Eurobike is the biggest bike show in the World with 36,800 trade visitors from 75 countries and 1,430 journalists from 32 countries. Spoke.ie joined the latter in a hedonistic 3 days of bike geekery gone mad. Now that we have recovered we can present some of the highlights of the show over the coming days starting with the Specialized MTB lineup for 2009.
Specialized.
The 2009 Specialized S-Works hardtail featuring a Specialized own-brand Brain suspension fork.
The much anticipated Epic S-Works which has already claimed a World Championship through Christoph Sauser.
The Specialized Epic Marathon is a bit cheaper than its S-Works brother yet is still full carbon.
This is the Epic Expert, a more colourful version, again full carbon.
Inside the famous Epic shock…
and the new Brain suspension fork, note the hollow left leg!
There is also a carbon S-Works Stumpjumper and other models with carbon fibre featuring strongly in the range. No prices were available for the UK market at the show.
Geax
Geax have produced a new tubular tyre system, currently all the rage amongst the XC elite. The tyre eliminates the need for a tube as the two are stitched together. Cotton is the secret ingredient in the side wall that allows for a really supple tyre. The whole profile of the tyre is changed as it needs less support to stay hooked to the rim. This allows for more traction, lower rolling resistance (faster) and lower pressures. For the non-roadies, the tyre is glued to a special rim. Price wise the tyre is more expensive than normal at €89 each but the rims are no more expensive than standard rims. However, this system will most likely remain the preserve of the the Elite level racer. Look out for a Dugast version on the pro-Scott riders bikes.
Rocky Mountain
This is Rocky Mountain’s new carbon hardtail which takes over from the previous aluminium Vertex, keeping the name. Marie-Helene Premont, Allison Sydor and other team Rocky Mountain riders have been riding the frame for most of the year and it is now finally available to the public.
Camelbak
Camelbak launched this new Racebak wearable hydration system. It looks like a vest but features a built in reservoir. Key ingredients are the Quickfit compression fabric, Quickwick breathable fabric and the Hydropouch. Literally ‘water you can wear’…
Loads more to follow over the coming days inclucing new lines from Mavic and a new entrant to the bike market in Ireland - KTM.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Ray Leddy // Sep 9, 2008 at 9:38 am
This wearable hydration system will be great for the ladies, especially if they have to take it off to refill on long marathon rides. Anyone for water zone duty??
2 Ryan // Sep 9, 2008 at 10:22 am
The new Epics look sweet - I’m looking forward to trying them. The only thing against them is the lack of a second bottle mount. Fine for most racing situations but in some marathons it can be a long way between feeds.
The Camelbak is cool too - I’ve seen some time trialists use simialar setups for hydration and cooling in long time trials - they simply put it under their jersey.
3 Highlights from the London Cycle Show. // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:50 pm
[...] models coming with a Specialized F100 own brand fork. We reported on this fork at Eurobike (see here) and its hollow leg. A Specialized executive told us that this leg holds only lubricant with the [...]
Leave a Comment