Jenson USA News, Events, and Ride Calendar

Interbike 2006 Wrap-up

We're back from Interbike 2006 and life is returning to normal. Here's a summary of some of the coolest stuff we saw, and what other's saw, all over the web. Thanks for reading!

Singletrackworld has a nice writeup, including a spotlight on everyone's favorite topic, 29'ers:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/article.php?sid=2161

PinkBike has some nice coverage, including video shot on the show floor:
http://www.pinkbike.com/

See the "virtual trade show booths" at MTBR.com as they add more of the photos they took over the coming days:
http://www.mtbr.com/interbike06/

GoClipless's summary has some nice photos, including a preview of the new Crank Brothers Acid pedal for Enduro and DH Race:
http://www.goclipless.com/interbike_2006/index.html

FeedtheHabit has a huge gallery of photos:
http://www.feedthehabit.com/gallery/interbike-2006

RL at CommutebyBike.com has posted 3 days worth of pics:
http://commutebybike.com/lazy-index.php?file=Interbike%202006/

North Shore Mountain Biking has coverage from the aggressive riding perspective:
http://photos.nsmb.com/showimage.php?i=10663&catid=newimages&cutoffdate=25

FSA XC-500 Wheelset

Almost every new wheelset coming out these days is UST tubeless tire compatible. These typically require a sealing strip, special spoke nipples, etc. in order for the rim to be airtight, and yet still be serviceable with a standard spoke and nipple.

FSA has come up with something new for their XC-500 wheelset.

Photo:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/tech/shows/?id=/photos/2006/tech/shows/interbike06/interbike065/FSA_XC-500_rim

The nipples are not brazed, bonded, welded, or screwed in. Instead, FSA's wheelbuilders feed them in through the valve hole at assembly time. Wild! Must be time consuming. The result should be good, however - and they're built with standard straight-pull spokes you can get "off the shelf".

The wheels will go for about $475 a pair, and weight in at a midweight 1880 grams for all-mountain type riding.

Day 2 highlights

Velonews has a nice writeup of some of the highlights of day 2:

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/10939.0.html

Coolest item I saw today was Race Face's new "Pod" hoodie sweatshirt. It features a remote control for your iPod right on the sleeve! Sweet. Your iPod sits in a breast pocket with the cord inside, and the headphones pop out on the collar right near your ears.

Redline Monocog 29'er

Redline Monocog 29'er frames & forks are on the way to Jenson USA! Watch for them on www.JensonUSA.com next week.

In the interim, check out Redline's pics and specs:
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/adultbikes/monocog-29er.html

White the new pink?

If last year "pink was the new black", then this year, "white must be the new pink". Rob spotted several white handlebars at the dirt demo, then we found a full lineup of white components at the Azonic booth.

They're doing the popular Outlaw wheelset in white as well as traditional black, plus components like bars...

Celebrity sightings

This man needs no introduction. It's very nice of Eddy to continue to come to Interbike every year, from a fiancial standpoint, he certainly does not need to, but we sure appreciate it. In what other sport can you come this close to a legend?

Hope Technology comes through again

Jenson USA has always been in tight with Hope since they used to be nearby in SoCal. Even with their recent re-location to Texas, we still love their stuff and firmly believe them to be the best quality brakes you can buy for a mountain bike.

First up, these are the new levers! Nice, huh? They're relieved in several spots to shave grams as you can and use the new black/silver color scheme. Hope says a carbon lever blade may be an additional weight saving option.

Lots of fun things here. The full line-up of hubs (colored Pro II's will be available from Jenson soon) in the background, then on the left, you've got the new styles Mono 6, and on the right, the new Mono Mini calipers. As you can see, all Hope is now 74mm post-mount with adapters for various frame/fork fits a la Hayes, so it will be even easier to change rotor sizes or forks, just get a new adapter.

The 2-piece rotors have been re-designed slightly. Same gram-saving result and better cooling for the DH size rotors too. 140mm will be an option for XC bikes now as well.

New frames from Salsa for 2007

Right outside the Salsa booth I ran into MTBR's Photo-John doing his thing. They were lining up the new Salsa frames and bikes for '07 for him to shoot... if ever there was an example of "it's not the bow or the arrows, but the hunter" it's Photo-John. Check out his work sometime, it's amazing and he takes pride in using photography equipment that some would consider "low end" to delivery pro-level results. You can see some of his work here:
http://gallery.mtbr.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=75191

So anyway, back to those Salsa frames. There are 3 to talk about:

1st up, the El Mariachi complete bike
This one builds on their El Mariachi 29'r frame, adds Avid Mech. disc brake and other goodies like Ignitor tires. Salsa will offer the bike complete, so you don't need to go chasing down (sometimes hard to find) 29'er stuff.

Next, the Chili Con Crosso
This replaces their Las Cruces frame and fork for cyclocross, adding a new color scheme and a top tube that slopes and is shaped for comfort when portaging.

Last but not least, the Casseroll!
This one is destined to become one of my personal favorites and a popular frame for our customers because it's going to be SO versatile. Their photo doesn't do it justice, but take my word for it. It's steel, will take up to 700 x 32c tires and long reach brakes, and is designed for pavement riding. But it's not a "hybrid", it has real road geometry, and is great for commuting, touring, whatever. Salsa has a nifty new rear dropout that allows 1 inch of wheel adjustment, yet still allows for easy wheel installation - so you can easily run it geared or as a singlespeed, even fixed if you like. And it's designed to complement either a road drop bar or upright bar.

Salsa has these frames and specs up on their website now:
http://www.salsacycles.com/07_frames_preview.html

29'ers everywhere!

Seems like the 29'er has really taken off at Interbike this year. Sure, there were always a few bikes floating around in years past, but this year it sure seems like most of the major players are showing 1, if not more, 29'er complete bike. There's also a (prototype?) Manitou Minute 29'er fork kicking around.

What we're perhaps most excited about though are the new tires in development, such as the Panaracer Rampage 29" tire, which we are expecting any day now, plus new models from big brands like Kenda.

Tim at the Crooked Cog Podcast has an audio round-up of the 29'er products that caught their eye at the show, recorded live from the show floor. Give 'em a listen:
http://www.crookedcogpodcast.com/

On the floor - Day 1

When the show opened, we made a beeline for the Intense booth to check out their '07 product, including the Spider 29'er and Carbine road frame. Luis snapped some pics....

http://jensonusa.typepad.com/photos/on_the_show_floor_day_1/