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Interbike 2012 - Outdoor Demo   Bookmark and Share
images by Nick Salazar   •   Sep 17, 2012   •   hits 68,393

Madfiber was around again, with their very simple booth. They don't have a whole slew of products, just their tubular and now clincher wheels.
 
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It's finally that time of year, when the entire cycling industry descends upon the Nevada desert and dazzles us with gobs and gobs of the latest gear. Yes, Interbike is upon us. The first two days of the event open with an event called Outdoor Demo, which is steeped in Mountain, Cyclocross, and BMX equipment, but triathlon rigs have been getting a decent share of the demo days in recent years. This gallery is the result when you walk the show grounds with an eye for tri-related gear. The indoor expo commences on Wednesday, so make sure to check back then for more.


Outdoor Demo is held each year in Boulder City, at the foot of the Nevada hills.

As usual, Oakley had a big 'Rolling O' lab on the grounds, and showed off their latest shades, including the Radar Lock. Oakley lets riders wear them on demo rides all day long, and picks a particularly loud color scheme for their demo fleet.

Oakley also had some pairs of standard colorway shades behind glass, and I can never resist taking pictures of things in TriRig colors. I also have a lot of love for Oakley products, although I really wish they would come out with a new rimless option. The Radars are fantastic for running, and the Radar XL's shown here are pretty good for cycling - they have an extra 7mm of height that helps get them out of the way, but extremely aggressive positions may still cause you to be staring at the top of that frame.

As they have for several years, Felt has a huge presence at Outdoor Demo, taking up one of the first areas inside the entry gate. They brought along more samples of their new 2013 lineup, including just about all the new DA and B2 models.

Felt also had a sample of the new women-specific paint scheme. But gentlemen, don't feel shy - if you like these colors, you can ride the bike. The geometry is identical.

Rudy Project is hard to miss, with their dazzling array of fluo-color options. Sadly, their rimless offerings have been seriously reduced. Only the Hypermask remains as an option, and is usually seen with a rim insert that still gets in the field of vision while cycling. That insert is removeable, but the shades are still limited in that the lenses aren't swappable - if you want more colors, you have to buy more shades. We prefer Smith's Pivlock series for that reason.

Here's something you don't see every day - a pair of Smart Enve System wheels, thrown onto a pile of gravel and dirt. It's an interesting juxtaposition that is all over the portion of Interbike affectionately called Dirt Demo.

Giant Bicycles offers a huge demo fleet of bikes to ride.

One thing I was REALLY looking forward to seeing was more of Shimano's upcoming components, and they didn't disappoint. Here's the new Dura-Ace 9000-series crank, with its striking four-bolt pattern.

The new Dura-Ace 9000 rear derailleur looks like a solid piece of kit, and is meant to increase rear shifting speed.

The new front derailleur is extra tall, meant to decrease the throw of the front shifter and make upshifts easier.

Here's the new Di2 9070 rear derailleur. It's E-tube compatible, and lighter than the original Di2 rear derailleur.

The 9070 rear derailleur looks to be more compact than previous iterations.

The 9070 front derailleur. It shifts flawlessly, just like its predecessor. But now it's part of the brilliant E-tube platform that is set to define Di2's future.

This is the new E-tube front junction box. There are two versions of this box, with three or five ports to attach shifting hardware. Everything is plug-and-play, so it's easy to swap out or upgrade parts as time goes on.

The Di2 road shifters now have THREE ports, allowing easy routing of multiple shifting options for road riders.

Here's another angle of that junction box. It has five ports, three of which are being used here. The other two are left with plugs in them, to maintain the waterproofing of the system. But they can be used at any time in the future just by plugging in the hardware. It's meant to be compatible with all future Di2 hardware, it's well-thought-out, and I'm really excited to use it.

The new E-tube wires are much smaller than the original Di2 wires, meaning they will fit into smaller spaces. No need for giant holes to accommodate the plugs.

Shimano is also revamping its wheel lineup, including the new wide-rimmed C50 and C75, available only in tubular for the time being.

Zipp had all the new goodies on display, including the Vuka Alumina we reviewed in-depth when it was launched.

Zipp manufactured these custom pieces to make it easy to display aerobars at shows like Interbike.

As you can see, the custom stand is pure Zipp.

Although this might not be exactly how I ride on my bike, the custom stand does make it really easy to sit in the bars and get an idea for what the cockpit is all about. So cool.

SRAM was promoting the new RED all over. The new levers have a cool unidirectional carbon finish, and nice big logos.

SRAM and Zipp both set up their bars with a derailleur bolted right onto the top cap, so you can actually test out the shifting performance and action of the levers, albeit not on an actual wheel and cassette.

The new Unical Quarq is available for Specialized and Cannondale cranks ...

... but of course SRAM is mostly pushing the RED version, which I hope to be reviewing soon.

The new RED derailleur, called YAW, rotates to maintain a parallel relationship with the chain, not the frame.

In my opinion, the new RED Quarq is probably the most beautiful crank-based power meter on the market today.

