Product 2002

DAY ONE

The sense I got from exhibitors at last year's show was that attendance was down from the year before, in contrast to Interbike's stated view that 7 percent more dealers attended than during 1999. Exhibitors were concerned that last year's light traffic presaged a declining trend.

Add to that the jitters caused by events of September 11 and the mood was downright gloomy. Word was that an antiques show scheduled for the same dates as Interbike cancelled entirely.

Imagine the surprise when Interbike's opening day yesterday was slammin'. Booths were full and dealers were eager. Better than last year, most exhibitors said.

More to the point for Slowtwitch readers, what are exhibitors showing? Dialogue from each of the past three years at Interbike...

Empfield to Cobb: John, what's cool at the show this year?
Cobb: Nuthin.
Empfield to Hed: Steve, what's cool this year?
Hed: Nuthin.

Not so this year. For the first time in a long while this show intrigues. The theme? Lightweight. There are so many new, lightweight products for both road and tri that it appears quite easy to build a rideable 13- or 14-pound bike. Stem and bar by Deda, parts by Campy (it's carbon Record crank, at right, saves almost 200g over its aluminum version), fork by Reynolds (or any number of companies), saddles and posts by Sella Italia or Gipiemme, and you're there.

The second obvious trend is carbon rear stays––not individual tubes like those introduced by Seven Cycles in its Odonata several years ago, but unicrown monocoque wishbones. A significant number of road bikes have these, on both aluminum and titanium models.

A third evident trend is integrated headsets. Interestingly––as with, say, shaped tubes in road race bikes over the past few years––makers are ambivalent about this feature. Few bike makers show technical enthusiasm for integrated headsets, but they're loathe to omit this feature from their designs for fear of being outsexed by their competitors.

In subsequent installments we'll look at some of these themes in depth, but one thing is certain. While it's no virtue to rejoice in the hardship of others, readers of this journal can thank the troubles in the mountain bike market for the fruitful surge in the attention companies are paying to the road market. It is less the increase in road riders than the decrease in MTB sales. The product offerings in year's show indicate that bike makers see the trend. And that's why, if you're a road rider, the show is interesting for the first time in years: They're finally playing our tune.

DAY TWO

Life is short. So was my alotted time at this show. While Interbike went through Wednesday afternoon, I had to be back in San Diego and then up to L.A. for a flight to Kona on Wednesday. I therefore had to sprint through the show the first day, just to get the broad overview. On day two there were particular booths I wanted to visit.

Problem was, it's hard for me to do this show on a time budget. I have a million acquaintances in the bike industry, and as I walk the aisles I pass one every three-point-five seconds. My wife stopped going to this show years ago because it can easily take me 20 minutes to go 20 feet, what with my propensity to glad-hand and reminisce.

Take handlebars, for example. I spent 45 minutes at the Syntace booth. Did it take that long to see the line? The chief new product was the now-apparently-finally-ready Blackbird, and I'd spent the last two mornings road testing it, along with a new Sella Italia SLR saddle and Mandaric's new carbon-seat-stayed Yaqui. So no, I could've done Syntace in five minutes, but instead I chose to stay and listen to a soliloquy in a convincing Egyptian accent by Syntace USA's president Sham Ehlag after I asked him if the FBI had banged on his door yet. Then one thing led to another and I'd killed three-quarters of an hour. (The Blackbird's nice, by the way.)

Profile Design has its version of lightweight bar, a two-piece carbon job very elegant in its simplicity and potentially a world-beater. It's final shape and armrest pad arrangement is not yet complete so I'll reserve final judgment until I see the ready-to-ride version. Also notable is its 2002 Aerolite (left), which now sports an F-18 armrest. This armrest is standard on Profile Design's most advanced bars. Look for this bar to start showing up as original equipment on popular tri bikes. Right now Syntace owns the OE tri market. But the Aerolite is length-adjustable, whereas the Syntace SL is not. Therefore, a retailer who sells a built bike––say a QR or a Trek Hilo––might have to change out one size of SL for another for a customer, and that's a lot of cable re-routing. The Aerolite's length adjustability solves that problem. Replacing the Aerolite's uncomfortable round armrests with the F-18s now make this bar a force in both the OE and mid-priced aftermarket arenas. Profile Design also showed a new Jammer with F-18s installed––basically a John Cobb Big-Slam bar with F-18s in place of Vision Tech armrests.

