important to YOU? If not, why not? Has your attention wandered since the Vuelta? Or even before that? Do you hope your favorite rider wins in Florence, or do you hope they avoid the rainbow stripes, the better to compete in the coming season’s more important races? Predictions are allowed, too, but no one gets any credit for picking Marianne Vos for anything.
Image: Fotoreporter Sirotti
