It’s out of the sun’s intense rays and into the dark (and sometimes dank) caverns of the Sands Convention Center for the next phase of the Interbike adventure.

We walked the halls and took a lot of photos of interesting stuff, we met old friends we haven’t seen since – well, last year’s show, and we did a little Interbike TV show taping (look for that to appear here soon). But it was two experiences after business hours were over that left the biggest impression on this reporter, at least right now, at this late hour.

First, at 6pm, when they started turning the lights off on our annual wine & cheese party at our booth, we headed downstairs to the induction ceremony for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Our own Philip Keyes, Access Editor, was being inducted this year. Earlier in the day he was all keyed up (sorry, blame that one on Amanda) and it was great to see him being honored. It happens to be the twentieth anniversary of NEMBA, the advocacy group he heads, and his co-advocates thought that nominating Philip would be a fitting tribute. Yes, indeed it was.

Among the other inductees was John Finley Scott, the personable Ph.D. who was cobbling together mountain bikes twenty years before anyone else. Billy Savage, the filmmaker behind the awesome movie Klunkerz, had made a short tribute film about Mr. Scott that was shown to close the ceremonies, and it was a fascinating and poignant introduction to the man (as his HOF induction comes posthumously).

Next it was time to make a quick change out of dress-up clothes and back into everyday superhero riding-around garb for the trip to the CrossVegas races on our mini-test bikes (no, they’re not all folders with 12″-16″ wheels, it’s the test that’s small). There was no way we were missing this, and it lived up to expectations – this race was one of the best sporting events I’ve ever attended (and I was there for Superbowl XL). The way the course was laid out, it looked like a snake in a bowl, winding back and forth and across and around the shallow valley that contained it. At any moment we could see at least six different stretches of the race laid out one after the other, from our perch right up against the tape all the way back to where the riders were black specks against the fluorescent-lit grass. In the middle of it all, the pit area was a seething mass of beer-fueled fans yelling for their favorites to run up the mid-course stairs faster.

As we rode up, Richard Fries was calling the final race, the Men’s Elite. I’d heard a rumor in the women’s bathroom back at the show that some guy named Lance was going to show up. Chalked it up to clever marketing (of which there was plenty in the bathrooms), but lo and behold, one of the names being called was Armstrong’s. Not near the front though. Kona tallcrosser Ryan “Treefarm” Trebon made it 2-for-2 on CrossVegas with his win, Giant’s Adam Craig was right up in there (which was kind of amazing as we didn’t hear his name much at all, he came out of nowhere), and the venerable Thomas Frishknecht of Scott-Swisspower, in his official retirement race, came in fifth. Sorry, I didn’t catch the other two names in the top five.

It was a grand spectacle though, big and exciting enough to draw in a couple walking their dogs down the street. Robert from TwoFish gave them an explanation of the race, complete with helpful motorcycle noises to indicate the riders’ efforts in motoring up the short hills, and by the end, half of the couple was yelling along with the rest of us.

This is just my version of one small part of the immense whirlwind that is Interbike. Go over to our Galleries to see lots and lots of photos, check out the Blog postings, and come back for our Interbike TV talk show videos (the show so huge it only airs three times per year).

Dirt Demo Great Escape

The Dirt Demo of Interbike at Bootleg Canyon is somewhat of a misleading name. The demo doesn’t consist of just mountain bikes, with flowing trails through the sand, and pinch flats under a scorching sun. There is a plethora of road, tandem, recumbent, and funky other bikes and shenanigans going on. I was proud to take part in some monkey business that involved an Izip electric assisted comfort bike and the highway.

With great plans of humor and to see the power generating Hoover Dam, Evan Perrone and I settled on a quick sprint to the great landmark 10-miles away. We didn’t want to spend all day riding there or all our energy climbing from the dam back up to Boulder City, after all there were still mountain bikes to try. So it quickly became clear that we needed to commandeer a pair of electric bikes and head south on Interstate 93 to save time and the legs for later.

We first grabbed to separate brand of bikes, but Evan’s battery died before we reached the highway and my bike was too damn heavy to risk having to pedal a 60lb plus bicycle back to Dirt Demo if the charge failed too soon. Scanning the demo site we spotted Izip’s booth and knew we had a winner.