Hed has a new disc, and it's flat. This was an eyebrow-raiser, because Steve Hed's always said that lenticular discs are faster. Why a flat disc now? Because, he says, he's had a problem with derailleur and cog clearance on some nine- and especially ten-speed bikes with his lenticular discs. But this flat disc is a disc with a twist. It's got a lens-shaped indent near the rim on both the disc's sides. Later in the day I found John Cobb and pulled him aside. "Does this lens indent really work?" I asked.

"You bet. Had it in the tunnel. Doesn't make the disc particularly faster, but the bike'll handle better."

The disc also has a nice price––$495––and it weighs in at 850 grams.

While I had Cobb cornered I asked him about Garneau's new aero helmet. I like this company because everything it makes, from clothing to gloves to helmets, shows an attention to detail and function. The helmets fit superbly. I was surprised, though, to see an aero helmet, and glad to see this one's CPSC-approved for racing.

"I doubt it's as fast as the Giro Lance uses in his time trials," said Cobb. "But then Lance's helmet is neither legal for racing, nor available. That makes this [Garneau] the fastest thing out there by default, and it's faster by a large margin. There's just nothing else out there to compete with it."

With its lack of venting it's not going to be a Kona helmet, but it'll be good for Olympic-distance races and down, and perhaps a cool-weather half. It comes with a visor, and Cobb is unsure if he likes that feature. "They should sell it with the visor off, or perhaps as an accessory," he said. "Too many people like to wear sunglasses." (The visor is removable).

Cobb and I both were surprised at the $95 price. In talking to the Garneau folks it seemed they were leery about whether this helmet would actually sell, hence its cheap price. In talking to retailers, though, sales ought not to be a problem. I heard a rumor that Nytro ordered 50 of them to start with, and the other shops with whom I spoke also ponied up.

I looked at Shimano and came back to take a closer look at Campy. There's not too much to report. In fact, at 105 and above I could perceive no difference in Shimano's road line, except for some changes to its wheels. Speaking of wheels, Campy has a nifty-looking set of road race wheels that sport carbon hubshells and rims. They weigh nothing and cost a year's salary.

Before I leave components, noteworthy was the lineup by Wipperman. This is a German company that's been around for more than a century and makes chains. All kinds of chains. Timing chains for Mercedes Benz, and chains that go in elevator shafts and chains that open your electric garage doors. Almost 500 people work in its chain factory. Wipperman makes a stainless steel chain for Campy 10-speed systems that connects with no tools! The same patented connection system works on its 9-speed chains for Shimano, and these excellent chains are priced right as well. Since I have a pair of Campy 10-speed bikes I'm looking forward to trying these out, as I've felt ever since I first put my 10-speeds together that Campy's chain has been its––er––weak link. I spoke to some people who've been riding these Wippermans for awile––like Matt Bracken, sales manager for Independent Fabrications. He reckons it's at least the equal of the Campy 10-speed chain. So I bagged a couple of chains, and I'll report back after I ride them.

Only thing I don't like about this show is the riff-raff that sneaks in––people who don't really have anything to do with the bike business but somehow manage to snake their way into the exhibit hall. Like this guy I found hanging around the Italian pavilion. No doubt some wannabe. Anybody know who he his? If I can uncover his identity I'll report him to show authorities.

Speaking of reporting, tomorrow I'll comment on Felt, Kestrel, QR, and others.

DAY THREE

As has been previously mentioned, upwards of 20 tons of tobacco a day gets smoked in this town (by my estimate). Yet if you mined the lungs of each and every Las Vegas cancer stick user the aggregate amount of carbon assayed would be less than that found in these halls on this day. Carbon rules at Interbike this year. The sexiest bikes at the show had carbon in them. If they weren't entirely carbon they had carbon forks, or perhaps carbon stays—like this Litespeed aluminum bike at left (yes, Litespeed's making aluminum bikes now, and they look darn nice)—and were topped by carbon seat posts and carbon saddles. Carbon rims supported many of these bikes, which may have been spoked around carbon hub shells, and you might be turning carbon cranks to propel the machine.

Giant had stems that were aluminum surrounding carbon, and these were on bikes priced down toward a thousand bucks. Handlebars were carbon––your basic road race bars––and several companies had them, including Easton, Deda and Cinelli. As for carbon stays, there were so many of these at the show that I told QR it ought to sew some Kevlar-laminated fabric into the butts of its wetsuits just to make carbon rear ends ubiquitous throughout its line.

