Day One: The Bike Show - Roc D'Azur 2013

Strictly this isn't a new bike from Commencal, their 27.5"-wheeled Meta AM has been around for a little bit now. But this black anodised version is definitely the most beautiful we have seen so far. It's not just a cosmetic change though, the neon paint they have been using in recent years takes several coats to get a good finish, so by switching to anodising saves 250g from the frame weight. The fact that this bike is finished off with BOS suspesion, Mavic wheels and SRAM's XX1 drivetrain only serves to make this bike even higher up our wish lists.

Pyga is a new name to us here at Pinkbike. It is the new venture for Patrick Morewood, Morewood's founder, and Mark Hopkins, the man who designed the Leatt neck brace and founded CSixx components. This is their debut trail bike, called the Onetwenty. As the name suggests, it has 120mm of travel, a 68.5 degree head angle and 428mm chainstays. The suspension is laid out with a single pivot and a linkage actuating the shock. Unlike most bikes with this setup, the rear brake is mounted to the seatstay, rather than the chainstay, in theory this should help reduce the brake jack that is common in most bikes with this layout.

Not seen before this show is Pyga's longer-travel Pasco frame. Like its smaller sibling, it runs on 27.5", but sports a healthy 150mm of travel and a slightly slacker 67 degree head angle.

Yasujiro aren't the kind of thing we normally write about here at Pinkbike. For a start, they don't make a single mountain bike. Yet last year here at Roc D'Azur their speedbike was hands down the stand-out bike of the show for us. This year the speedbike has been lent to another booth here at the show, so instead they brought their take on a commuter bike. This is going to be the personal bike of the the French Yasujiro importer, JC, once the show is over and you can visibly see him beaming with pride at his carbon and steel commuting monster. Made entirely from Tange steel, that gold finish on the brazing isn't a special coating, they have simply polished it down to a fine finish. Just look at the attention to detail all the way through the bike. We particularly love the burn marks around each join from the brazing. Coming from a mountain bike background, JC has decked the bike out SRAM's X0 gripshift and Avid X9 Trail disc brakes, although at the back of the bike is a SRAM Red derailleur from their road line and a wide-range (for a road bike) cassette.

Yasujiro also had this stunning track bike on the stand, finished in this gorgeous, clean white and polished components. We don't care that it's got nothing to do with mountain biking, we just want one...

Bluegrass had their all-new Goldeneyes helmet on show. It fits firmly into the new generation of trail lids, with good coverage at the back and side of the head. Airflow is clearly a priority with this helmet, if you look closely there are substantial vents above the brow and huge exhaust vents at the back. There is even a retaining clip to hold your goggle's strap in place.

Another bike that got a lot of attention last year was the CavaleireFalcon, with its Effigear internal gearbox. This year Cavaleire have brought a prototype long-travel trail bike to the show, sporting 160mm travel front and rear. At the moment they are just going through testing with the geometry, but expect the final bike to have super-short chainstays and a more elegant tube profile. In fact, this bike is so fresh it doesn't even have a name yet.

Back again is the Cavaleire Falcon that we looked at last year. Since then the chain tensioner has been improved and this show bike uses the optional carbon belt drive.

Nicolai has this update of their Ion 20 downhill bike on show, with the Effigear gearbox and a carbon belt drive at its heart. This bike has come straight from the world cup, it has been put through its paces at both Hafjell and Leogang. The one change for the show is that they have swapped out the regular, 26" wheels for 27.5" wheels to show potential customers what they can do with this bike.

Production Privee are launching their long-awaited stem. Styled to recall a classic Corvette, it has been shaped and refined to just 158g. Only available in 50mm long, it has zero rise, will fit 1 1/8" steerers and clamps 31.8mm bars. MSRP will be 109 Euros and it should be available very soon.

Also from the guys at Production Privee are their CG-edition cockpits. They are the same as the regular bar and stem, but are two-colour anodised to prefectly match the green of the DVO suspension Cedric uses.