Izip’s hybrid electric bikes look similar to a comfort bike, with the exception of the huge battery situated in the middle of the frame between the top and down tubes. We were assured that the batteries were fully charged and never disclosed our escape plan. After receiving a quick explanation of the five levels of pedal assistance and turning over our media cards, we set the electric motor to turbo -maximum assist- and took a practice lap. With an android sounding whine and a little extra torque behind the take off, we headed away from the crowd, weaved through the orange cones and left the exhibition area.

Turning left on 93 and scooting across four-lanes of traffic the smile on my face couldn’t have been bigger as Evan and I laughed like fools. The Izip peaks out with a top speed of about 40mph on the flats and a 30-mile range on a full charge, not including the steep and long grades we would encounter. We passed through a small business district then read the road signs as the miles were counted down to the Hoover Dam. The ride down was pretty simple and we spotted a few roadies heading in the opposite direction heading back to Bootleg Canyon. They were to become the gauge of the electric assist return in a game of cat and mouse.

With amazing panoramic views we navigated the serpent-like winding highway and spotted the dam then pulled off the pavement onto a stone viewing area that was about two-thirds of the way down. The skinniest chipmunk I’ve ever seen quickly appeared and obviously used to humans began begging for food. We stood and laughed some more at having achieved our capper, took some photos and
turned around to chase the roadies we saw miles ago.

Cruising uphill at a good pace I tucked in behind Evan and sat in his draft. The electric engine hummed and the smell of burning car brakes heading down had me worried that the belt driven left side of the bike was frying. I read a sign welcoming us back to Nevada and than alerting us to the Pacific Time Zone. Pedaling forward was too easy for the speed we were moving and in the distance the fist roadie was spotted. We picked up the pace and blew by her like she was standing still. The next group of roadies flatted and we stopped to offer a pump, gave them a 5-minute head start and soon caught and passed them again with video recorder in hand.

About an hour after we began our foolery, we returned the Izip bikes to their booth to a slightly dismayed representative. Having seen the Hoover Dam and a herd of long horned sheep it was time to get back into the dirt. I’ll soon have the video from our ride up on the web, so check back a little later for link. –Shannon Mominee

It wasn’t all that long ago that you would have had a very difficult time convincing me to ride anything with six or more inches of travel uphill for any distance. Fortunately, this new wave of six plus inch trail bikes is a whole different breed.

Pivot Firebird
Garnering its fair share of trade show buzz this year is Pivot’s new 167mm DW-link Firebird. Chris Cocalis, head guy behind Pivot, doesn’t seem to sit on his laurels for long, following up each project with something even more ambitious.  Hence the design details of the Firebird, such as the “floating front derailleur” that actually moves with, but is not directly mounted to, the swingarm.  The idea is to keep the chain within the sweet spot of the front derailleur throughout the travel range; and yes, the patent is pending.  The Firebird’s DW-link suspension design is also different from the other Pivot models in that the lower shock mounts directly to the suspension’s lower link.

Other notable features include a 1.5″ head tube, which allows Pivot to spec Fox’s new tapered E2 steer tube. Unlike the other Pivot models, the Firebird uses a traditional 73mm BB shell to allow for chain guide compatibility. For further technical details, check out Speedgoat’s excellent in-depth Fireblade report here.

Well, by now, I’m sure you’re wondering how it rides? In short, it rides like a bike.  And, I mean that in the most complimentary sense. I’m always impressed when I can hop on a bike with little to no learning curve, and the Firebird certainly didn’t disappoint. This bike pedals uphill better than quite a few 3-4″ travel bikes I’ve ridden, no joke. I’m still amazed how well this bike pedaled, finding little need to switch on the ProPedal. Point the Firebird downhill and things are very well damped and controlled. Geometry felt like a good compromise between downhill stability and climbing efficiency for a 6.5″ travel bike with enough weight over the rear wheel to inspire confidence descending, while maintaining enough weight on the front wheel to keep it from going skyward with each pedal stroke while climbing.

