Interbike Day 3 - taking a break for a bike ride.

It is Friday morning and the last day of Interbike. This year I took a bit of time to do a little cycling with my friend Max. We left the Starbucks near Red Rocks a little before 7 in the morning with the temperature already pushing near 70 and headed uphill and into the Red Rocks Canyon.

Max leading the way to Red Rocks Canyon:



Stunning scenery:

A rare photo of Dr Spoke (at the first rest stop.)


More views of the dessert:


Just my luck, I haven't had a flat in ages - but I got one today!


Mural on the wall of the general store in Blue Diamond.


Blue Diamond even sports a bike shop!


Another view of this stunning area:

Max headed home after a great ride!



The ride into Red Rocks Canyon was a welcome break from the chaos that is the show & the strip! Thansk for a great ride Max!

Interbike Day 3 Sep 26, 2008 - Time to go home!

Last day of the show! Nearly time to go home! After this mornings great ride with my friend Max (see previous BLOG post) I was ready to do my last few appointments, finish up and go home. Here are a few photos from the show today:

Felt is a proud sponsor of the Garmin Chipoltle team:


One of the new Felt women's bike. The Felt paint schemes this year are very nice!


It is my guess that Rock Racing is bike shopping. I saw the RR crew at the Sinclair (Ridley) booth the first day and today I spotted Tyler Hamilton and Johan Museuw chatting. Museuw is bringing his line of bikes to the states this year.


A very nice Cinelli track bike!

This Raleigh was sporting wheels built in our shop by Toby Webster, Raleigh employee and former Spoke & Sprocket mechanic.


As promised - more photos of updated road groupos. This is the new Campagnolo Super Record 11 speed:

SRAM has also updated their top line Red group. No major changes but a few tweaks and a new crank:


Shimano had big news with the first update to Dura Ace in a number of years. The Dura Ace group is pretty much all new for 2009 and sports changes in every component:



Shimano was also displaying and demoing the new Dura Ace electronic shifting.


Steel is making quite a revival this year, this Molteni ornage Colnago Master was just one more piece of evidence.


I just love Tommasini's pain jobs. This Tricolore was especially nice.

FINALLY! A computer for those of us who can't see up close anymore. BBB displayed this big readable screen in a number of models. You can bet we will be carrying them in the shop.


Knog had a number of new products, including more glove options.


3T is back! 3T is back and has a number of great items. They have made a big investment in Carbon fiber technology and hired a former F1 designer to head their program. The result is some of the best engineered carbon bars & stems I have seen.

While for most folks the show is all about bikes, bike parts, & cycle clothing there is actually a lot of other things that go on including seminars on retailing, merchandising, and advocacy. A number of vendors are also present selling computer & retail support, Point of Sale systems and the like. The folks from Edge technologies (based in Tacoma) sold us our POS system years ago and always been great to work with. It is a powerful, flexible system that is continually upgraded, and easy enough to use that even Jim Finnell can manage it (most of the time!) They are always at the show and great fun to hang with!

While the system is great for bicycle shops, it is flexible enough that it works well for many retail operations. Many of the Edge folks are former retailers, so they know what kinds of things we need! I would suggest that any retailer needing a POS check them out!

Penny displays the Profit Premier POS to a potential customer:

Joe of Edge talking with another customer.



Leslie of Edge is working as well. As you can see the booth was busy!


By about 4:30 many of booths are being packed up, even though the show is open until 6:

Time to head home. Once I am home I will start to sort through all of this stuff and see what will work for our shop. You can bet that we will have a lot of new, exciting product for next year!

Dr Spoke

Interbike Day 2 Sep 25, 2008. Shoes & a moment with the Cannibal.

Today was spent in technical seminars, shoe shopping, and getting a jersey signed by eddy Merckx and with the gang at Torelli.

Torelli's Tipo Uno leather saddle line has been expanded with the edition of a nice tan saddle:


Torelli is also expanding it's Carbon frame line. The new frame has one of the nicest paint schemes I have seen in years. the deep, rich, ruby red adds a nice touch, but what else would you expect from Torelli.


Todd Linscott, Torelli principal shows off the new Women's Tipo Uno fixie. As far as i know this is the first (and only) women's specific fixed gear bike.

The photo really does not do it justice, but this gorgeous Mondonico with limited edition blue bormio wheels and Campy's 11 speed group is a real stunner!

Even after all these years Eddy Merckx still pulls in a crowd, but then again it is Eddy!


Ok, it's not a great picture - but it is me and the Cannibal himself!


Ok, Ok, back to work - time to look at shoes. Shimano has to have the most comprehensive selection of shoes models of anybody.



DMT had a nice shoe lineup, including this nice conservative tourning/spinning shoe



Dealers at one of the Campagnolo technical seminars, this one at 8:30 am was not quite as well attended as the later events - but then that's Vegas for you!

Till tomorrow,


Dr Spoke

Interbike Day 1 Sep 24 2008 - bike shopping day

Each year there is always some clever promotion campaign. Crumpler put their add in a place that folks were not likely to miss:



Today was bike shopping day, but there was much more to see - check it out:

Everyone has updated their top end road groups, There is a new Shimano Dura-Ace group, some updates to the SRAM Red group, and Campy not only updated their two top groups (Record & Chorus) but have added a Super Record group. Old roadies will recognize Super Record as a resurrection of Campy's top end grup name from the late 70s. Lot's of changes for the Campy stuff, the main things being 11 cogs in the rear (said to speed up shifting) and improved ergonomics on the levers. Photos of DuraAce and Red coming in a day or so.


Shimano is sponsoring a breast cancer awareness fund raiser. A number of bike makers participated in designing bikes around Shimano's Allfine group. Torelli served up this tasty number:



Interbike is always a who's who of the cycling industry. Here are a couple of shots of cycle industry 'celebs':

Rock Racing team members visiting in the Sinclair booth.


Vaelentino Campagnolo chatting with journalist Zapata Espinosa:



Dario Pegoretti visitng with a dealer:

And on to the bikes - Below is a tasty Pegoretti Reponsorium. The good news is that Dario is once again building and painting, and that stock frames will be available this year. The bad news is if you want a custom bike like the one below, be prepared for a long wait, perhaps 18 months!


Eddy Merckx is partnering with Pinnarello to offer a couple of new full carbon frames & complete bikes, one of which is shown below


Salsa has been busy this year and has a number of new bikes, including this nice steel road bike. We will be adding the Salsa line to our bike selection, so you should be able to see one of these in real life soon!


Felt has a number of new models, including this Garman/Chipoltle team colored bike: