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).

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…

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.

As my finger triggers the mouse-click that will send this post hurtling through cyberspace, I’m minutes away from locking my front door behind me and embarking on the annual Interbike ritual. I’m not alone. The entire Dirt Rag staff, not to mention everybody and their cousin in the bike industry, are making like buzzards heading to Hinckley.

Except we’re heading to Las Vegas—the place where it’s tough to know where the bullshit ends and the truth begins.

Which reminds me of a little essay that I wrote in 2000 for the Dirtier Daily—the Dirt Rag ‘zine that we hand-made every night after the show, poolside at the now-extinct Vagabond Motel (a fine establishment that was home to few fleas that enjoyed some mighty prime real estate on The Strip). After furious editorial activity involving many beers, followed by a late-night trip to Kinkos—viola, a stack of the Dirtier Daily was hot off the press and ready for surreptitious distribution, next morning on the show floor. It goes without saying that the Dirtier Daily days were long before Dirt Rag had a blog. So, in keeping with the spirit of those old-school days, I’m not going to re-type my old essay—check it out below in the scan from my archive copy of the Dirtier Daily.

Ah, those were heady days. One of my favorite Dirt Rag Interbike “gimmicks” of all time took place in 2000, when we all dressed up in yellow Devo-esque hazmat suits for the traditional Dirt Rag booth party that goes down the afternoon of opening day of the show. With free booze and snacks, the booth party is a veritable who’s who of cycling’s underbelly. A few legit celebrities are bound to pop by too. Gotta keep it real, don’tchaknow.

But I digress. My point, if I have one, is that we’ve left those hand-folded ‘zine days in the desert dust, and now we’re rocking the 24-hour news cycle with a kick-ass web site. So keep your eyes on the Dirt Rag home page this week for daily reports from Interbike’s Dirt Demo and trade show. And since we can keep it real with the best of them, look for some reports from the after-hours action as well. We’ll be blogging our fingers off, posting plenty of pics and, if all goes well, rocking some video too. I’m not sure where sleep fits into that equation.

By the way, our offices will be closed September 22nd through 26th while we burn in hell. We’ll get back to all those phone calls when we return to the office on the 29th.

Kona held their 2009 bike launch at Whistler resort on August 14th, 2008. They have been supplying Whistler with it’s rental fleet since the beginning, making it the perfect place to host the launch. Whistler’s legendary trails, state of the art trail building, and ground breaking events can supply every level of rider a good time. Kona also has the machinery to fulfill every rider’s needs.

Kona has a full line of riding and casual apparel. We were supplied with some hats and a pair of their new Supreme gloves. The gloves have all the features expected with a high end product. There is highly breathable material where possible, with protective padding where needed. A terry snot wipe thumb helps keep you presentable out on the trail, and the silicone grip finger tips keep you from slipping off the brakes. Supreme gloves indeed. There is a wide variety of hats, shirts, shorts, socks and also a full line of women’s apparel. All the 2009 clothing will be available in February.

Kona offers all the mountain bike clothing you could need, but their extensive bike line is even more impressive. Let’s begin with what Kona calls, in their own words, “the most important bike we’ve ever designed.” The Africa Bike is the machine they are referring to. This is a simple, single or three speed ride with all the basics covered. It comes complete with a bell, full fenders, front basket, chainguard, rear lock system, sturdy Continental tires and rear rack. The burly rear rack is part of the frame, attaching to the lower seatstays and seat tube. Kona started the program to assist humanitarians in the worst areas of Africa. For every two bikes sold, Kona will donate one to the cause. They have donated 1,500 bikes so far. If you need a cruiser for around town, this is the one you should buy.  The singlespeed Africa bike will retail for $375.00, and the Three speed will be $449.00  Go to konaworld.com for all the details.

Kona also produces the $899.00 Ute, a utilitarian, haul-anything bike. This is definitely the kind of bike that Dirt Rag’s “one less car” sticker promotes. It is ready to run to the store for groceries, or haul all your work related items on your daily commute. Disk brakes, center stand, engraved wooden rear rack and fenders round out this package. They are trying to start a grocery delivery program with Whole Foods, utilizing this bike. The plan is not a definite, but would be pretty cool.

