Post Two from the Taipei Cycle Show ...
This is going to be a long post, you might want to go get something to drink and maybe a snack to help you power through.
For all of you who have been to Interbike or Eurobike you know how much there is to look at. And it can be a little bit hard to decide what to spend time looking for. The Taipei show has a different flavor to it than Interbike. There are a lot of random things at the Taipei show, and I will get pictures of the random Taiwanese nonsense in a blog post this week or next. It is going to take some time to go through my pictures and post everything that I want to post.
Pics and details inside,I have to say the booth of the show so far has to be the Spank Industries booth. It is wedged in between two Taiwanese style booths (pictures of that to come). Their booth is full on Interbike or Eurobike style with the bar stools and coffee machine brewing espresso, coffee and anything else you caffeine junkies drink.
Of course I did not get good pictures of the espresso bar or the good looking girl pouring the coffee. I think I did get some good shots of their product.
OOZY
SUBROSA
TWEET TWEET
SPIKE
STIFFY
Spank is working from their own factory located in Taiwan. They are working with new tooling, new materials (Super 6, Dynamal) and new processes. They are about to launch their EVO Rims. The material, tooling and process has reduced rim weight by 5-20% and increased strength and stiffness by 20% or more.
VOMAX
I also was allowed to take pictures of the new Spoon frame. Based on the geometry of the Tweet Tweet frame but will retail for $100 less than the Tweet Tweet. Take a look ...
After leaving Spank I was in search of something to catch my eye. I had a meeting with Manitou to talk about their 2010-2011 forks and had some time to kill before it. I stumbled onto this bike from Astrix. I have known Ryan from Astrix for a few months but have never seen one of his bikes built up.
After two years of development the Havoc has just been exclusively released in the UK. With 8 inches of rear travel the Havoc is Astrix's DH race bike. This bike can easily be built up around 38 pounds ... Currently the frames are available from Riding High in the UK.
I could probably write a five page article on what I learned about suspension today. But it is 2am and I have to get up in 4 hours to get ready to go back to the bike show. And most of the information I got can be found online with a little bit of research. So here are a few words and a lot of pictures.
Manitou:
Dorado Pro
R7
Tower 29"
Circus
BOS:
Idylle Rare - 10th Anniversary Edition - cosmetic change only. Same internals, same price, same great fork.
Deville - 160mm Travel Enduro Fork, 1990 grams, 34 mm stanchions, TRC system.
I stopped by X-Fusion and took some pictures, most of the information that I got can be found online.
I hope you all made it this far with out having to stop for a bathroom break. I am off to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep before doing it all again tomorrow.
Keep Riding,
Rob Dunnet
Some awesome kit