Parking Lot Randoms - Eurobike 2022

Eurobike, like any bike-industry tradeshow, is usually attended by what we would call "lifers." People who have made a career in cycling, and have done it long enough to achieve a status that brings with it many years worth of laminated name badges and Shimano-branded neck layards. And what better way to show your years of tradeshow experience than to ride to the venue on a bike that should probably be in a museum? We took a stroll around the bike-filled parking lot at this year's Eurobike to see what relics it had to offer.


Remember Nokon cable housing? It offered the benefit of being lighter weight, and it was meant to continue its inner liner from end to end, where traditional housing would be punctuated by stops on the frame. There were even little sliding "windows" that allowed you to clean and lubricate them occasionally. Nokon, and other beaded housing that followed, also was more adept at navigating complicated bends while only slightly deflecting the cable tension. Oh, and it looks really neat. But now, with internal cable routing so ubiquitous, at least half of the rather pricey, cool-looking housing would be hidden inside your frame. Nokon has all but disappeared, but not from the Eurobike parking lot.


Nothing lasts like a thumb shifter. This is a 6-speed, but it's from an era when XT was also offering 7-speed. We're guessing this is third- or fourth-generation XT. making it M732 or M735. But we're also guessing someone out there will let us know if we're wrong. If you've never set digits to one of these early indexed Shimano shifters, you're missing out. Though they're definitely best suited for spec on an old dusty townie in the year 2022, there's something crisp, satisfying, almost ASMR-inducing about the dull but positive "THUD" as they go from gear to gear. But if you're not into that, this one had a switch to go friction.


This was bound to be a Shimano-heavy list, but the "Parallax" hub design is forgotten enough that it bears revisiting. Earlier Shimano hubs had a thin, hourglass profile. Think early Campagnolo. But that shape allowed for enough flex that it put extra stress on the bearing cups, cones, axles, and even spokes. Connecting either end of the hub shell with a thicker body solved a lot of problems. But brands like Ringle and White Industries got there first.


Of course, while hubs were getting stronger, we couldn't help but take one step back thanks to our obsession with titanium skewers. They were a little more fragile, a little more stretchy, and a lot more expensive. But they saved dozens of grams. And more importantly, they added swagger to an otherwise mundane component. Problem is, nearly all of them used an external cam. It's a simpler system, but it invites dirt to coat a surface that kinda needs to be smooth and, ideally, lubricated to work optimally. These skewers from famous German weight weenies, Tune, used an internal cam, much like Shimano skewers, which were obviously the best skewers. Again, let us know if we're wrong. Tune is usually a mainstay at Eurobike, but they sat this one out. At least they can still be found in the parking lot.


RD-M952. Enough said.


We used to make tubeless way harder than it had to be. If you've ever complained about dealing with re-taping a rim, try lacing up a set of these babies. Each spoke insert had to be individually threaded in after spinning on the spoke nipple, but before tensioning. And god help you if you drop a nipple in there. And then, there's the UST interface itself. It was a relatively tightly controlled standard that involved a hook-bead rim and a matching tire bead. Mavic worked with Hutchinson and Michelin, as well as other brands, to develop UST. This was before tire sealant. But it was before a lot of things, and only stuck around so long. Except for this one, which is easily two decades old.


Ever see someone on the trail who's missing a couple rotor bolts? Not if they're on an early-2000s Cannondale! Always the innovators, Cannondale insisted for a short time on making 4-bolt rotors and hubs for their CODA brakes. As much as we complain about new standards today, at least there's usually a well-thought-out reason behind them. Back then, some things were just arbitrary. Case in point: One of the caliper mounts on this particular fork (which happens to be a Headshok) is slotted because we hadn't yet agreed on the 51mm IS mount. Glad we've settled all this now ... right?