Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Interbike: Bits and Pieces, Odds and Ends...

it may not be the most well known manufacturer / color combination, but the Gios blue has an envious storied past. they are set to reintroduce their line of carbon, aluminum and steel framed bikes here in the States

seems like everyone was showing at least one CX model, which seems to say something about the growing influence of the sport in America. this is the H&R Block Team bike by Norco

there was some fantastic art work at the show. some of the sculptures made of bike parts were incredible. this one called Powerglide, by Lewis Tardy, brilliantly captures the sense of motion

my only experience of Origin8 is my singlespeed, but i grow more impressed each time i see one.
their new carbon model road bike looks a sweet ride

i am not anywhere near the connoisseur of mtb components that i am of those for the road, but couldn't help but be impressed with Formula. incidentally guys, your displays were super sexy, museum quality. clearly some thought went into them

Look, every bike you brought was stunning - works of art, and treated as such. like Formula, a very nice display

KHS - too much clutter. i own two of your bikes, one road, one mountain, and don't have a negative word to say about either, but seventeen models of road "racing" bikes alone seems like overkill, even when you separate out the women's specific models. that said, the mtb's are looking better than ever and I think anyone could rock a cross course on the 300CX

again with Look? believe it! i'll take this, and one of those, and that mtb, oh,
and the cross bike. definitely the cross bike

did anyone not appreciate this da Vinci tandem? seriously, anyone?

Bottecchia, another venerable name out of Italy, and set to make a comeback

Brompton, a clever display to match a clever bike

A couple more companies, who I did not get photos of their stuff, but are most definitely worthy of mention: Elsworth, their Roots CX bike looked top notch, but I couldn't get close to it, due to its placement. Then lastly, the Bikeray lighting systems, powerful, and economical LED lights.


There are were some advocacy and philanthropic organizations, you may or may not be familiar with: Trips for Kids, Ride for Reading, 1000bikes.org. Give them some support, if you can, they do good work.


Clif, Powerbar, Gu, Brubar, Jelly Belly, Voke, thanks for attending. A whole lot of people would not have made it through the three days without daily ingesting all your samples.

I have not been to an Interbike show since 1995 in Anaheim, and I am still not convinced that it was worth the expense that it turned out to be, but for a bike geek, like me, it was surely a lot of fun. Best of all, though I wasn't there placing big orders for various product, when I told reps that I was there as media, covering the show for my blog, no one was put out, and literally everyone was enthusiastic to talk about their goods and answer my questions. I know I have forgotten some things, so expect some small posts concerning Interbike over the next couple weeks, and I have some small product reviews upcoming, but for now, that's it.

2 comments:

  1. This was my 10th Interbike; 4th with Shimano. Interesting to see the change in vendor make-up over the years. Some interesting non-bike companies working hard to get a foothold. But it is an exhausting week.

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  2. I can only imagine there are some long hours put in, before, during and after. I wonder if the numbers of non-bike specific companies says something about the strength of the cycling market, especially in the current economy. Perhaps they see it as a good bet, and worth pursuing.

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