DAY ONE

So Day one indoors started with a lively walk around the halls chit chatting with the folks on the stands. Then afterwards we walked some more, jibber jabbered some more. Then walked more and more till our legs felt like falling off and our mouths were so parched we needed to fill up on beer. Thankfully SRAM were there to help at the end of the day, which was funny because thats exactly where we started in the morning.

   The tidy lever allows you to adjust the force of movement in the seatpost to be hard and fast or soft and gentle. This is called “Slap ‘n’ Tickle” adjustment.

We chatted with super dude Morgan Meredith who is a kick ass photographer but has put aside his camera to pursue other creative avenues. Like coming up with creative ways to describe his former home of Orange County. Morgan is the dude who deals with muppets who want to write gibberish about SRAM and Truvativ.

We peeked at the massive amounts of raw SRAM groupsets on offer. As well as the massively successful XX groupset (SRAM have even being blown away by it’s success as it has sold way above their projections), the complete XO and X9 groupset, and the X7 groupset which is also 2×10 now. It is well-priced but has a lot of the top spec features trickled down to it.

   Descendant crank as found on Peaty’s Worlds bike.

We also touched up the Descendant crank. This is the new, more svelte downhill-equipped crank. You can find out the exact stats somewhere else. I will say I am pleased to see a less chunky crank available on the market. There was also a wee talk about the advent of BB30 or PF30 bottom bracket standards. Truvativ are working on stuff and it’s rumoured a certain multi-rainbow winning Black Box race boy had a very very special set of cranks on his bike that were whipped off immediately after his race run in order to prevent prying eyes discover more about this project. Special materials and construction? See if you can spot anything special by freeze framing the Freecaster footage from one rider’s World Champ’s race run. One thing we didn’t see much of anywhere was the HammerSchmidt. However, I don’t think they are putting it to sleep just yet. Perhaps a radical makeover is in the pipeline?

   This one is for all the 29er haters out there. Yup, a penny farthing. I would like to go on record and say I’m no evangelical 29er preacher. I don’t really like 29ers…not all of them anyway. However, if every manufacturer that produced a 29er sold out of them last year (2010) then there must be plenty more idiots out there to warrant a burlier fork. Not Lyric or Totem burly. Just something that doesn’t feel like a wet noodle on the end of chop stick.

   SRAM booth girl applying a temporary twatoo. I’m marked, more by her stellar touch than by corporate marketing.

We also chatted with Tyler Morland about Rockshox. We were particularly interested in the Reverb adjustable seat post and I had a personal quest to find out if there are sturdier forks available for 29er bikes. I love my particular monster truck but have being finding that the only limitation for gnarly steep Sea to Sky trails is that the only forks available are pretty waffer. Tyler rolled his eyes at my silly wagon wheel questions (he didn’t actually roll his eyes in front of me but maybe he could of inside) and let me know all about the 29er Reba fork which is available in a 140mm travel, tapered aluminum steerer and 20mm bolt through. The travel isn’t necessarily the exciting thing, but more that a more beefed up fork is available for you silly wheeled lovers out there.

Rockshox are really proud of their height-adjust seatpost. They have attempted to answer and solve all the questions and flaws of all the other adjustable seatposts on the market. Cam McRae has been running one for a wee while so expect more from him and his experience of the Reverb on the trail.

   Rockshox Reverb. 125mm travel, hydraulic action. Infinite height adjustment. 515grams. 30.9 31.6. Easily servicable by shops with nothing more special than a clamp of some sort. I’m knackered, I need sleep.

Also the brand-new Avid Codes were on display. Now I’ve been very lucky and have had a pair of Codes on my personal bike for the last two months. Yes they look the part but I can honestly say they work a dream. My day-to-day job in Whistler is coaching and guiding which means I’m on the brakes a lot. Subsequently I cook pads and brakes quicker than a bowl of Ramen noodles. These brakes offer superb modulation and immense power, as well as the shape and feel at the lever that I love in Avid brakes. They also don’t weigh much so my space ship stays nice and light for all the lift line sniffers.

   Codes. Will stop you in your tracks faster than a passing booth girl in a room of sausage.

After SRAM and before beers, we went and saw Shimano to find out more about their changes. They had a huge stand that was packed with people but I couldn’t quite figure out what everyone was looking at. Perhaps they have dropped some figure-hugging re-brand on a road groupset. I almost fell asleep at this point. Partly fatigue, partly just how unexcited the guys and gals paid to represent Shimano were. They didn’t even want to talk to us at first. I’m sure it’s nothing personal, they might just not be so personable after hours of answering inane questions.

   Cogs ahoy. Count them…then the sheep.

The only thing they could tell me was they are doing ten speed on XTR, XT, and SLX groupsets. They have called this Dyna-Sys, which means, according to the bored Shimano representative “It stands for Dynamic System”. Awesome. Yawn.

   XTR TRAIL brakes. With finickity fin.

Just to wind up the bored rep I asked about the cooling fans available on the XTR Trail brakes. Then when he struggled to explain (I think he was a roadie anyway) I asked to see a set so he was forced to get a tool and take out the pads, which have the cooling fans attached to them. The XTR Trail brakes also come with ceramic pistons which help reduce the transfer of heat to the fluid in the system. This may or may not get transferred over to the Saint groupset in the future.

   Once removed it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about.

   Matey got almost excited when he started to talk about this widget. Apparently it’s the bestest pad spring ever. Can’t remember why, I was chasing squirrels in my mind at this point.

This wasn’t all we accomplished today – and we’ll prove it with continued posts. However, we will save you those shots and incoherent blabbering for now. We will have to end this post on the [drum roll please] WORLD PRESS EXCLUSIVE of the Black Market Roam. Carter Holland and Pablo Tafoya told us that no other press had spotted this yet. It’s the brand new prototype sample of their ROAM all-mountain bike. 145mm travel, sturdy frame with Black Market’s signature design ethos of super short back end, low CG and simple design which flows through all their product. Don’t go ordering now. This is one of one and arrived in Vegas from their vendor late last night. It still needs to be put through it’s paces before they sign off on the design. Could be early next year, but probably more like later than that. You heard it here first folks.

   Carter Holland, the man that started the revolution in proper dirt jump frames is building on the shoulder of past successes to bring to you the ROAM. Pablo Tafoya, the man behind the design, is checking over my shoulder to check out my drawing of a squirrel.

   More roaming around the frame of the ROAM. Man, I’m tired. Cam and Fergs are snoring next to me. Maybe I should sleep now the captions have become so lame.

   Cruiser Candy. A band of merry (read as drunk) cougars who have joined forces to produce a killer line of Barbie-esque accessories and stunning vodka jelly. I think it was vodka. It was early.

   Ever wondered why no one makes a tight spandex cycling kit with the logo of your favourite basketball, football or hockey team? I haven’t but apparently they are selling like hot cakes. Talking of hot buns…

Soon we’ll have more stuff. Suspension, clothing, wheels, commuter bikes, bling and booth girls. We already have so much stuff that we could fill a Las Vegas convention hall with it…which is exactly what Interbike is. Good stuff, weird stuff, and thousands of sweaty-palmed dudes hopped up on energy snacks gorping at bikes and chicks.

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Now that everyone has forgiven Seb for skidding and producing defamatory treatises about bulletin board denizens, what do you think about what he has to say today?  Send it to Sin City here…