Tech

More bikes and beers, sun and sand from Day 2 of the Interbike Outdoor Demo Day.

Be sure to check out our gallery from today with even more cool bikes and accessories.

What was your favorite bike you rode at the Outdoor Demo? 

As the second and final day of Outdoor Demo drew to a close we thought it would be interesting to see what participants thought about the shiny new 2011 rigs they rode. Well, shiny and new before being subjected to two days of abuse at the hands of bikers riding unfamiliar bikes on unfamiliar trails. In case you are not familiar with the trails at Bootleg Canyon, think kitty litter over hardpack, and every rock is sharp and ill tempered.

The all-new Ellsworth Evolve

It’s going to take weeks to unravel all the storylines coming out of the show, but watch this space as we continue to bring you all the goodies from Last Vegas. 

Photo galleries

Day 1

Day 2

Tony Pereria and his hand-made city bike.

Touring the builders’ shops at the Oregon Handmade Bicyce Show

By Philip Williamson

[Excerpted from Bike Tinker.]

Cool news for all you cyclocross (and Golden Speedo) fans. The Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships in Seattle will be aired live on the internet beginning at 3:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 24.

Here’s the details from organizers MFG Cyclocross:

If you weren’t able to make it to Colorado for the 2010 Leadville 100, now you can experience it through the lens and on the big screen as a special screening will take place on November 4 in select theaters nationwide.

The 2010 edition features footage and interviews of the record-breaking win by professional racer Levi Leipheimer, famous blind adventurer Eric Weihenmayer who rode the race on a tandem and Mountain Bike Hall of Famer and six-time Leadville Trail 100 champion Dave Wiens.

By Maurice Tierney

By Matt Kasprzyk

The Specialized 2011 product launch was at the Keystone resort in Colorado. Leaving the airport and plains behind, the jagged wall of the Continental Divide only hinted at the spectacular views and riding to come. This year’s setting was a couple hours west of Denver at enough altitude to make many experienced riders crumble.

By Adam Newman

Last week I heard about a new project from Renissance Bicycles in North Carolina, The Bicycle As Art, a blog highlighting user-contributed artwork and cultural artifacts inspired by bicycles.

Sounds like a cool holiday gift to us. Ikea announced last week that all 12,400 of its U.S. employees would recieve a new bike courtesy of the Sweedish furniture retailer.

The company’s self-congradulatory press release cites all the benefits of cycling as its reasons for the gift, including excercise and sustainability. Certainly two great causes a company would like to be associated with. Though Ikea hasn’t always played nice with the cycling community.

The good folks at Airborne Bicycles stopped by at Dirt Rag HQ this week to show off their revamped model lineup for Spring 2011.

Freeride Entertainment, an action and extreme sports filmmaking company, is taking freeriding back to its roots with Where the Trail Ends, a feature film based on natural terrain riding in international locations.

The project started deep in the Gobi Desert this year with riders Darren Berrecloth, Kurt Sorge, and James Doerfling. Freeride is keeping quiet about the other locations, but you can use your imagination…

We’re getting spoiled here at Dirt Rag Headquarters! Two companies in as many weeks have stopped by to show us their wares. Sorry you couldn’t make it, but we’re going to share what we saw with you.

Today it was Zack from Mavic who stopped by, bringing an assortment of Mavic’s wheels, shoes and clothing for show and tell. If you’ve somehow been living under a rock or on Mars, you should know Mavic has been building wheels and other cycling parts in France for more than 100 years.

"The world’s toughest bike race isn’t in France."

That’s the tag line for Ride the Divide, a feature-length documentary about the 2008 Tour Divide race, a 2,700-mile haul along the Continental Divide. The race begins every summer in Banff, Alberta, to the New Mexico-Mexico border. There is no outside support allowed, there are no prizes and there is nearly 200,000-feet of climbing.

We’ve just gotten some new product updates here at Dirt Rag HQ from Shimano for 2012. Some of it is completely new and some is trickle-down technology from higher spec components. Anyway you slice it, it looks cool to us. Here’s what we can share with you:

SLX group: SLX brakes receive many of the updates that show up for Deore XT. With Servo-Wave, Ice Technologies brake pads, oversized 22mm ceramic pistons, and the one-way bleed integrated into the new design. The brake lever mounts are also Ispec compatible for reduced system weight and simplicity.

Taking it over the top in 2011

One of the most rewarding things about shooting bikes and builders at NAHBS is having a couple of minutes away from the bustle of the show floor to chat with individuals behind the bikes. The builders seem to appreciate a brief respite from the constant barrage of questions and talking points—it’s nice to see everyone relax just a bit and take a deep breath.

If you’ve been thinking about making the trek to British Columbia for the 2011 BC Bike race, here’s a chance to win one of two free entries, courtesy of Kazimirski Law Corporation. The Kazlaw Community Foundation is providing two spots at BC Bike Race the race people who make mountain biking happen in their community.

Rody Walter of Groovy Cycleworks built this 650b mountain bike for an old-school rider who wanted a modern interpretation of his vintage ride. Listen to Walter tell the story of its creation with the widget below.

By Karl Rosengarth

It’s about time.

Giant finally mated their proven Maestro suspension design with big wheels. Viola! Giant gives birth to the Anthem X 29er lineup in model year 2011.

This bouncing baby boy sports 100mm of front/rear travel, thanks to a Fox F29 RL fork with QR15 thru-axle up front, and a Fox Float RP2 rear shock (coupled to Giant’s Maestro rear suspension).

By Karen Brooks

The venerable brand from NorCal introduced three new bike models earlier this week, and I was one of the lucky stiffs who got to check them out on the kickass trails on and around Gooseberry Mesa in southern Utah. Santa Cruz really knows how to impress: not with slideshows of graphs, but with lots of time on singletrack.

Note: You can read about Santa Cruz’s other new offering, the Blur Carbon here.

(L to R: Santa Cruz staff Josh, Nick, Ariel, some fellow journalists, and Mike, giving his "serious face")

By Karen Brooks

It’s easy to think of carbon fiber bikes as mass produced plastic, but Brad Cason of KirkLee begs to differ. His brand’s own t-shirts asks: "Who says carbon has no soul?" Listen to Cason talk about their creation with the widget below.

By Eric McKeegan

So recently I headed down to Birmingham, Alabama, for the Michelin Press Camp. I don’t know much about the state, and I’m pretty sure the last time I was there involved old vans, good-cop/bad-cop routines and a drug-sniffing dog. I’m a few years and a few haircuts removed from then, which is a good thing, since the fancy pants golf resort we stayed in might have thrown a younger me out. Anyway, other than one presentation, our time at the resort was mostly spent eating, drinking and sleeping, a fine thing since I don’t know a nine iron from a polo mallet.

Trek has instituted a new recycling program at its Waterloo, Wisconson, manufacturing facility for all the scrap carbon fiber created by domestic production. Trek has been building with carbon since 1992.

Discarded trimmings, damaged frames and other parts are collected by Trek and sent to Materials Innovation Technologies, a South Carolina-based company that specializes in recycling carbon fiber.

Though most Trek bicycles are now built overseas, some high-end and prototype production is still handled in its Wisconson hometown.

Santa Cruz unveiled a trio of new models this month, the Highball, Tallboy and Blur TRc, but they slipped in one major new update at the Sea Otter Classic: a redesigned Blur XC carbon.

Significant changes include a tapered headtube, larger downtube, a lighter frame weight and new paint options.

Belive it or not, not all builders at NAHBS specialize in road, track and touring bikes. Bicycle Fabrications‘ Hank Matheson builds some of the wildest and craziest downhill mountain bikes we’ve ever seen. Oh, and a pretty beach cruiser for his mom, too.

Listen to our interview with him with the widget below.

Stan’s NoTubes will be at the DirtFest demo zone with a whole truckload of wheels for riders to demo. If you’re there, stop by and test ride a set to enter to win a pair of hoops to take home with you. They’ll have wheel sizes and axle types in every common size, so don’t worry about fitting them on your bike.

by Karl Rosengarth

Magura invited journalists to Sedona, AZ to try out some of the very first production samples of their all-new MT8 brakes, and to flog their 2012 Thor suspension fork.

By Karl Rosengarth

Magura offers a wide range of suspension forks with a dizzying array of options, so I’ll focus on some global features and changes that run across their entire 2012 product line. Speaking of lineup, check out the list at the end of Magura’s 2012 fork offerings.

Similar to what that other big company that starts with an "S" has done, SRAM has split its top-level XX brake lineup into two parallel systems, one for racing and one for more adventurous "trail" riding.

Here they are side-by-side for a comparison.

We spied with our little eye this disc-brake equipped prototype Specialized Crux at Sea Otter.

Can’t say we’re really surprised, since disc brakes have been gaining momentum in the cyclocross scene after they were allowed by the UCI for pro-level racing.

Look for a disc brake version of the Crux in showrooms this fall, along with other disc cyclocross bikes following.

NiteRider has been lighting your ride since 1989, and now thanks to the rapidly advancing LED technologies on the market, they’ve been able to effectively double the light output of their lineup for 2012 while keeping prices steady.

At the top of the lineup is the new Pro 3000 LED. Yes, you read that correctly, 3,000 lumens. The six LEDs can be fully programmed by the owner to customize brightness, flashing and settings. Run times range from 90 minutes to 36 hours(!) 812 grams. $699.

Yeti’s president  discusses the new Switch suspension platform and the new SB-66 all-mountain bike

By Josh Patterson

First off, there were rumors and speculation about a new suspension platform being developed but Yeti did a surprisingly good job of keeping things under wraps. How hard is it to keep something like this a secret in this day and age?

By Justin Steiner

Shimano’s venerable XT group is turning 30. To celebrate, Shimano has infused the groupo with a host of new technology trickled down from last year’s completely redesigned XTR. We briefly covered the group’s public introduction at Sea Otter, and I’m at Lake Tahoe to put the new group through its paces. Shimano invited a group of us media hacks out to take what may well be the first public rides aboard the 2012 group.

By Adam Newman

For the past decade or so, Mavic has moved its thinking that bicycle wheels are made from individual components to a philosophy of "wheel systems". Since a change to any piece – hubs, spokes and rim – affects the other, the French manufacturer designs and builds wheels with all the components working together to provide the best ride.

By Adam Newman

Mavic doesn’t design wheels, they design wheel systems, with each component – hubs, spokes and rims – crafted in conjunction to achieve the ideal ride qualities. The 26-inch Crossmax wheel lineup has been completely redesigned for 2012, with three wheelsets with similar technologies but very different ride characteristics.

Quality Bicycle Products, the bicycle industry’s largest wholesale distributor and parent company of Surly and Salsa bikes, pulled the cover off their new carbon fiber forks and accessories brand, Whisky Parts Co.

In late July they will be offering a complete line of high-performance road, cross and mountain bike forks, with carbon handlebars, seatposts and bottle cages following in the fall.

By Justin Steiner

By Adam Newman

Carbon fiber isn’t just for risk-averse racers any more. That’s the ethos behind Foundry Cycles, a new brand specializing in hard-working carbon frames for hard-working riders.

The Jet 9 RDO has 100mm of rear suspension travel. Expect the alloy version to follow suit for 2012.

By Josh Patterson

By Josh Patterson

Charge LR

By Josh Patterson

Fox is introducing two changes for 2012: one that makes their suspension forks even smoother, and one that makes their shocks more adjustable.

Up front, Fox forks will be using new low friction wiper seals manufactured by SKF.  Aftermarket seals are now available to for your fork.

Since downhill bikes, especially in racing, are such specialized machines, it’s no surprise that SRAM is now offering a downhill-specific group of components in its race-worthy XO line.

Included is the first carbon-fiber downhill crankset, a chainguide and a downhill-specific rear derailleur, designed for the close-ratio cassettes used in DH and 4-cross.

Prices are equal to those of the standard XO components.

By Adam Lipinski

The Satori

Kona said its US sales force was asking for something bigger. Something badder. Something that could handle tough terrain without sacrificing ridabilty.

Vassago may specialize in making heavy-duty steel mountain bikes, but they wanted to offer their customers something a little bit more refined. Enter Black Label.

By Josh Patterson

The Zaskar 100

The Zaskar 100 is new for 2012 and replaces the Marathon in the GT lineup. GT designed this bike as a race-ready bike for the weekend warrior looking for a performance-oriented ride with that requires a minimum of maintenance.

Transition Bandit 29

Transition Bikes recently took the wraps off their Bandit 29, an agressive, full-suspension all-mountain bike.

The rear triangle features Transition’s new internchangable dropouts with allow for a 142mm thu-axle or a 135mm quick release. The swingarm moves through 130mm of travel and the tapered headtube is designed around a 140mm fork, most likely the new Fox 34.

Spotted on the Ahrens Bicycles blog: the cable to hydraulic disc brake adapters developed by Ahrens and 324 Labs are now available for pre-order.

Last week we brought you the scoop on two new 29ers from Kona, and today it’s a pair of gravity-oriented sleds, the redesigned Operator and the all-new Entourage.

The Operator

By Josh Patterson

Images courtesy of Cane Creek

By Shannon Mominee

The Camber 29 is a XC/trail full suspension platform with 110mm of rear travel. It features in-line rear suspension to align the seatstays, shock and top tube with one another, so bump force travels directly to the shock for a supple feel. Because it’s offered with a carbon, M5, or M4 aluminum frame in a variety of parts packages, it covers the widest spectrum in the Specialized line from beginner to expert.

The rumors have been swirling online for weeks, and today Surly announced it was real: the Moonlander.

A fat bike so fat that it puts the brand’s own Pugsley to shame. Designed to work with Surly’s new 100mm wide rims, new 4.5-inch tires and new offset double crankset, it will surely take you anywhere you want to go.

The EVO model has green highlights, the S-Works model has red.

By Shannon Mominee

Introducing the 2012 Element Alloy 26 and 29 from Rocky Mountain Bicycles on Vimeo.

By Josh Patterson

Today was my first day at the Scott Bicycles press camp, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Accompanying our merry band of journalists was none other than Mountain Bike Hall of Fame’er, frame builder, and founder/component designer of Ritchey Designs, Tom Ritchey.

By Shannon Mominee

Autosag

IMBA has joined forces with the Let’s Move! campaign to get 30,000 kids on mountain bikes on October 1.

More than 20,000 kids participated in coordinated events in 2010 and IMBA hopes the support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign will get even more kids on bikes on October 1.

By Shannon Mominee

Recognizing the different needs of female riders, Specialized took fit, efficiency and style into consideration while developing their 2012 women’s mountain bike line. Three women-specific 29ers will be offered and one 26”-wheeled bike.

By Josh Patterson

The trails surrounding Sun Valley, Idaho are the stuff of legend. Hundreds of miles of singletrack wind up and down the mountainsides. The lung-searing climbs and scorching descents are the perfect terrain to get acquainted with the completely-redesigned 2012 Scott Spark.

Changes for 2012