True-TECH

Interbike 2003
Las Vegas, NV

October 12-14

PHOTO GALLERY

Trick-or-Treat??? No, it's free samples.
Look's carbon track machine.
Tinker Juarez hangin' out at the show.
Giant - Made for speed.
Giant's insanely light bike - 14lbs.
Serotta's top of the line titanium/carbon frame.
You can have one too... for $35,000.
Simoni - "I'm too sexy for this bike show."
Provide beer, will come. Shimano's Industry Party was well attended.
Campy displayed their product as if it were jewelry.
Tyler Hamilton's autograph session.
Kevin Murray rides the silky smooth Kreitler rollers.
Labor Power cheers from "The Jaminator".
"Quality Control" for the beverages at Interbike. Courtesy of Labor Power.
Alessandro Petacchi signs an autograph.
Just call me "Red"???
The carbon fiber T2 Aegis RS Pro - available in all sizes by the end of '03.
Lotus carbon frame w/Airo International's Xlab carbon wheelset.
Basso's carbon fiber Diamante.
Bianchi's Pista Concept 2004.
BMC's Team Phonak carbon Team Machine SLT01.
Tyler Hamilton's Cervelo.
Spokes, Blades and Discs by Corima.
The CSK TT Bike available through SP Imports. Suggested Retail - $2,049.99 (Frame & Fork)
The CSK Cross Bike available through SP Imports. Suggested Retail - $2,049.99 (Frame & Fork)
The CSK all carbon Black Soul Deacciai available through SP Imports. Suggested Retail - $2,349.99 (Frame & Fork)
The CSK all carbon road bars.
The De Rosa carbon Cinquanta.
The DeVinci Chili Pepper MTB for '04.
Felt's line-up for '04.
Guru's TT bike w/ Mavic wheelset.
Independent Fabrication's Track Bike. Suggested Retail - $1,600 (Frame & Fork)
Independent Fabrication's Travel Bike w/ Full Wood fenders. Suggested Retail - $1,600 (Frame & Fork)
Independent Fabrication's Cross Bike. Suggested Retail - Steel $1,500 (Frame & Fork), Ti $2,940 (Frame & Fork)
Independent Fabrication's full suspension Ti 25lb. MTB featuring a floating shock system. Suggested Retail - Ti $3,500 (Frame & Fork)
Independent Fabrication's road bike - Crown Jewel SE. Suggested Retail - Ti $3,060 (Frame & Fork), Steel $1,900 (Frame & Fork)
Kona's Stinky MTB.
Kona's Stinky Dee-Lux MTB.
Kona's Stinky Primo MTB.
Lightspeed's Limited Edition Vortex.
MOOTS VAMOOTS TT bike.
MOOTS VAMOOTS road bike.
Iban Mayo's (Euskatel Euskadi) Orbea road bike.
Team Jelly Belly's Orbea carbon road bike.
Quality Bicycle Products build options.
Salsa Cycles cross bike.
Lance Armstrong's carbon Trek.
Early generation Bandit.

NEW PRODUCTS

Merlin rolls out the Camena for 2004 specifically for the ladies. Coming in 5 sizes, it has not only been built with the traditional shorter top tube, but other design features to accommodate the unique performance needs of women. Designer, Tom Kellogg, highlighted a more relaxed seat tube for better weight distribution and a softer front end. The smaller frame sized are built with 650 c wheels with the larger sizes on 700 c. Frame only retails for $1,795.

The Ninja dressed Speedplay team used their moves to show off three new pedals. New for 2004 are cro-moly Frogs and Zeros. Without any weight gain, the 250 gram Frogs are $105. The new Zeros are $30 cheaper than the $185 stainless steel version while adding just 7 grams per pedal. Also, just arriving for Interbike were the Brillium platform pedals. The pedals provide a large deck with headless allen screws for aggressive gripping. All three pedals will be available in January 2004.

Speedplay's current lineup.
Speedplay's new platform pedals.
Speedplay's pedal history museum.
Pedals from the late 1800's and early 1970's.

The theme at Louis Garneau for 2004 is comfort through increased air flow. The ERGOair gloves and shoes provide ventilation systems to enhance comfort. The palms of the gloves are a soft, wide mesh with substantial padding as an outer layer. The shoes have around a dozen vents on the soles that shuttle air up through a lattice constructed insole. The new lines of helmets, the Oz-zy($150) and Envoy-v($110), all boast more ventilation especially in the back in addition to their redesigned Spider Lock adjustment system. Louis Garneau also showed off the Prologue-V($120), the only CPSC certified time trial helmet available.

Andrew Knight of Louis Garneau Racing demonstrates the new Ventoux.

Baker's Breakfast Cookies have added an Apple Pie flavored cookie to the 12 already offered. Mike Smallwood, Scaling Manager, described the effort and care the company puts in to making sure every cookie is Kosher and OU Pareve. One of the steps to obtain that status is having completely non-dairy chocolate custom made. Baker's also has two vegan cookies on their menu.