Speaking of QR, at right is its carbon-stayed PR Compact, a feature-rich bike for $2,095. Litespeed/QR have bought into carbon stays entirely. Even the Litespeed Ultimate has carbon stays. On the one hand, one might be tempted to question this strategy, as it may send a confusing message to the buyer: If titanium is such a comfortable material, why are you replacing it with carbon?

On the other hand, there is no doubt that carbon has its advantages, one of which is the way it deadens vibration the way no metal can.

On the other other hand, adding carbon stays makes the bike heavier (slightly), and it certainly affords another opportunity for your equipment to fail. How long will these carbon-to-aluminum bonds last? Or carbon-to-titanium (pictured left, in one of Litespeed's models)? Who knows, but my own manufacturing experience has been positive bonding carbon to aluminum, and of course there are plenty of wheel builders who've bonded the two metals together.

Then there is the question of whether the difference is great enough to justify the expense and the potential for delamination. At the same time I was attending Interbike I was performing just such a road test on a carbon-stayed bike (Yaqui Carbo, upcoming), which might give the reader some insight.

There were plenty of bikes that remained basically unchanged. Kestrels were not appreciably different to the eye, except for some new paint. There were some tweaks inside some of the frames, however. The KM40 Airfoil got a bit lighter, and the Talon's rear was tweaked to make it ride a little more comfortably.

Cervelos didn't change at all. These bikes are already well-made and the P2K and P3 are probably far enough ahead of the pack in terms of aerodynamics that nothing I saw at this year's show is going to challenge their preeminence in that regard––except Softride, which always challenges Cervelo for the title of slipperiest bike. Sometimes, as in the case of Cervelo, the biggest changes you need to make from one year to the next are those which center on distribution, execution, dealer training, etc., and this is its focus for 2002.

I road-tested Trek's Hilos over the past couple of years, and as I recall my comments were in the order of: Nice bikes, but they're $300 or $400 too expensive for what you get. The bikes are unchanged as far as I know, but they now cost several hundred dollars less per model. I therefore now pronounce these bikes a bargain on the assumption that they don't change much in spec. I don't know if that is the case or not, because Trek didn't show the Hilos in its booth. There were a variety of bikes Trek didn't show because of booth-size constraints. One assumes, though, that Trek brought the bikes it deemed most important, and the Hilos didn't make the cut. So one of two things is happening. Either the price on these bikes was cut because Trek really wants to make inroads into the triathlon market and is digging deep in order to do so, or it is selling out of its inventories of Hilos in advance of discontinuing this model. I have no idea which is the case. I only posit the latter because I also note that its new star, Peter Reid, does not ride the Hilo, and neither of course does Lance Armstrong when he time trials. Trek's OCLV 5900 is fast becoming a star seller among the high-priced bike buyers in the sport of triathlon, and it may be that Trek is preparing to steer its multisport buyers toward OCLV technology at the expense of the Hilos.

None of this really matters. As long as the Hilos take a dive only in price, not spec, these are going to be good values for shoppers. The Hilo 1000 should be priced at about $1,400, and whether Trek will make a long-term commitment to this line, its long-term commitment to its warranty is undeniable. Customers need not be concerned.

Not specifically weight-related, but exceptionally prevalent, were integrated headsets. As has been the case in years past with, say, formed downtubes on road race (not tri) bikes, the industry has adopted these not because it's bought into the technical argument as much as it's afraid to not have a feature its competitors have.

The Litespeed Blade's integrated headset appears at left, and it definitely makes for a more sleek look. Realize, though, that bearing races are built into the frame's head tube. This means two things: Changing out a headset entirely—cups, races, and all—is not quite as simple with this design as it is with a traditional design, and the historic line between component makers and frame makers has become blurred. I offer no opinion on which style is better, because frankly I'm not yet sure. It would be a significant omission from this report, though, to not mention this obvious trend.

The Slowtwitch reader will excuse me, I hope, if coverage of Interbike ends just now. Due to the insensitivity of both the producers of Interbike and Ironman toward my traveling constraints––don't they realize the world revolves around Slowtwitch?––I now must transition (as only a triathlete can) from one event to the other. My travels before, during and after Interbike are chronicled in my Small and Petty Tour and, as has been stated there, Wednesday is, for me, Interbike's end and Kona's beginning. Perhaps I'll publish an Interbike epilogue as I'm on the plane over to the Big Island. Or not. (We'll see).