Let’s regress for a moment, to the kids’ bikes. Kona’s full line includes seven mountain bikes for the children. There are six hardtail bikes, starting with the $299.00 Makena, to the $899.00 Stuff 2-4. The bikes cater to different kids’ riding needs, whatever their skill level may be. After the first six models, they get to step up into the realm of full-suspension, with the $1,499.00 Stinky 2-4. The Stinky 2-4 is one of the first serious steps to enjoying your downhill fun with your child.

I’m not a huge fan of riding on the asphalt, but sometimes it has to happen. In the unfortunate event that you find yourself shredding miles of the black death, there are quite a few beautiful options from the Kona shed.  Two of the asphalt bikes are women specific, the Lisa Road and Lisa TR (triathlon). The rest of the list is quite extensive, consisting of twelve options. There is everything from super-light-weight race bikes to fully functional commuters. The frame materials cover a broad spectrum of options as well—everything but Titanium. Prices range from the $375.00 Africa 2.0, to the $3,499.00 King Zing. The $679.00 Paddy Wagon would be my choice from this category. A no-nonsense, singlespeed or fixed approach to the everyday road bike. The Wagon consists of a high grade chromoly frame and fork, mixed with a minimalist group of sturdy components. The Kona flip-flop fixie/freewheel hub adds great value to the bike, in case you want or need to coast.

As much as I would probably enjoy the Paddy Wagon, I would choose one of the cross bikes. What could be better than quickly cruising home on the road after a hard days work, and taking an alternate trail route without worries. Not  a whole lot as far as I can see. Cyclocross bikes have almost all the speed of a road bike, with a big chunk of the mountain bike comfort and durability thrown in to boot. DeeeCent!!

The next logical step in the evolution of the Kona line is the hardtail. These bikes span ten different categories for the 2009 season. In a nutshell, Kona can supply any kind of hardtail you need. The out-of-bounds group stands out as the most unique, especially if you will be riding on Whistler-type trails.  These bikes are geared towards aggressive riding, such as dirt jumping, slopestyle or big-mountain freeriding. The out of bounds category also contains one full-suspension design, the Bass slopestyle bike. The Bass incorporates an eccentric bottom bracket into its full suspension design. The eccentric bottom bracket allows the Bass to keep a simple rear suspension design, less pivots to keep the suspension and braking/pedaling forces isolated.

The full-suspension area is what I always think of when my mind drifts towards Kona bicycles. They are definitely  not leaving me hanging on that thought. They have been investing a lot of time to their full-suspension line. They produce super-light-weight full-suspension cross country bikes, to the full-blown downhill rig. In the middle of the spectrum is the Dawg series. Next year’s Dawgs are getting quite the overhaul. The rear triangles have been completely reworked to decrease weight and increase strength. The Dawgs also gets Kona’s D.O.P.E. lite rear dropout that allows the use of a floating rear brake system. One of the bikes that the Kona folk seem the most excited about is the Minxy. The Minxy is a women-specific, six inch travel freeride bike. Kona started with their new Stinky Six and tweaked it to make it the gender-specific Minxy. It receives a tighter cockpit, lower standover height, less weight, an array of special components, and its own graphics. It is one of the better looking Konas as far as I’m concerned, with it’s sexy blacked-out stealth appearance. The Stab series bikes received a few upgrades as well. Highlighting next year’s Stab will be the D.O.P.E. rear dropouts/Brake Therapy system that utilizes a floating caliper. They will also accept any 12 by 150mm rear axles, allowing the use of most aftermarket hubs. An 83mm bottom bracket shell will also be used on the Stabs (it aligns better with the 150mm rear hub).  The Stab Supreme will also be graced with a full Shimano Saint component group. Ladies and gentlemen, the Stab Supreme.

