Cyclists are not Rockstars: September 2011

#1158

If you happen to be in the Boston area this weekend, check out the Gloucester Grand Prix of cyclocross.... This year they are upping the game with this.

#1157

Here's a little tidbit about the sought after Scott Foil, a non-removable chain watcher mount that is part of the frame. The actual shield is attached with a small screw.

Posted by Dillon P.

#1156

Nothing says Rockstar like ignoring the need to race well and instead focus on stuffing dollar bills in your pocket..... Here

The crazy hipsters at Chrome always have an interesting
concept for their booth. This time they made the space look like the street, complete with picnic tables, a parked van, garbage
cans and these newspaper boxes.

Cycleops made it a point to fight the notion that their power
meters are heavy. So they had a contest to try to guess the
weight of this tricked out bike. It was probably in the high 13 pound range.

Oakley had a toned down presence at Interbike this year.
But they still were inviting people at the Outdoor Demo to
come inside the store\lab-in-a-truck to see some
demonstrations of the superior optics and strength of their lenses

This BB30 crank from Rotor has a nifty threaded adjustment sleeve instead of the usual bearing squeezing wave washer. Rotor is coming out with a catalog's worth of adapters to fit nearly every type of new bottom bracket standard out there.

The popularity of Surly's Pugsly line of bikes inspired them to construct this all natural set of training rollers. Very cool to watch someone barrel along on this.

SRAM displayed their new Alpine White Apex group and suddenly it doesn't seem so bad to have a bike with entry level parts.

There were plenty of bikes on display that had this depressing mark underneath the clear coat.

#1154

London's bike share program has about 15,000 bikes in circulation.
Last year, only 15 were stolen.

#1153

Interbike Wrap-up (part 1)


Giro's New TT Helmet incorpates a plastic fairing to cover up exposed area on the back of the neck.

The helmet comes with a couple of fairings
of differing depths to get the air cheating action just right.
It just pops into holes on the bottom of the helmet.

One of the niftiest things seen was this fold-up pocket scale.
Small as a bill fold wallet.

Camelbak was debuting a yet-unreleased
water bottle with a U.V. light in the cap.

The light claims to kill 99.9% of bacteria if the process
is done according to instructions. Release date is
for end of the year, spring time at the latest. Battery is rechargeable and will last for months of normal use.

Moots had this awesome stem-topcap-headset cover
all in one on a CX bike at the Outdoor Demo.
Super sweet!

#1152

Interbike

Throw thousands of bike loving professionals and enthusiasts into a building for 3 days and you can be sure that lots of things will happen. Interbike is a place and time when countless deals are hashed out, thousands of decisions are finalized, and perhaps millions of opinions are made. Not all of these are positive. We got first hand evidence of that when we stopped by the Lezyne booth to check out the beautiful tools that were on display there. Just as we were looking at media-loved replaceable Y wrenches;

A gentlemen came up and asked to speak to the owner. Instead he spoke to the tools designer and promptly produced this tool from his pocket:

A tool he had developed, patented and was selling "quite a few of" from this website. Although the patent was pending, he still believed that it would afford him some protection in this case and it was obvious that he believed that Lezyne had copied it. He was not aggressive in his manner at all. The conversation took place calmly, although with a certain tension. Nothing of course was decided as more people on Lezyne's side would have to get involved. But it was an interesting example of how one man's innovation is another man's possession.

#1151

Interbike Review:

Garmin vs Polar\Look By Dillon P.

On of the main objectives going into Interbike was to get the inside scoop on the 2 most talked about power measuring systems. Here at H.Q, power meters are a daily part of our riding lifestyles and we know plenty of you out there in the interwebs are looking for an alternative to PowerTap, SRM and the like.

Or course we are talking about the Garmin Vector and the other is the Polar\Look Keo Power Pedals. After seeing and touching these 2 systems up close, it is remarkable how similar they are. However, a closer look and a talk with representatives from both development teams led to a clear picture who has the lead before anyone has even purchased one at retail.

>Both pedal systems can claim to display left and right leg power as combined balance of total power. Pretty neat if you happen to worry about such a thing.

>Both have externally mounted sending units that will NOT hit the ground before the pedal will. Trust on this one. Damage is still possible from crashing of course, and both pedals with their sending units seem to be equally vulnerable as compared to a hub based PowerTap ( for example ). No one is going to crash on purpose but if you think you're gonna crash, be prepared to replace these.

The Vector uses an O ring along with a plastic clip for water
protection. We were assured that you could throw water
onto those gold rings and while it may disrupt the signal,
upon drying out, the unit would not be harmed at all.

The Polar | Look pedal's connection is deeper within
the spindle, with two O rings acting as a seal.

>Both use Look Keo style cleats. No surprises there and Look comes out a winner, having backing from the “tech” sector of cycling equipment.
>Both will be rebuildable. So no, you will not have to buy the expensive guts of the pedal system when your pedal wears out.
>Both require an "old school" 9/16^th pedal wrench to remove or install them.
>Both are claimed weather proof.