Probably the most impressive aspect of the Firebird is its ability to absorb bumps large and small while still communicating what’s happening at your contact patches.  This ability to communicate has a great deal to do with the confidence inspiring nature of the Firebird.

Although I’ve only had one relatively short ride aboard the Firebird, I’m pretty convinced we have a winner here. The Firebird climbs like a short travel bike, descends like a long travel bike, doesn’t weigh a ton, and inspires confidence in its rider­–sounds a bit like everyone’s dream bike, eh?

Kona CoilAir

Kona first introduced their Magic Link concept on the CoilAir last summer, but I’ve not had the pleasure of riding one of these bikes until this year’s Dirt Demo. I’ll let you skip over to Kona’s website for the full details behind the Magic Link.  They explain things far better than I can, but in a nutshell; pedaling forces pull the Magic Link forward, which steepens the bike’s angles and shortens travel to six inches, while braking and bump forces pull the Magic link rearward, which in turn slackens the angles and extends travel to a whopping 7.4 inches of travel. All of this pushing and pulling, combined with ever changing head and seat tube angles certainly had me wondering just how this bike was going to feel on trail?

I’m happy to report that, in my brief ride, there was no unsettling change in the handling, quite the contrary, in fact.  The CoilAir rode consistently and predictably, I was only able to actually feel the Magic link doing its thing in abrupt g-outs, where the rear wheel seemed to hang back.

Climbing on the CoilAir was, once again, a pleasant surprise. With the Magic Link forward the bike’s angle were steep enough for comfortable uphill pedaling for those that like to earn their keep. Pointing the CoilAir downhill, it quickly because obvious that this bike is built for some gnarly terrain. With a 67º head tube, this bike certainly prefers to be pointed down something steep, and the faster the better.
Only took one short ride to realize the CoilAir means business. This bike is built for some serious downhilling, and can be comfortably–if not quickly–pedaled back to the top.

Comparing these two bikes might be fair in that they both cater to a gravity-oriented crowd that doesn’t mind also pedaling uphill. In all fairness, however, I think these bikes represent the different directions the all mountain/freeride market has taken.  On one hand, you have a light 6.5″ travel bike that pedals nearly as well as it descends, while maintaining almost cross-country handling characteristics.  On the other hand, you have a bike that varies travel from 6″ to 7.4″ and handles more like a dedicated downhill machine with slacker angles.  Like everything else in the bicycle industry there’s no right, or wrong, answer here, but rather simply picking the bike that best fits your needs and riding style.  We’re lucky to have so many excellent choices.

At Interbikes past, we used to travel from our digs at a weird, kind of crusty Travelodge on the Vegas Strip to the Sands convention center for the indoor portions of the show on a random assortment of borrowed bikes. Last year we wised up and borrowed some demo bikes from Raleigh and Diamondback, and rented a house to stay in. This year we got even smarter and assembled a fleet of proper commuting bikes in a wide variety of styles, and rented a different house on the same side of Interstate 15 as the Sands so we wouldn’t have to try merging on the freeway anymore.

The lucky riders will give a more full report – a mini-test, if you will – on their experiences aboard these machines later on. Watch this space for more details.

Here is the lineup:

- Felt Café 8 Deluxe, a relaxed but practical 8-speed bike with an integrated rack (and cupholder!)
- Felt X:City 2, a bit more speed-oriented, with a Shimano Alfine internal 8-speed hub
- Giant Twist Freedom DX W “hybrid” bike – hybrid as in propelled by a combination of pedal and electric motor power
- KHS Urban-Xtreme, a lightweight flat-bar road-ish bike with big gears (here’s a link to the ‘08 version)
- Pashley Roadster Classic, a proper English bike and a “whale among minnows”
- Raleigh Clubman, a steel-framed “café racer” with drop bars and Shimano compact road gearing
- Rans Alterra, a prototype crank-forward mountain bike – yes, a recumbent, sort of (here’s a link to the bike it’s replacing, the Dynamik Pro)
- Masi Soulville, a curved-frame steel bike with full road gearing and a swept-back handlebar (’08 version here)

There are a lot of different options for commuting and other types of road riding these days, and this is but a small dip in the pool, but we aim to shed some light on those options. We’re also scoping out bikes for future full reviews. Stay tuned for more…

And we are back from brutally hot Las Vegas, Nevada. (Not Las Vegas, New Mexico… and no, we’re not located in Pittsburg, California, thanks for asking.) It’s been another brutally hot day – sorry to keep commenting on this, but we’re constantly amazed that anyone would willingly live here. Anyway, they’ve at least got some good trails, specifically in Bootleg Canyon, where the Outdoor Demo is being held.