Limar has made this new Velov helmet, a road lid that has flaps that can be clipped on to seal the helmet and make it more aerodynamic.

The flaps are designed for riding in the rain, but also improve the aero properties.

Several companies have been trying to crack into GoPro's market of rugged adventure cameras, including long-time rival Contour.

The new Coutour camera comes with a slew of new features, including instant-on recording, and recording lock to prevent accidental shutoff.

The current Contour (left) and new Plus II model (right).

Kappius Components is manufacturing a new type of hub, with a patented structure that pushes the bearings all the way out to the ends of the hubs, for a superior bracing angle, meaning MUCH greater durability. It was originally designed for the off-road crowd, but the design works perfectly well for road bikes as well, and Kappius makes hubs for both.

This is the unconventional-looking Kappius hub. It has a carbon fiber outer shell, and a carbon-wrapped inner which houses a 19mm through-axle

The Kappius Rear hub is a bit of magic - 240 points of engagement turns into instant-on performance, so to speak, with virtually no pedal lag before the chain engages on the cassette/freehub body. The bearings are integrated into the permanently-attached cassette, and sit just under the outer cog.

The road front hub is skinnier, and quite a good-looking piece of kit. The products were originally designed with off-road riding in mind, but they work perfectly well on any kind of bike. Kappius makes those carbon outer shells in his garage, by hand, one at a time. They are very labor intensive parts, and quite expensive to make.

The Kappius guys had these cool shirts on, showing off the intricate 240-point hub mechanism.

The cycling world includes all kinds of folks, and I saw several gentlemen sporting foot-long beards. Don't rock that in the aero position, or you might get it caught in the spokes!

Brady Kappius, son of Rus Kappius and co-founder of the brand. Brady also runs www.brokencarbon.com and can repair all kinds of destroyed carbon fiber equipment.

Giro has been showing off some great products this year, including the Empire shoe developed specifically for Taylor Phinney. It uses laces instead of buckles, just to reduce frontal area. The shoes are wicked light.

My favorite new Giro product: the Air Attack helmet. It's easy to dismiss this as a BMX-style helmet with a visor, but that would be a mistake. In my opinion, this helmet introduces a whole new category, and it's going to be a great buy for triathletes. I am really itching to give this a thorough review, but Giro says they won't be available until next year.

The visor attaches via three magnets, making it incredibly simple to pop on or off at will. It can be stored right on the helmet, upside down, when not needed.

The magnets even have little Giro logos emblazoned on them.

The Roc Lock 5 system is very comfortable and easy to adjust.

The Air Attack is so named in part because of its excellent ventilation, usually not the primary feature of an aero lid, but part of the core design here.

This is what the helmet would look like while riding in aero. No long tail, and no ear flaps. It's meant to be very easy to use, but also provide a real aero benefit versus a standard road helmet. And I LOVE helmet visors for riding in aero, it's just so much easier than trying to look over the top rim of your sunglasses.

Argon 18 had a big fleet of E-118 bikes on display, but nothing really new for 2013.

TRP has some cool new aero levers, including this version with an integrated barrel adjuster.

Vision is coming out with two new wheels for 2013: a trispoke wheel, and an 80mm wheel with a disc cover bonded right on.

The Metron disc has a replaceable cover, which can be swapped out if the original is ever damaged, or the wheel needs to be trued.

Both the trispoke and disc are fairly narrow, at 19mm and 21mm wide respectively.

The IQ Massager is actually a portable e-stim machine.

The IQ Massager is very small, but I tried it out and can tell you that the e-stim packs a punch.

The system comes with shoe contacts that will zap your feet as well, if you wish.

The Ego Lic is another GoPro competitor. This one doesn't come with a waterproof housing, however. That is available for purchase separately.

Ego has lots of different mounts available, just like their competitors.

Ego also has an integrated goggle-mounted camera, for offroad moto riding, skiing, etc.

Madfiber was around again, with their very simple booth. They don't have a whole slew of products, just their tubular and now clincher wheels.

This cutaway of the Madfiber clincher shows how it works: the wheel has the same basic construction as their tubular, but they embed an alloy clincher bed, which is their solution to the heat buildup problem.

Here's another angle on the Madfiber clincher.

I do like the look of the Madfibers, and hope to review a set at some point.

Easton is joining the long list of companies manufacturing a hybrid clincher. Like the old Zipp hybrids, this one has a structural carbon portion (not a fairing), which houses the spoke nipples.

Easton is only making this in a 42mm rim depth, which is very popular among newbies to aero equipment, who might be too timid to try out a deeper wheel.

My favorite shades for riding are, by far, the Smith Pivlocks. I reviewed the V90 in depth last year, and will turn my attention this year to the newer V2 model. Both have been available for a couple years, but don't get the attention they deserve in triathlon. They come in plenty of color choices, work phenomenally well, and are very reasonably priced.

The V2 comes in a standard height and the MAX shown here, which offers a few mm of extra coverage above the eye.





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