Randoms - QBP Frostbike 2019

Frostbike is the winter gathering and in-house trade-show for North American distributor, Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) in Bloomington, Minnesota. There was a lot going on, from seminars for dealers to previews of new bikes from Salsa that you'll see here later this week, not to mention a ton of snow on the ground.

In addition to sliding around in the snow on fat bikes, I took a stroll thru the show to see what there was to see.


Five Ten / TLD Collab Shoes

Five Ten had some fresh looking shoes on display, the result of a collaboration with Troy Lee Designs. The Kestrel BOA recently came out, and the TLD edition pictured here will be available in March, along with the Impact Pro. The TLD edition Freeride Pro will be out in July.

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Muc-Off Brake Rotor Cover

Muc-Off's rotor cover may seem a bit unnecessary until you've driven down a highway covered in salty winter slush or muddy forest service roads with your bike on the back of your car, and then gone for a ride only to have your brakes screaming the entire time. It's a practical solution to a common problem. It can also be used when you're washing the bike or lubing things up to keep from getting overspray and contaminants on your stoppers.

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Kali Pace Helmet

The Pace is Kali's new trail helmet. The helmet has a fairly deep amount of coverage and uses a lower density layer to provide more protection in crashes that happen at lower speeds as well as rotational forces. The helmet looks really good and will sell for a mere $60 USD when it's available.

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Ottolock

Ottolock isn't anything new but it's a practical product that I've found useful in a variety of situations, from locking up a bike in the bed of the Honda Ridgeline to securing it at the bike park while grabbing food. It coils up small enough to fit in a pocket and is strong enough to deter most quick grab-and-dash thefts. It comes in a variety of colors and a few different lengths.

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Deity 35mm Copperhead Stem

Deity's new 35mm Copperhead stem looks sleek and will be available in a couple of weeks. There will be a 35mm and 50mm length option. There were also some hints of new 35mm bars but, alas, we can't show those quite yet.

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Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth's dropper post lever that mounts on a drop bar caught my eye. Many mountain bikers can appreciate having a dropper post on nearly every bike. This lever is a good way to be able to hit the button and get the seat out of the way without taking your hands off of the bars of your skinny tire bike when things gets real. Wolf Tooth also had some sleek custom master link snappers for show attendees.

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Spank Spoon DC Pedal

Spank's Spoon DC pedal is a more budget friendly version of their Spoon pedal. The DC is die-cast alloy and there are both painted and anodized colors available. The pedal sells for $79.90 USD.

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Floyd's of Leadville

Ex-pro road racer Floyd Landis' CBD business seems to be thriving. CBD is taking off and more popular than ever in many places, especially the US. Floyd's had a huge assortment of CBD products on display from capsules and tinctures to gummies, salves, and pre/post ride drink mixes. There's still some debate as to whether it's all just snake oil sales, but more and more people are claiming to have seen the benefits from it, and it's clear that Landis and his associates are seeing the benefits as well.

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Salsa EXP Seatpack

Bikepacking is all the buzz on Instagram these days. I mean, who doesn't like getting out in the woods to take over-romanticized pictures of your bike away from the monotony of society and every day life? But really, whether it's for a few hours or a few days, riding with a lot of gear on your back sucks. Salsa's EXP seatpack is a clean way to securely stash some supplies on your bike, it's dropper post compatible, and comes in a couple different sizes (small pictured).

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ISSI Pedals

ISSI has a few different pedal designs. Their plastic Thump pedal comes in two different sizes and is geared towards more casual riding. The Stomp XL has a larger body and removable pins and the Trail III is an SPD style pedal with a nicely designed cage around the engagement mechanism.

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Surly Big Easy

The Big Easy is Surly's new E-cargo bike. Overheard debate amongst the hipsters was over how many cases of PBR it would transport and what the range fully loaded down would be. Ten miles or a hundred, this is a cool rig and good proper use of e-bike technology.

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Ergon SM Men Saddle

Ergon's new saddles are simplified and this one focuses on men's health, according to Ergon. There's one saddle for all disciplines of riding. It comes in two different widths, Small-Medium and Medium-Large. There are three different models- Sport, Comp, and Pro as well as several color options. We have one of the saddles in for testing, so look for a review once we get some more miles on it.

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