Earlier today the 2012 Eurobike show opened its 13 major halls and several appendixes to a flood of trade visitors and media - and it was immediately on like Donkey Kong.

There were so many shoes to see that we could have spent this whole issue featuring footwear, but we kept it to a reasonable amount. After all there were so many other interesting items to show, plus we will have more images on our Facebook page.

All images © Herbert Krabel / slowtwitch.com

There can't be a cycling event in Europe without the presence of Didi Senft.

Pearl Izumi's Tri Fly Carbon IV looks quite nice in this color. Along those lines, neon colors actually seem to be a trend.

Tange always has very cool bikes in their booth and this Yasujiro downhill racer was no exception.

Here is that Yasujiro in action. No pedals, just very big balls.

The Scott Road Premium shoe is hard to overlook.

The Oval 970 Jetstream aero bar is not UCI compliant, but that should really not matter, that in fact should be embraced.

The simple clamping system uses a sleeve inside and is quite light.

A lineup of Zoot UltraRace 4.0 shoes.

Steve Hed with the Vanquish carbon clincher wheel. He is always up for a technically interesting conversation.

We had our first look at the Rotor powermeter, but will get more details by tomorrow.

The new Cannondale Slice RS looks very stealthy.

Fizik finally unveiled their new triathlon shoe.

The Lazer Wasp helmet is indeed reminding us of a wasp, and the Belgian crew calls it currently the most aerodynamic helmet in the world.

The new colorway of the Cervelo R5.

This is the new BH aero bike and Eneko Llanos already has his.

The 2013 Blue Triad SL is still stealthy, but not too much.

The Blue Triad SL features the Omega brake up front.

We coveted the Giro Empire shoe, because it is cool and because we want to be like Taylor Phinney.

Poc had quite a few of these Tempor helmets in their booth.

Interbike's Justin Gottlieb and Pat Hus enjoying a cold one after a long day.