The freeride bikes from Kona, the Stinky and the Coil Air, also get some attention. The Stinky gets shorter chainstays, steeper headtube geometry and a bigger 1.5″ headtube. All of these changes are due to requests from Kona freeriders. The bike also comes with cable routing for the new Truvativ HammerSchmidt front transmission, covered in Karl Rosengarth’s recent blog. The Coil Air is the bike we spent the most time discussing at the the launch. The designer/engineer, Brian Berthold, was on site to give us the lowdown of the machine. The Magic Link on the Coil Air is a mechanically active design that automatically adjusts between pedaling and coasting forces. When pedaling, the magic link is pushed forward, causing the geometry of the bike to steepen and the six inches of suspension to stiffen. When Kona’s bike is allowed to coast the link is pulled back, activating a very simple spring that is in series with the Fox air shock. Almost twenty years ago I attempted making a rear suspension bike. I used a crappy ten speed mountain bike as my platform, a short rear hatch strut from a car, two valve springs from an old Chevy small block V8, and a heavy steel hinge for my pivot. The bike would have been a success if I had understood springs a little better.  The two springs together allowed the rear end to pack-up and fully compress, after about six or seven pedal strokes, and not rebound fast enough. Activating two springs together in series creates a much softer initial stroke, which allows the CoilAir’s rear wheel to move up and out of the way of obstacles easier. Kona seems to have found the perfect mixture of springs in series to make this bike perform exactly as they want. Also when coasting, the chainstays increase in length, the angles slacken and the travel increases to 7.4″. All of this happens without the need for switches or levers—it is strictly mechanical.  Perhaps my favorite aspect of the Coil Air is the addition of grease ports in the main pivot. The most vulnerable pivot on the the bike can be kept clean and full of grease with a few pumps of a grease gun—beautiful. New for 2009 as well is the tapered headtube. This system gives the bike a small weight savings, while increasing headtube strength as well. The whole bike should fall somewhere in the mid-30-pound range, and cost $2,399.00, $3,999.00 or $5,799.00, depending on which model you purchase.

The 2009 Kona launch was held ¾ of the way up the mountain at the top of the Village Gondola lift. Our very informative press release was accompanied by some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, lingering in the background.

The full line of bikes and clothing were discussed and shown to us, then we got to ride the bikes. Most people were riding CoilAirs or Stabs, while I was given a Hei Hei 2-9. What bike is this, you may ask. It is a 3.5″ travel XC 29er, with an 80mm front fork. Someone is trying to kill me. A large percentage of the Kyber trail that we rode should be ridden on a six-plus inch travel bike. No big deal, I definitely got to put it to the test on this ride. The twenty minutes that we rode uphill, and the road ride back to the village, was much better on this bike as well. It was funny that in those two instances everyone wanted to trade me bikes. The big wheels on the Hei Hei helped me to roll over all the large rocks and drops on the Kyber trail. Although I remained towards the front of the 20 person pack on most of the ride, the bike was out of its realm. It took all the abuse I dished out, and only whimpered a little bit in the form of brake jack. I bet the other riders did not experience this, with their Brake Therapy floating rear calipers. Back here in Pittsburgh the Hei Hei would be a fantastic choice, but not so much if you are doing lift-assist freeride runs all day. The  hydroformed Scandium framed Hei Hei 2-9 and Hei Hei 2-9 Deluxe come with one piece magnesium rockers in the rear suspension, tons of stand over height, a host of light weight parts, and a Fox 32 F29 RL front fork. We were told the bikes would perform fine with a 100mm fork, if you wanted a little more travel. Below are a few thumbnails of my bike before the ride, our starting point, a mid-ride shot, Magic Link creator Brian Berthold and the man that made the whole trip happen, Keith Cozzens. Cheers! Click on thumbnails to enlarge.

Thanks to photographer Glenn Acker for sharing a ton of cool pictures from the 2008 edition of the Subaru 24-Hour Champion Challenge (a.k.a. the 24-hour race at 7 Springs, PA).

Glenn was positioned at the top of “the big climb” and his photos capture the effort (and joy) on the riders’ faces. For your viewing pleasure, we’ve posted his pictures in this Dirt Rag Gallery.

Click here to visit photographer Glenn Acker’s website. For for inquiries or prints, e-mail Glenn.