The FlameThrower HID + LED and the Cyclone HID + LED are the latest advancements in lighting technology from NiteRider. Both lights advance the technology on NiteRider's highly popular H.I.D. lighting systems by increasing available functions while reducing the headlamp's size and weight. NiteRider's new H.I.D.s put out the equivalent of 50 watts halogen for four hours, but can also be stepped down to 45 or 40 watts equivalent for almost six hours of run time. Plus, the headlamp features three ultra-bright L.E.D.s that will run up to 80 hours.

A few developments for 2004 were being displayed at the Airborne hanger. The X1 is a multi sport and time trial bike with very clean welds and a few tricks. They have added a gusset at the seat tube and top tube weld for stiffness and to balance out the gusset attached for the water bottle under the seat on the seat tube. It also has rear facing dropouts for fine adjustments depending on the desired ride or tire selection. The X1 comes with specs for a crescent cutout on the seat tube to be able to accommodate sliding the wheel forward to tighten up the wheelbase. 53 cm and 50 cm frames come with 650c wheels while 57 cm and 59 cm frames are traditional 700c. 55 cm frames are built for both sizes of wheels.

Airborne's new track frame.
Airborne's multisport bike.
Airborne's full suspension MTB.
Airborne's compact lightweight kit.
Airborne's hardtail MTB.

Cannondale is predicting an April turnout for the Simoni tested aluminum and cold molded carbon bike. This bike has yet to be named. The no seam carbon tubing helps save 100 grams when compared to the CAAD 7. The construction process requires a full CAAD 7 frame to be built and then cut to prepare for the cold molding of the carbon tubes. The new bike will come equipped with the Cannondale designed crank system that saves ½ pound over traditional crank and bottom bracket systems. The full bike price point will be slightly higher than the current $5,000 team issue bike.

Simoni's Rocket Ship.
Cannondale's TT bike for '04.
Simoni's 2003 Tour de France aluminum/carbon bike.
Detail of the unique design fabrication.
Cannondale's 15.5lb off-the-rack bike.

Colnago was highlighting their C-50 at this year's show. The new frame still uses their biconical tubing set, but they have made 3 distinct changes. All of the tubes have been oversized for additional stiffness. The head tube was also oversized making it 1 1/8". Colnago has also added the HP Stays (High Power) down at the chain stays. The HPs have a unique diamond shaped rein enforcement structure built into the stay. Frame and fork retails for $3,900.

Colnago's C45.
Colnago's 50th Anniversary bike.
Colnago's track bike.
Colnago's new C50 for '04.
Getting "the scoop".

At an invitational only press event, Chris Carmichael (CTS) and Power Bar announced the development of a sports drink and recovery drink. After 12 months of research and development, they have come up with a product that they feel eliminates unnecessary ingredients while tweaking the ratio of others. When they started the project, three main goals were established to help guide their development process. They wanted to maximize carbohydrate absorption rates, maximize hydration rates, and maximize taste. Power Bar has decreased the amount of carbos per serving believing the current levels are overkill. They also doubled the amount of sodium to assist with taste and electrolyte replacement. Rider feed back helped drive the focus on coming up with a good tasting product to encourage increased consumption. All natural flavors are used. A late winter/early spring availability is expected with a price point that fits in the low end of the expensive range.

Coach Troy, founder of the Spinerval line of videos, has five new additions coming out in mid November. Troy has really listened to his clients and developed vastly different videos to fit very different needs. They include Ride & Stride - a brick workout for Triathletes, Recharge - a recovery workout, Big Gear Strength, Totally Time Trial, and the video Troy is most excited about, Tough Love - a 3 hour spinner workout. "Three hours on the trainer is worth four hours on the road," quoted Coach Troy. Spinerval has teamed with LeMond and features the RevMaster in many of their new tapes.

Two of Pedro's new additions add convenient tools into the bike racers maintenance arsenal. Pedro's fact man, Karl Wiedeman, is most excited about Their Intensive Care Unit Multi Tool. The 16 function tool has been designed to provide real functionality. It will retail for $24.99. The Toothbrush is added to their already diverse complement of cleaning brushes. It is designed specifically to assist in cleaning tight drive train spaces like in between cogs. It can be purchased separately for $6.99 or with the entire brush kit for $14.99.

Pedro's new product lineup for '04.

Ultimate has come out with a truing stand that attaches to the top of portable work stands. Truing adjustments are made by dialing in the limit screw .10 mm at a time. It tracks both lateral and vertical adjustments. Disc brakes can be adjusted as well with this stand.

"Scrubs" providing the low-down on the Ultimate workstand.

ZIPP Speed Weaponry has tackled a huge task in their design of their new 202 wheel set, which will be available in February. Many seemingly simple, but actually difficult design changes were implemented which necessitated a new production process. The profile of the rim was decreased to a lower profile which increased the need for a higher spoke tension for stability. To help with the increased load, angled nipple holes needed to be drilled, but the entry holes on the top of the rim still needed to be drilled straight in. Also assisting in balancing the spoke tension from drive to non-drive sides, ZIPP created a higher flange on the drive side to create a greater spoke angle up to the hub. The hub itself used the same Swiss bearings from previous years, but has a new totally interchangeable cassette system where a drive-train can be switched from Shimano to Campy with a few twists of an allen key. The wheel set's retail is $1,550 and is only built in pairs.

