The indoor show is massive, not like a Carl's Jr. burger either. I'm talking HUGE here folks. You can walk around for all 3 days and still miss booths. But being the diligent little media folks that we are, here is a look at some of the booths that we did encounter on the journey of a million steps.
Rocky Mountain Bikes, Marin Bikes, Sombrio Clothes, Bike Mine Distribution, DT Swiss, and a bag of mixed goods are all inside.
They say its a built in fender.
Andreas Hestler at Rocky Mountain Bicycles took me for a little tour of some of the new goods at Rocky. The big news for them has to be the Flatline:
The RM platform is out and the new Flatline is in. With curves that would make a Vegas call girl jealous, the new Flatline from Rocky is a good looking bike. Coming in both DH and FR set ups, you'll be able to find a Flatline that will tame any gravity fed terrain you choose to ride.
The Slayer line up continues to turn heads with the SXC and now you can expect to see the newest Slayer, the SS flying by over head. The All Mountain crowd loves the Slayer SXC-just look at it!
The new Slayer SS (Slope Style) is being piloted around the Whistler Bike Park by the likes of Alex Pro and Kyle MacDonald. These two are sending it and giving it a right beat down and its been begging for more and more. The 1.5" head tube allows for more weld contact and a lower headset stack height (lower front end). Lots of beefing up going on with the frame too.
Rocky is really excited about the 2008 line up and their team of gravity riders. Let's see where these new bikes take them.
DT Swiss is one busy little company. Known mostly for their great hubs and spokes, they are now rocking out in the carbon department with their new Carbon XC rims, Carbon fork lowers and Carbon bodied rear shock.
Carbon Fork and Shock:
Carbon Rim XC wheel:
You can't forget about the complete DT Swiss wheel sets either when talking about these guys. Competition ready wheels for any type of racing. New for this year is the E2200 wheel set that will some with a sleeved rim to help bring the wheels into a more affordable market place.
E2200
Marin Bikes were on hand to show us their very successful Quad Link line up of 2 wheelers. With some of Canada's best DH racers hitting top spots at racers all year, we know that these machines can fly. The Mount Vision, the Wolf Ridge and the Quake are all Platforms of the Quad Link Suspension.
MAXLE rear drop outs are new for the line up this year and can be ran on the shorter travel offerings too. Meaning if you are a bigger rider (either tall or in mass or both), you can replace the standard, stock drop outs with a MAXLE version to add stiffness to the rear end where its most effective. The use of Fox's air shocks with larger volume air cans help to produce a more supple ride on the small bumps too. Looking forward to spending some more time on one of these rigs in the not too distant future.
Bike Mine is a distributor in the US that carries a variety of, well, bike stuff. They had the White Collection from GEAX tires on display, as well as some new releases.
When it comes to parts and accessories, there are few if any companies that have as many random bits as BBB. All of which is available through Bike Mine.
Sombrio Clothing will be celebrating their 10th year in the industry as a fashion leader. Sombrio makes clothes that you can ride in, but that you will also want to get out and wear casually too.
With this being their 10th anniversary, they had some sick limited color ways and fabrics going on that will only be out in select shops. The Hanson Jersey and White Leather shorts were so dope!
Sombrio Girls:
The ladies have always been part of the Sombrio line up and this year is no different. The Sombrio Girls line is a little edgier with bold prints and some darker graphics.
The back of this set up is all you slow boys will see.
The girl looked good but she was cold to my warming touch.
Random Pics:
Before Fox's Pinata party there was a group of youths that put on a crazy dance/fight performance.
Oakley's Steve Blick and the legend Johnny Omara hanging out.
Hall of Fame Booth
Lahr Cycles
Electra Cruisers:
I'll end this installment with a little contest-Check this picture below and tell me who the shoe belongs too?
unless your someone like peaty and can afford to loose 0.2g even if you have to replace the wheel evry 1/4 run down the track. haha i can see it. a little tour de france car pulls up along side and swaps it out mid run.
The Flatline pro looks pretty good with the 3 shock holes in the rear. They ride really smooth to... brule, did you get a chance to hop on one of them bad boys?
Well honestly they are XC (you know cross country) rims and the idea isn;t to be sending doubles on them. Not for their application in the slightest. As for XC riding, I bet they work great.