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10/11/2008
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Interbike - Bonus Round
More where that came from
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Words and photos by Cam McRae
This was a good year for bombshells at Interbike - blondes and news.
The first one I heard was that Fabien Barel was shopping around for a new bike
sponsor after riding Kona for several years and two world championships.
The other surprise was that GT decided not to renew Brian
Lopes' contract after seven years and four world championship titles.
Brian didn't take it well and it must have been tough for him keep a lid on
things on his blog. His contempt wasn't veiled but you could tell he was
holding back when he wrote "That's what happends when you have
a bunch of corporate yahoos who really don't get it." Ouch!
You'd think his charm alone would be enough to keep him on the program.
I guess once you have been around as long as Lopes has you can afford to light
up a bridge or two.
Thomas Vanderham (left) telling new dad Jonny Rockall of Rocky
Mountain Bicycles about his mishap.
In busted rider news Vanderham broke his hand on the last day of filming with
the Collective crew and Wade Simmons tweaked his knee shooting stills with Markus
Greber in Europe. They both timed things nicely since the monsoon has
now arrived on the Shore.
The big news at Interbike is always gear though and companies are always trying
to push the competition out of the way with the next big thing - all in an effort
to get their fingers in your wallet. Here's my first installment of tasty
morsels from Vegas - and some bike stuff too.
Above you see details of a couple of the Fox Shox cutaways.
On the left you see the lower portion of the damping leg of a Fox 40.
On the right is the Talas mechanism from the 36. Looking inside
Fox products reveals the quality and attention to detail they are famous for.
This was a stay the course year for Fox Shox. They refined the
damping in almost every model but nothing new was introduced. It looks
like a 1.5" steerer fork is on the way though but it will likely be offered
as aftermarket first. We know the crown is done because the 36 on the
Trek Remedy has a steerer that begins at 1 1/8 and then cones out to 1.5 by
the time it hits the crown.
Rocky had a couple of new bikes on offer. The first one
to catch my eye was this 70s muscle-inspired Slayer Slopestyle. The Slayer
SS 396 has a low centre of gravity, ample standover and enough beef to land
a back flip off the big step down in the Boneyard. nsmb.com team
rider Neil Meier has been on a prototype of this bike for several months now
and he loves it.
This is a fine looking machine.
The Pro was the best looking of the
Flatline models to these eyes. These are still pre-production models and
the edges will be further smoothed once the bikes arrive from Taiwan.
Taiwan? Was that a typo? In fact it's the gospel. The Flatline will
be the first Rocky Suspension frame, mitred, machined, jigged and welded outside
of Canada. It's not quite the end of an era yet but the writing appears
to be on the wall. Build quality in Taiwan is extremely good these days
but there is still a price advantage to be had - and in this competitive market
Rocky has decided it's time to move some things off shore - so to speak.
The Flatline was designed to be a versatile machine. There
are three shock positions on the frame but things can be further tweaked by
installing shocks with different eye-to-eye measurements. In this way
Rocky has managed to replace both the RMX and the Switch with the Flatline.
The Flatline 1 and 2 roll on single crown forks and are designed for freeride
applications. The frames are designed to run four different eye-to-eye
length shocks. When fork choice is added into the mix you get a table
of 19 possible geometry and travel combinations ranging from a 62.8 degree head
angle and 170mm of travel to 69 degrees with 213mm of travel. Most of
us won't have a box of shocks to toss in but one shock and the three settings
should keep you happy on the Shore and at Whistler.
The Flatline 3 is the cleanest looking of the litter.
We can't let a post go by without showing off the hotties of
Interbike. Pete Roggeman was keen to help the Little Red Riding Hoods
find their way to grandma's house.
Goodridge are still making their über burly stainless lines
and they have added some colour to the mix. You can choose between several
line colours and get annodized fittings as well. It's almost impossible to break,
puncture or pinch a line when you run Goodridge.
WTB has some new skins for your ride. Left to right we
have the Graffiti SF (1) designed for street, park and dirt jump conditions
while Graffiti UK (2) designed for hardpack but it's also hard enough for the
street. The Prowler SS (3) is designed to roll fast on a Slopestyle course
while the Prowler MX is ready for any treachery the mountain can toss your way.
Finally the Wolverine (5) is a nice light do anything tire.
WTB rims have some interesting attention to detail I wasn't
aware of. The sidewall of the rim has an added bulge - the 'Unbendium
Bulge' as a matter of fact - designed to add strength and stiffness without
adding much heft. The 'Safety Seal' has deeper than normal grooves for
the bead seats and two raised lips to lock the tire into place. The LaserDisc
series also features the 'I-Beam' which is designed to counter spoke loads and
help out with torsional rigidity. And you thought they were just
rims.
Continuing with the hotness theme, I roped this young lass into
posing with the studly lads from Silver Star.
That was just my warm up day so stay tuned for more. Ed and Fergs have a
backlog as well so we'll make sure you get all the goods from Las Vegas by the
time we have recovered from the trip.
Cam McRae
Anything to say about my coverage from the Sands? Bring
it here.
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