Friday, September 20, 2013

Interbike 2013 - Day 1

http://www.tririg.com/galleries.php?id=2013_09_Interbike_Day_1

  • At long last, Selle Italia has recognized that split-nosed saddles aren't just a fad, and they've designed their own version called the 'Iron,' not-so-surreptitiously referring to our sport's most prominent type of race.
  • The Selle Italia Iron has a split-nose design, but is significantly narrower than the more popular offerings from Adamo, Cobb, and Dash.
  • Although it functions like a split-nose saddle, the Iron is technically joined in front, which helps avoid infringing ISM's patent.
  • The Iron is very light for a standard production saddle at about 160 grams for the full carbon version. The shell is quite thin, but still very durable, and comes without a rider weight limit.
  • Selle Itaia's wall if saddles.
  • Wheels Mfg is a niche brand that makes a lot of unique problem-solving adapters and tools. This is their highly-useful, eminently-versatile bearing pull kit.
  • This is a Wheels Mfg adapter which allows the use of 24mm SRAM cranks in a BBRight frame.
  • Ice Toolz had many of their wares on display, and this one really caught my eye. It's a versatile allen wrench that combines 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, and 6mm heads on a single handle. This would be a nice saddlebag tool, although I think I still prefer the Fix It Sticks that I recently reviewed.
  • How awesome is this? Control Tech had a new aerobar on display, and a custom-made mini aerobar in the shape of a fighter jet! It' a nice way to think about your aerobars, isn't it?
  • The aerobar-jet is just so cool-looking.
  • So it's not for sale (and wouldn't be that useful), but I couldn't resist taking these pictures.
  • Okay, on to the main event. This new bar from Control Tech is a very sleek, minimal bar of limited adjustability but probably excellent aerodynamics.
  • You can see that the Control Tech bar has an integrated stem, much like the 3T Ventus. But it doesn't have any stack adjustment, limiting its usefulness.
  • The side view gives you a better sense of the bar's geometry. I'm intrigued by the big boomerang shape, but not a huge fan of upturned hand holds.
  • Also on display was the new USE R1 aerobar, the successor to the popular Tula. The R1 takes the radical concept of the Tula and adds a lot more adjustability.
  • No one has accused the Tule or this new R1 of being overly convenient, but this radical bladed brake lever is supposed to be an aerodynamic win by keeping things within the frontal profile of the bar, eliminating the extra frontal area of a brake lever.
  • The R1 has a very small frontal area, and designed to be small enough to potentially replace some integrated bars - USE already makes an adapter to fit this bar into the Shiv TT. And of course, they make a round adapter to allow the bar to fit into a 31.8mm stem.
  • The R1 saves even more frontal area by using an internal compression plug to secure the extensions. Those red bits are what you tighten to secure the extensions.
  • Because the bar has integrated brake levers, there is no Di2 compatibility, and therefore no need for a big cable port.
  • The hardware can be mounted narrow as pictured, or ultra-narrow by using the bolt spots further in.
  • The R1's stack adjustment is achieved by stacking spacers, and keeping them aligned via these tiny pins tht you have to carefuly place between each spacer. These have got to be a pain to keep track of and install.
  • I think I end up shooting this product year after year, but it's hard to resist the pretty lights.
  • Rotor now has 110 BCD versions of the 3D, 3D+, and Flow cranks.
  • Aluminum frames largely still rely on pre-formed tubes
  • After years of development, missed deadlines, and endless teasing, the Garmin Vector is finally available to the consumer! I'm going to try to get my hands on a set to test.
  • Zipp's new SL Speed bottle cage comes in carbon and aluminum versions, and has an open center to make it more easily compatible with BTA products like the Profile Design HC Bottle.
  • The SL Speed cage has a nice lip around the top edge to make it easier to seat a bottle.
  • Zipp has also upadted the Platinum Pro pad, manufactured by SwissStop. Their pads are some of the best on the market for stopping carbon rims.
  • SRAM's large road cassettes allow some very convenient low climbing gears for when the road gets vertical.
  • SRAM's very large floor space featured examples of every road group with each component just floating in mid-air.
  • Zipp's new SL Sprint stem is a big ol' chunk of carbon fiber that promises to be incredibly stiff and take just about any amount of torque you can manage to put to it.
  • The Zipp-dedicated portion of the SRAM booth is always highlighted by an enormous row of carbon hoops all sitting in a row.

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