One theme emerging from the wares available for riding at the Demo is a theme continuing from last year: long travel getting longer. We saw plenty of all-mountain bikes add an inch, like the Diamondback Sortie series (going from 4″ to 5″) and the Kona Dawgs (increasing from 5″ to 6″). Meanwhile frames are still getting lighter and more finely tuned in concert with shocks, so that all that travel has good manners. Some amazing stuff.

Some of the biggest news is that Chris King has come out with… drumroll please… a bottom bracket. It’s not the most crazy thing out there, but if you remember, as I do, the King catalog page from ten years ago where they talked about how they’re hard at work developing the perfect bottom bracket, it’s pretty big news. Since they started work on this project, mountain bike bottom brackets have gone from square-taper to ISIS to external bearings, but the King masterminds haven’t leapt to follow trend, but rather continued on their monkish path to perfection. The result is a rather unassuming-looking external bearing BB that is compatible with Shimano-style cranks and comes in the familiar King anodized colors, ten of them now (more on that later). But look closer and you see the grease injection ports, find out it has a five (5!) year warranty, and feel how absolutely perfectly the King brand cup-removal tool fits the cups. Of course the cranks feel smooth like buttah both on the countertop and on the handful of demo bikes with the BBs installed. Going for $130 starting immediately.

It’s kind of sad when new colors count as news, but fashion is important among us bike geeks whether we admit it or not, and when it’s a company whose colors are as iconic as Chris King’s, it’s pretty cool. So King has come out with a full range of parts in a nice rich chocolate brown. Mmmmm, chocolate…

Titus is in the process of “taking over the world” (according to Justin), or at least just offering more options. Their two new models, the FTM and the X-Frame, will replace the beloved Moto Lite and RacerX respectively. But don’t worry, kids, the Moto and Racer X aren’t going away, they’re just dropping in price – down to around $1695 each. The $2295 FTM will have an aluminum front triangle (made in U.S.A.) with a carbon rear end (made in Taiwan, home of the new carbon experts) with 135mm of travel. Its similarly-priced sister the X-Frame (shown below) has a more svelte 105mm of travel with carbon seatstays.

In addition to giving the Sorties some growth hormones, Diamondback is making a new limited-edition model, the Sortie Black. This trick-looking bike has a Fox Float RLC fork using the new 15QR quick-release thru-axle standard, a Float RP23 rear, and Mavic Crossmax SLR wheels. Total weight is an amazingly light 26lbs., for a hefty price of $5200. It is still strange to see parts that were formerly the exclusive property of XC racer geeks show up on 5″-travel bikes, and be perfectly at home.

We saw and rode a lot more stuff. Click on over to the Gallery section for photos and brief bits, and check back here for more on what we rode and what we saw. Now I hear there’s a reconnaissance mission to the Pinball Hall of Fame forming…

We are live at the first day of the Interbike trade show. It’s a hot one here in Vegas, which leads to more hell comparisons than usual, but we’re persevering for you, our dear audience. (Of course after persevering on the hot and dusty desert trails of Bootleg Canyon, scene of the Demo portion of the show, we are now persevering poolside. Maybe even with a beer in hand. A rough scene for sure.)

The first day of the Outdoor (formerly the better-sounding “Dirt”) Demo is mellow, as many of the dealers who flock here from across the nation elect not to come until the second day. It makes for a perfect opportunity for us to grab test rides on the most desirable bikes early.