It was the most interesting show in years, especially if you were a road rider. My only regret is––as I reported yesterday––the repeated crashing of this show by people not in the business. Like the guy pictured at right––an English fellow obviously not supposed to be here. He's apparently a friend of the Carnac people, as I snapped his photo in that shoe company's booth. I'll grant that he did have a command of the language. I'm quite sure that if he did actually ride he'd be "all over his machine," "hanging on by the skin of his shorts," "strong in the leg but not so strong in the head," and he'd find that "A wet jersey is a heavy jersey." But perhaps I've misjudged him. Maybe he'd be so good on the bike that "if he turns around to look, he's not going to see any riders back there, not even with glasses on, because they're all far, far behind him."

MOREOVER

"Permission," as they say in Congress, "to revise and extend my remarks."

Doing Interbike in three days is like doing Disney World in three hours. You can get the gist of it, but there's a lot you miss. Moreover, you could write a book (instead of an article) on what's at that show, and you'd still leave a lot out.

What made covering Interbike really hard this year was its proximity to Kona. The show ended Wednesday afternoon, and the Ironman was on that same Saturday. I was not the only person trying to be two places at once––I spotted Cervelo's Gerard Vroomen, Litespeed's Herbert Krebel, Zipp's Andy Ording, and Craig Calfee at both events––but there weren't many of us. Now that Kona is over, I'll revisit Interbike.

First I'd like to correct some wrong impressions I left, and some out-and-out errors I made, in my initial notes on this show. I said that Trek is selling the heck out of the 5900 to triathletes. I said this based on my conversations with tri-specific dealers like John Cobb, who said they'd sold a large number of these. I assumed that this was because I always see a lot of OCLVs in the transition racks at races like the Ironman, and that the 5900 was the logical model many so-inclined triathletes would gravitate toward. In fact, upon questioning John and other dealers after the show, they confirmed that, yes, they'd been selling this bike rapidly, but not so much to triathletes. It's been a popular model for the growing road race market many of these dealers have been cultivating. As for the upper-end carbon frame that triathletes might be more inclined to buy––the USPS Time Trial frameset ridden by Lance in the Tour time trials (and pictured above)––this has been sold to triathletes. But at $4,000 for frame and fork it's expensive. While Cobb sold a fair number of these frames, the total number was no more than a third of the the number of 5900s he sold.

I saw many Treks in the racks in Kona, but few of these frames (no doubt because of the cost). I did see some. I'm not sure what to make of the geometry, as it's measured sort of goofily. There are three sizes, none that are likely to fit women who are average-sized or smaller. As for the rest of the geometry, I'd have to fit one up and ride it to see how I think Trek did.

I'm still not sure where Trek is heading with the offerings it sells to our sport. After huddling up with some of the Trek dealers I know, I still don't whether triathletes will be nudged toward the aluminum Hilo series or the popular OCLV models over the next 12 to 18 months.

I believe I also may've underserved those who're reading this series with an eye toward what Cervelo is doing for 2002. Yes, that company is directing a lot of its energy toward fine-tuning distribution and delivery issues, the importance of which, as a former bike manufacturer, I can attest to. Its products are not without some change, however. Aside from new paint, there are some design tweaks, two in particular. Cervelo is moving to integrated headsets in some of its models. More significantly, it has redesigned its seat clamp. Its seat post and saddle clamp mechanisms are intricate and––with its flippable seat clamp––functional. But the guts of its geometry-altering saddle clamp was due for a makeover––thought Cervelo–and it'll be different for 2002. The new clamp is also available as an aftermarket retrofit for previous Cervelo bikes.

Softride has made a few changes to the way its inners work on its beams, but more importantly its frames have some new geometries. That has always been one issue I have with this innovative company. It, along with monocoque makers such as Kestrel, has expensive molds that require such a capital investment that customers may need to wait years for a size and geometry that fit them. Softride has burned the midnight oil to update its geometry for aught-two, and I saw in particular a smaller-sized Rocket TT frame that had a postively puny head tube (perhaps 10cm to 12cm in length). That was nice to see, because getting the bars low enough has sometimes been a chore for aggressively positioned riders.