The Chainlink

I'm at the Interbike Expo in Las Vegas, and today was Day 2 of Outdoor Demo. Most every bike company was there and would let you demo their latest and greatest for 2010. Being in Nevada, the event was heavy on downhill mountain bikes with full suspension, but there was also a road course and plenty of brand new carbon bikes to try out.

I'm really a vintage bike nut, so I was definitely out of my element among the mountain bike racers and high end enthusiasts, but it was pretty cool. Since we're a Fuji dealership, I stopped by the Fuji tent to check out the new SST 1.0 (carbon with Dura Ace) and take it for a spin - definitely a departure from my vintage Japanese steel bikes and much more high performance. I also thought the Felt line for 2010 was very cool. They have some cool lower end models and a number of urban bikes with track ends including one with a gold Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub (WTF?).

Anyway, here are a few photos I snapped along the way:

Outdoor Demo Crowd
Dudes Demo Bikes
Dudes Demo 2
Fuji Tent
2010 Fuji SST 1.o
Chris King Hub Display
Felt Carbon Dura Ace Zipp
Look / SRAM Demo
Demo Treks

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Gorgeous weather, pretty bikes and components galore: I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! (now imagine a 4-year old throwing a temper tantrum at the Jewel)
Awesome, thanks for posting these PD, hope its not hella hot like it always is in Vegas. I heard there was a new Moots race bike being demo'd...if you have any comments would love to hear!
I got photos already from Jon at Moots:


chixieonfixie said:
Awesome, thanks for posting these PD, hope its not hella hot like it always is in Vegas. I heard there was a new Moots race bike being demo'd...if you have any comments would love to hear!
Don awsm pix + report, thanks for sharing.

I saw the Felt 2010 line on a blog the other day. The Gold sturmey hub you mentioned must be on their gridloc. Quite a design manifesto but personally I couldn't pull that color scheme off day to day.

I like the track ends and bar end shifter. And that hub is fixed x 3 if I'm not mistaken.

Did Fuji refresh the Connossieur, their retro steel road bike?
M.A.R.K. said:
Can't say I care for the Fuji, Felt and Look bikes looks.[...] I'm more into the regular everyday bike looks myself. Take some pics of some Seven bikes if you can or see this since you are reporting from the field. They make some sweet bikes that arent o flashy [...]
Am I the only one who sees the humor in this statement?
You don't like this

bike, because it is too flashy. Instead you like this

bike, because it is not flashy? :)
Would love to see the gold Sturmey Archer hub.

El Duke was going to be at Interbike, but alas, we'll be in CA checking our new neice out soon.
The actual Interbike tradeshow at the Sands was just absolutely insane (for a novice buyer that is). There were so many bike brands and brands of parts, accessories, clothing, that I really never did see it all. It was so cool seeing the shared booths for the Japanese companies Sugino, Nitto, MKS, and Dia Compe. Dia Compe had this cool cross type lever in many colors where each side of the lever could operate the brake. One side pulls cable, the other pushes housing. Whoa. Taiwan had a shared booth and China had a booth with tons of exact copy knock-offs of Shimano freewheels, SIS derailleurs, and other parts. The KMC chain display was very cool; they had some neat new colored 1/8" chains in more feminine styles that should go over well.

The Fuji booth was swamped, but after a wait, I finally did get to see our Midwest rep and have him walk me through the new models. The paint/colors are fairly hideous this year. Nothing to write home about, save for some lower end Roubaix models (and our shop is mainly low end). I did like the new Classic and Feather model track bikes in the 500-600 range, very basic bikes with track ends but with flip flop hubs and equipped with freewheels on the flip. No brakes on the display models, but the rep says they will ship with brakes. The Connoisseur model was not on display and looks the same in the new catalog.

Also met with one of the J&B Importers reps and let him know we think their packing sucks. And also that shipping us stuff branded Bulletproof when we ordered Origin8 is not cool; he sounded genuinely sorry : )

One of the coolest things was hanging at the Park Tool booth and meeting the guy Calvin who wrote the Park Tool Repair Guide and the articles on their website. I even got him to give a quick intro to truing disc brake rotors. He made it sound very simple. Also stopped by the Pedro's booth let em know I was pissed about the 3 pumps I bought that were all defective (hoses severed). They did say their stuff is guaranteed for life, so they would have replaced it (even though I returned it to the distributor). They did have a neat multitool that basically functions as a quick release skewer handle with a bunch of tools inside. And boy did that rep have a nice smile!

I Bought a set of locking skewers from a company called Pinhead; $30 show special for a set for front and rear and a locking seatpost binder. They have a set with those three and also a mondo U Lock that will retail for about $120; each part of the set uses that same unique key.

In terms of the bikes, the Masi bikes looked great; love their retro styling on new bikes. Also checked out the Haro stuff; I didn't realize they had so many non-BMX bikes. Cinelli had some wild production fixed gear bikes but probably not at a realistic price points. I really liked the frames and complete bikes being shown by Shorty Fatz where the downtube curves around the front wheel (see pic below). Loved the Bianchi stuff but their both gave off an elite vibe that I wasn't feeling. I did enjoy checking out the BMX zone and bikes from We The People, Redline, Profile, etc.

I never did find the Giant or Jamis booths. And I was there from 9 until 5 the entire time. I did get a presentation from the Midwest rep for Bell Easton Sports who gave me a tour of the Bell and Giro Helmets and the Blackburn pumps, accessories, and trainers, which he says have a lifetime guarantee. They have some child seats and a trailer that seem nice and are also affordable.

Overall it was an exciting but exhausing experience. If I go next year I will possibly go for another day and likely try to set appointments in advance and better prioritize what stuff to see. I did get to chat up three owners/store buyers who specialize in either triathlon bikes (in Indy and LA) or downhill mountain bikes (in Albequerque). Pretty interesting given that they are specialty shops while we are very casual.
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Anne,

Wow, the new Moots is one hot little racer! I love the matching fork and the weight, wow. Normally I dont like those sloping top tubes but this one is very appealing. Ill be stopping by to test ride when they arrive!

Thanks for posting!

Anne said:
I got photos already from Jon at Moots:


chixieonfixie said:
Awesome, thanks for posting these PD, hope its not hella hot like it always is in Vegas. I heard there was a new Moots race bike being demo'd...if you have any comments would love to hear!
Cool. Apparently it's a reissue of a hub produced years ago for winter training.

I guess there was something called an ASC once upon a hub. (swiped from sheldonbrown)


and an AW apparently has a 2-speed fixed hiding inside
Just found this thread... I know it is from last year. Duppie - you are hilarious!

Duppie said:
Gorgeous weather, pretty bikes and components galore: I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! (now imagine a 4-year old throwing a temper tantrum at the Jewel)

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