Zipp's new carbon road bar for '04.
The "light as a feather" 1040g 202's for '04.

Honey Stinger has added two new flavors to their line of energy gels. Strawberry and and Moca are added to the five flavors already on the market: Chocolate, Banana, Gold, Mint, and Ginsting. The Moca packs a punch of 75 mg of caffeine per serving. Also offered by Honey Stinger are three flavors of energy bars. Even though the Honey Stinger company is only just a year old, they can trace their roots back to the original Honey Bear.

CamelBak brings an European tested hydration system, the Ventoux, to the US market. The Ventoux contains a number of components making it perfect for its designed purpose of commuting. It applies CamelBak's Exo-Air Soft Frame for superior ventilation through the supportive polyethylene double-concave shape. In addition to having an insulated space for the 100 ounce reservoir, the Ventoux has 1,500 cubic inches for storing clothing and most lap top computers. It also has a helmet storage pocket and multiple storage compartments for smaller items.

In reaction to the needs of their customers, CamelBak has developed anti-microbial protection by incorporating a silver ion compound into the reservoir and the delivery tube. HydroGuard inhibits the growth of 99.9% of common microorganisms which earned it FDA approval. HydroGuard will be in all CamelBak products in January 2004.

The $110 Ventoux continues to be equipped with the OMEGA reservoir with its wide-mouth access port for easy access for cleaning and filling.

CamelBak's new Ventoux for '04.
The polyethylene double-concave shape of the supportive system of the Ventoux.

Roark custom titanium bicycles is featuring a travel package for their bicycles in 2004. S & S couplers are used on the top and down tubes to be able to separate the main triangle for packing into an airline accepted travel case. The couplers' teeth engage on the sides for greater strength when connected. Roark builds their travel bike slightly backwards. They attach the couplers to the tubes and then cut, miter, and weld the frames together. The Travel Kit includes couplers, bike case, padding, and cable connectors. 2004 prices will be released at a later date.

Roark's custom titanium road bike.
"The Suitcase Bike" - Roark offers the ultimate solution for cyclists that travel.
Detail of the fastening system.
Roark's hardtail Ti MTB.

CLIF Bar introduced two new flavors in their regular line and two seasonal bars for the Fall. Carmel Apple and Dulcu de Leche are being added to the already variety packed line. The two seasonal flavors are Carmel Apple Cobbler and Spiced Pumpkin Pie. CLIF Bar boasts using the first non-dairy caramel on the market. Also a new change in the CILF Bar camp is using organic ingredients. Bars with the organic label and packaging will be made of 70% organic ingredients.

The award winning fluid resistance Kinetic trainer has changed little of their design. The patented sealed fluid chamber, claimed to never leak, is connected to the drive roller through a set of powerful magnetic couplers. The trapezoidal base offers many adjustment options to accommodate almost any bicycle on the market. The two models offered are the Standard with a 3 lbs flywheel and the Road Machine with a 6.25 lbs flywheel. The respective price points are $300 and $340.

Descente clothing re-introduced itself to the cycling community in 2003 and showed a focused, core line of road designed clothing for 2004. The clothing sponsor of the Health Net cycling team is not only re-connecting with former users by offering a limited edition vintage 7-11 jersey, but they are trying to bridge to a younger generation of cyclists by offering a Sponge Bob Square Pants line. The team at Descente Athletics is committed to developing a highly functional clothing line, using cutting edge technologies and fabrics that will be useful to the avid racer and serious rider.

Sock Guy is all about selling fun, but that doesn't mean they are not serious about producing a quality performance sock. They are continuously adding new designs that let a variety of athletes choose a sock that fits their personality and use it as a form of self expression. What makes a Sock Guy sock different is that they use a smaller amount of nylon and a higher amount of lycra. This allows for a very stretchy sock that also provides a snug fit without being too constrictive. As a result of their selection of materials, they can cover almost all foot sizes with just two sizes of socks as apposed to needing four sizes like many other companies. Sock Guy is also starting to explore by using different cuff heights other than their traditional 3" Easy-Fit cuff. Many of their women's specific designs are coming with a 2" cuff, but they have also developed a 1" and a 5" cuff.

Zeal Optics is an industry leader in providing true prescription lenses in a performance designed eye shield. To overcome the problem of the distortion that occurs when dealing with a wrap-around glasses design, Zeal built in two different radius curves. In the central viewing section, the glasses are curving at a 6 base curve, but as you move farther out from the center it changes to an 8 base curve. This allows for the vision area of the glasses be flatter, but still allowing for a wrap-around design. They also highlight the versatility of the completely enclosed frames by having the ability to interchange lenses. The Laser is one of their most popular styles of active eyewear. The standard specs are nose vents to prevent fog-up and a sweat brow with an air vent behind it. The temples and nose piece are fitted with silicone pads for additional stability. When reversed, the off center nose pads can make the nose bridge narrower for a better fit on smaller faces. If two sets of lenses are purchased for $260, a third set is tossed in for free. Frames range from $50 up to $80.