2008 IB

Welp, we're back from Interbike and all i can say is .......uuggghhhhh, i'm tired. We Flew out of Missoula at 10am and didn't arrive to Vegas till well after 3pm on thursday afternoon, ended up missing a bunch of meetings and missed out on whiskey shots at the Knolly booth. Supposedly our flight was delayed because Cheney was flying into vegas and security made us do loops hovering the city for over an hour.

Vegas urban sprawl

THE BIKE SHOW

We had a blast reviewing the 2008 products and we're happy to be dealing with our current line up of manufacturers because once again each and every one of them have made slight changes that will undoubtedly strengthen their product line. Felt has once again increased their line of mtb and townie type bikes, and plus their cruisers rule (after all they do make the New Belgium Fat Tired Cruiser).

Dt-swiss and the Hayes group made big changes this year by adding suspension lines. Dt-swiss purchased the popular UK brand of suspension forks....PACE. Their new forks will be highly priced and majorly weight focused; Hayes may have hit a home run on their new in-house 29er fork, and judging by the amount of manufacturers that had the fork on their bikes it appears that they are well on their way. The Phil Wood stainless BB cups were also pretty damn cool.

650b bikes were also sparingly present, and it'll be very interesting to see how well the industry accepts yet another wheel diameter. The Rawland was probably my favorite if i were to vote.

Here's a look at the Ventana booth.....Alan was present and helped Teresa and Sherwood out. Ventana's product remains relatively unchanged and just some subtle refinements. Their new bearing tool kit is available too.

We brought home with us from the show a Gunnar Rock Tour with 29" wheels that will be a dedicated off road tour bike with drop bars.....just for those back country forest service roads. Should be nice. Here's a picture of the new Waterford road fork crown:

THE BIKE RACE

and then of course we had a damn good time watching the World Championship criterium held downtown on the strip and at night. The crowds were massive and most folks were standing 3-4 rows deep. The speeds that the pro's were going was just incredible and the cash primes were huge which motivated the racers to ride all out which eventually spurred a ton of crashes. We saw 6 seperate crashes within an hour of racing ! we tried hard to twist Sherwoods arm into going with us, but neither he, Alan, or Teresa had any interest in hanging out till past midnight and getting caught up in the skinny tired chaos.

Cippo:

THE PARTY

and then finally speaking of chaos....the party and the company of many familiar faces. Vegas wouldn't be Vegas unless you went at it with intentions of self bodily harm.