Let's talk differences:
>The Garmin uses ANT+ and can thereby "speak" to almost anything. Including your Iphone.
Whereas the Look\Polar talks to only to Polar cpu's ( which so far, are nearly twice as expensive as entry level ANT+ options ).

>The Garmin Vector measures torsional deflection in the center of the spindle whereas the Polar measures it from the outside.

>The Look is built into a Keo pedal body
The Garmin is built into an Exustar pedal body that is 100% compatible with Look cleats.

>Polar system is out in October whereas you will have to wait to March for the Garmin.

>Polar will cost $2500 and the Garmin will run about $1500. ( so they say now )

So basically those differences mean that:

>You have to trust Exustar. ( I love them and have never had a problem with them )

>You are locked into a proprietary system with Polar ( I already have a ANT+ receiver that I want to use for power )

>Garmin is reasonably priced, Polar is undeniably a bit expensive.

>As far as which will do a better job measuring power, the Polar may be able to pick up smaller differences in spindle deflection on the outside of it. It should be noted that the Garmin rep would not apologize for the delay. It simply had to be that way to get it right. Garmin, as a company, is much different in scope than Polar. We're talking the Yankees versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Garmin has $10 research money to every $2 that Polar spends. If a big rich company says it needs that much time to make a new technology reliable, I am going to be suspicious of the first product from a smaller company that beats all to the market.

I walked into the Garmin booth and got the lowdown on their system then went to Polar\Look to see their's. Both had rideable bikes with there respective systems hooked up and working flawlessly.

I asked Garmin why not buy a Polar\Look system? "I don't know." The Garmin rep said. "They have it set up over there? I'm gonna go try it out". He basically wasn't going to say anything negative or comment on something he didn't know about. After more prying he just mentioned the different locations of the "brain" and cost difference. It seems to me this was the highroad to take as a salesman.

50 paces to the east and I ask Polar\Look: "Why buy your unit for more money? What does it have that's better?"...... "Ours exists" was the answer I got. It is true that Look is claiming 3 weeks to ship time and Garmin is projecting March 2012. I asked for more convincing: The Look rep said "Their's is in a Exustar pedal! You wanna ride that? A delta cleat?". He was surprised to hear that I do ride em, and he needed to be corrected on the cleat. Its a Keo, not an older Delta. Needless to say, it doesn't seem that they don't hold those in high esteem. "Our pedals win races" he said. "Does there's do left and right balance?" he asked me. I said it did.

That was it. No big game changing feature, no awesome techy reason. Instead it was "Ours exists", when a stones throw away, Garmin's clearly existed just as much. The claim that the Exustar pedal was inferior is Polar's other front. But I ride that pedal. I love that pedal. I have sold 12 pairs in the last month! Zero issues with mine or customers!

Then's there's the cost to consider. Even though the Polar pedal "exists" the staff on hand gave me an array of different prices from $2200-$2500 and they were unsure if the Polar head will be included. The Garmin staff was more concrete with the details: $1499 in march, no Garmin head included.

Looking at the facts, features and the cost I have no choice but to choose the Gamin Vector.
The tension was thick between these two booths and it didn't help that they were 50ft apart in a room the size of 5 Walmarts and I was looking to stoke the fires of high-end accessory competition. Muwhahaha!

#1150

Interbike

Day 2 of the indoor show. Here's a quick sampling of what has been seen:

SRAM had a Quarq power meter set up
in a fixed position and was testing arm wrestling
strength of any willing contestant.

Trek was debuting a new bottom bracket standard.
This is the BB195....
just kidding

Greg LeMond would approve of these new "vintage" Giro
commuter helmet designs.

#1149

Here is video from the Cross Vegas UCI elite race. Lap 1, the first time up the run-up.

#1148

A European wins Cross Vegas ( again ), patent wars breaking out, beer kegs that cost $700, power meter wars, and another crazy bottom bracket standard!? Only in Vegas baby.... We're in overload right now, look for more in depth articles soon.

#1147

Interbike, day 3

The indoor activities have started and there is much to share. For now, check out the following little gems from the first couple of hours cruising around the Sands convention center.

Fi'Zik's new curve line-up of saddles is making
headlines for good reason. Look for an in depth
write up soon.

Here is the hotness, available in March and ready to
satisfy any numbers geek need for power info.
More pictures to come.

Look closely and you will see a Dura-Ace skewer
on Cadel Evan's Easton wheels.

#1146

Interbike day 2.... Still at the outdoor demo....

Rain is falling hard. Wind is blowing harder. Made it thru the Lake Mead group ride without getting hit by lightning. Biggest news so far is Allen Lim' s new drink mix. He has been quietly handing out slick looking packets of the stuff.

#1145

Interbike!

Day 1 - Outdoor Demo

Here are just a few highlights from the first day of Interbike 2011. Look for a in depth report on all the bikes that were ridden soon.

Vittoria is making news with all kinds of new color combinations, retro models, and custom sized shoes made easily available at reasonable price points.