The first shady tent I visited was the Salsa installation, and they had some tasty goods. They’re coming out with a new bike of an old sort that’s making a comeback lately: the Fargo, with drop handlebars and fat tires together, like peanut butter and chocolate. It was inspired a trip from Anchorage to Moab undertaken some 14 years ago by Jason Boucher – he’s been dreaming of the perfect dirt touring bike ever since. (That kind of a trip will stay with you.) This one’s got mounts for six (6!) bottle cages, or fuel canisters as the case may be, and of course rack and fender mounts. Its rear disc caliper is nestled in the crook of the rear triangle, an increasingly popular place, which keeps it out of the way of all those other mounts.

Coincidentally Chuck Hood of Co-Motion walked up to the booth with a similar sort of bike, the Pangea, a special build for some folks on a round-the-world trip (more info on that later). The down tube, seat tube and chainstays are tandem-size (Co-Motion being tandem experts and all), and it sports full-on fat tires as well, making it a true beast of burden. Chuck has put the beast through its paces and called the ride “supple.”

Andrew and I went out to actually do some demoing on some dirt, he on the Fargo, and me on Salsa’s new 4″-travel 29er, the Big Mama (see our Blog about Mama and the El Kaboing). The Big Mama’s a pure fun bike, and didn’t feel as big as her name implies – she’s more big in spirit than in body. She handled the loose, gravelly terrain with enough ease that I even caught a little air, and didn’t feel hefty hefty on the way up (or down).

From what we saw today, it would seem that a common area of exploration is increasing travel on 29ers, to four, five, and even six inches. It’s a natural progression – engineers and framebuilders have learned how to build bikes around 29″ wheels, then figured out how best to add some travel, now they’re increasing it. Where’s the natural limit, though? Hard to say. The larger wheels don’t need as much suspension in the first place, but they also are supposedly weaker (although I haven’t seen a plague of taco’d big wheels amongst the people I know who ride them), so their potential for hucking, downhill, freeride, etc. use is perhaps not so great. It is amazing, though, what those engineers have been able to accomplish in terms of keeping the weight down on these big frames.

Next up for some dirt demo action was the Titus Racer X, aluminum 29er version. This bike doesn’t mess around: firm suspension, quick steering, fast acceleration. However the ProPedal switch on the Fox RP23 shock (which is cropping up on still more bikes) made a big difference in the suspension feel, going from “all business” to “well, maybe we’ll kick back and have a few.”

You may have seen those ads and perhaps checked out the website of a hippie-lookin’ dude named Hammerschmidt who’s been hanging with the otherwise clean-cut folks at SRAM. Well, this dude makes an interesting crankset. The Truvativ Hammerschmidt crank is a solution for the funkiness of a front derailleur on a big-travel bike; it’s an enclosed two-gear system that operates with a SRAM X-0 or X-9 shifter, giving either a 22/36t or a 24/38t combination, but in a small space and with only one actual chainring.

I checked out a disassembled one on a table in the SRAM tent, and it looks surprisingly simple:

I tried one out on a cute little track laid out behind the tent, and was amazed at how truly instantaneous the shifting was. It was so fast, I nearly launched myself off the bike going into the 38 “tooth” Overdrive mode.
As that little taste didn’t qualify as a ride, I sought out another interesting specimen for a longer trip, and found the always-interesting Ibis booth. They’ve been making some changes to the unique Tranny frame they showed at last year’s show, with the help of Brian Lopes, who’s been racing one in four-cross competition: “detuning” the chainstays for better feel, and making the seatstay cable guides removable and crafting nifty expandable top-tube guides for easily switching between singlespeed or geared configurations. The Trannys available for demoing were set up as singlespeeds, and in fact one of Ibis’ own placed in the top 30 at the SSWC08 atop one.

But the beautiful Mojo caught my riding eye. Damn, for a 5.5″-travel bike, it sure pedaled fast. All that travel didn’t make its presence known until it was called upon to make up for my sloppy, heat-addled steering skills sending me into the rocks. That shiny red upper link is new – what formerly was two halves on either side of that bolt is now one piece, thanks to those connecting bits going across horizontally. It’s only 15g more material that adds what the Ibis folks say is a significant amount of stiffness to the rear end.

Stay tuned, dear audience, to this space for more updates from the desert. Click here for our photo gallery from day one of Outdoor Demo.