Inside Line: Mountain bike highlights from Eurobike

By Jeff Lockwood

It’s the end of August and we’re in Germany. That means it’s Eurobike time. Here’s a selection of some interesting mountain bike bits we’ve seen over the first day and a half of the show.

Breezer Repack

Joe Breeze was part of the Repack gang racing down Mt. Tam back in the 1970’s. Around the same time, he was also building some of the first mountain bikes before they were known as mountain bikes. In fact, the first fat tire bike built by Joe Breeze, the Breezer #1, is now in the Smithsonian Institute of American History.

Under the Breezer brand, Joe has kept right on designing and building bikes. Sensing that today’s enduro riders share the same spirit of adventure and fun of the sport’s forefathers, and to capitalize on it, Breezer has unveiled the all-mountain, 160mm-travel Repack.

The Breezer Repack 27.5” wheels 160mm of travel for Enduro riders

The three Repack models all feature 27.5” (650B) wheels, a Breezer D’Fusion hydroformed custom-butted 6066 aluminum frame, and the all-new patented MLink suspension system.

The pivot in this design is situated at the middle of the chainstays, which make the links longer. Breezer claims this creates a more rigid rear end for more efficient climbing, yet retain the ability to take all the downhill abuse enduro riders throw at it.

Breezer says the Repack bikes will arrive in January.

Vaude

Long known for their great bags and other cool outdoor gear and clothing, Vaude has jumped into the mountain bike shoe market for 2014 with the Taron MTB shoe series.

The three shoes in the Taron line retain the sleek styling Vaude is known for. Two of them are low-cut, while one is a waterproof mid-cut. There is almost no stitching on the top of the shoe, in favor of bonding at the seams. The soles of the shoes are inspired by mountain bike tires, and definitely look like it. There’s a nylon board inside the bottom of the shoe that makes it stiff for power transfer, yet the tire-like base of the sole, which is made in conjunction with Vibram, is soft and grippy enough for your off-the-bike sessions.

DZR

California shoe company DZR has a new shoe for those of the freeride and/or downhill persuasion. The Sense Pro features adjustable stiffness thanks to two different footbeds: one that’s stiff and one that’s not so stiff. The toe and heel of the sole are a bit more rugged than the middle of the sole. This allows less wear on the toe and heel, and more grip at the pedal interface.

DZR Sense Pro for the downhillers and freeriders

Two different sole compounds.

 

One footbed is stiff, while the other one is more flexible.

Juliana

Julie Furtado was one of the most successful mountain bike racers in the 1990’s. She was in the Olympics, and has been inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.

More recently, she’s been doing work with Santa Cruz bicycles, and now we have the Juliana brand of bikes, which are for women. And they’re some sweet bikes. Let’s let the photos of these 27.5” bikes speak for themselves.

Kona

Fat bikes are getting a lot of curious looks here in Germany.

Mission Workshop

Mission Workshop is well-known for making some serious messenger bags, backpacks and other urban riding clothing. But their interest in cycling goes deeper than bikes ridden in and around the city. As their marketing guy, Lyle, told me, “All of us at Mission Workshop ride mountain bikes, and we wanted cool stuff to ride with.” And that’s how Acre was born.

A sub-brand of Mission Workshop, the Acre line of trail packs and apparel shares the same high-quality features and well-thought out design details.

 

The Hauser trail pack looks similar to Mission Workshop’s other backpacks in style, but their functionality is obviously aimed at mountain bikers with things like the ability to use a hydration bladder.

 

Capacity options (not the capacity of the hydration bladder) are 10 and 14 liters.

Instead of including a number of internal pockets for tools, etc., Acre decided to include a complete removable tool roll. Pretty cool.

WTB

What’s as light as carbon fiber, but a little more sensible to handle the abuse of certain types of mountain biking? What’s light enough for cross-country riding, but made for all-mountain riding?

If you’re thinking it’s the new KOM i23 aluminum rim from WTB, then you’re right!

Available in all mountain bike wheel sizes, the KOM rims feature the WTB Tubeless Compatible System (TCS). The TCS system combines the WTB rims and tires that is compatible with all international tubeless standards.

WTB minimized rim thickness wherever possible in an effort to get weights comparable to carbon fiber.

X-Fusion

The X-Fusion Hilo SL is a lighter version of their Hilo 125 dropper post. Like it’s heavier sibling, the slimmed down hydraulic SL offers 125mm of infinitely adjustable travel to stabilize your ride. It weights in at 450 grams with the included remote.

Cube Stereo Hybrid 140

Electricity is creeping into all areas of cycling, and the 140mm travel, 27.5” party is no exception. We’ve seen a lot of electric motors thrown into frames in all sorts of manner. However, Cube seems to have given some serious thought into this model.

The engine on the Stereo Hybrid is situated at the bottom bracket, but the pivot for the rear link is there, as is the seat of the shock eyelet. It’s all at a low position on the bike, so the center of gravity is lower. This means more agility.

Wood you?

Want a unique look for your wheels? How about these wood grain graphics? These are aluminum rims, but a wood grain graphic… even inside the rim.