One of our favorite rides at  the dirt demo was on the Moots Mooto-XZ. This was a bit unexpected as I’ve never heard of this bike before and was unfamiliar with the Moots rear suspension designs.

First of all, the bike was set up properly. It had a long, flat handlebar and the stem was set up low. The cockpit felt just right for the conditions and it was easy to maneuver the front and put weight on the front tire.

On the trail, the bike felt like it was floating on the rear suspension. Under pedaling, coasting or downhilling, the suspension felt very active. Climbing traction was ample and cornering was secure as aided by the Panaracer Rampage tires.  Even with all that, the bike climbed well too. It felt responsive under power and didn’t seem to suffer from rear suspension bob.

We’d love to get this bike for an extended test ride to see that the test ride was no fluke. Stay tuned.

Specs:

4-inch travel 29er frame

5 stock sizes from 16.5″ to 22″, custom sizes are available

Titanium front triangle and 6061 Aluminum rear triangle

RP23 rear shock

Info: www.moots.com

We got a chance to talk to Andy at Felt and we did a few laps at the outdoor demo on the Felt Nine Pro.

The Nine series bikes feature aluminum frames with hydroformed tubing to optimize strength and ride quality. The top tube meets the head tube with some extra tubing to optimize strength while still using a short head tube. Also, the geometry is quite aggressive with a 72 degree head angle. Chainstay length is short at 445 mm and the bottom bracket is low with a drop of 65 mm. Last year, the head angle was 72.5 and BB drop was 70 mm.  So the head tube was slackened just a tad and the BB raised.

New for 2008 is a very sexy yoke. This piece connects the chainstays to the bottom bracket. Andy is quite proud of this piece as he says it improves the ride quality and responsiveness of the bike. I believe tire clearance improves as well.

And how did it ride? Like a rocket! It accelerated well and felt very responsive to rider input. Cornering was confidence-inspiring as the bike felt fairly low to the ground. It was a little bit harsh on the very rough stuff. This was to be expected but we felt it was way smoother than any aluminum 26er we’ve tried. The other bonus is the tail can be tuned with bigger tire options and lower pressures.

So we’re quite impressed. The Nine Pro was responsive like a singlespeed. But it had lots of gears when needed.

Price: $2199

Info: http://www.feltracing.com/08/thumb.asp?catid=1504,1516

New for

This is a cool Interbike. I’m seeing so many developments in different niches of the sport. 29ers, Cyclocross, big bikes, etc.

I saw no less than three new ways to to tension a singlespeed chain. The traditional methods are using an eccentric bottom bracket or horizontal drop-outs. Obviously, the world is not happy yet since folks keep inventing more ways.

A couple of years ago, White Industries developed the ENO hub. It is a hub that sits on an eccentric axle. Spin the hub on the axle and the hub changes location. Niche gimmick? Well, it’s been working great and it is White Industries #1 selling product!

So the three new methods I saw were:

Niner Bikes - I can’t talk about this one since they’re going through the patent process.

Ibis Cycles - They split the frame in two and allow the rear end to pivot on the seatstay connection. The chainstay joint has multiple positions to allow changing the position of the rear end.

 Finally, there’s the Souldcraft bike at the Formula Brakes booth. What they did was place the dropouts with eccentric mounting bolts. So as you reposition the bolts, the dropouts can move.

LED lights are fascinating. They are better than halogens in every respect. They are better than HIDs in almost every respect but one… brightness. But we hear that is changing too.

So we met up with James Penfold of Exposure Lights and he showed us a couple new LED lights. These lights are tiny. They are bright. And they are sexy. As sexy as lights can get that is.

Both lights are self contained with no wires. They are light and compact. They also use dual-beam optic  lenses to achieve both a wide and far light. Lithium Ion batteries power both models. And  believe it or not, both lights run for 3 hours on the maximum setting and 24 hours on the low setting. It’s a match!

 Joystick MaXx

Specs: 1 LED, 240 Lumens, 80 grams, $249.99

Is that the ultimate flashlight or what? If I put four of them on my handlebar I should have 1000 lumens!

 Enduro MaXx

Specs: 3 LEDS, 720 Lumens, 235 grams, $449.99

720 Lumens? James pointed the light at the tradeshow ceiling which was high and lit up. I could see the beam noticeably. There is also another model called Race MaXx which has two LEDs and retails for $349.95.

So just a little show and tell. We will be testing these lights shortly so expect a full review.

More info:  www.exposurelightsusa.com

Author: Raymond Galang aka ‘elsaltamontes’

Some cool new things I found at Interbike that may be of interest.

1. Not the first to report on these carbon drive Spot Single Speed Bikes.
Review: A little squeaky because of the dry, dusty conditions. Nothing that was too loud but it was noticable. I’m curious what wet conditions would be like. However, mechanically, they performed flawlessly. No skips, no slips. On the trails there were steep valleys. I purposefully slowed down on the dips and then cranked hard on the steep climb to really see how the chain ring, cog and belt drive responded. No problems, no flex, no lag. A perma-grin set in and my confidence on the bike increased with every pedal stroke. The Spot frame was limber on the descent, felt very smooth for a hardtail, yet climbed like a goat when pushed. Very much like a good steel bike should do.

*note the break in the rear drop-out, so the belt can slide out if needed.

purdy bike.

2. Knolly’s Suspension Design. Suspension design that’s completely different from any other bike I saw at the show. And all that engineering is revealed on the ride.

Endorphin.
Booyah! A sub 30 lb. bike from Knolly bikes. Almost sounds like an oxymoron. This bike kicked ass and felt good to be back on the 26er. This bike climbed and descended so incredibly well. On rocky loose, terrain there was great traction on the rear without any slight feeling of bucking. Yet, when I stood up to punch forward, it responded well and I didn’t feel like I was losing any momentum from the rear. I’m not much of a hucker, but the little hucking that I did, felt comfortable and the bike stayed stable and balanced and gave me a lot of confidence to huck some more. The best 26er I rode in those 2 days at Outdoor Demo.

The Knolly Endorphin

I did get to ride the Delirium. But having not really taken it to it’s full potential, I’ll hold off on any detailed review. All I can say is that it’s very stable, yet active suspension. Surprisingly very responsive when you stomp on the climb. I’ll need a solid hour of descending to really have a worthy review of this bike.

The Knolly Delirium

3. Retrovelo
They didn’t have a booth, but were hanging out at the Sycip booth. I rode this bike inside the convention center and was wowed by the “bottom bracket 2-gear transmission” they call the “speed drive”. It felt like a 32t and a 28t with an 18t cog in the back.

Gear 1, click the crank with your inside ankle.

Gear 2, click the crank arm on the other side.

Imagine the day when you can have a single cog and chain ring with 20 gears.

“Inspired by Schwinn’s Stingray, BMX bikes, muscle cars and cafe racers…” excerpt from their flyer. Find out more at www.retrovelo.de

4. Sycip’s 650 Bike
What?! Not another wheel size! I’m going to run out of room in my garage. Jeremy Sycip had the foresight to save the forks you see from a Bridgestone factory sale years ago. He recently built the frame to fit the fork. Beauty ain’t she?

Bridgestone fork detail:

Everyone’s going carbon. How about Sterling Silver? Specially built for his dad, Sam.

Custom Sycip with Carbon seat stays. Drooool.

5. Fuji’s Obey Fixie
This one caught my attention. I’m a big fan of Shepard Fairey. The artist that created the ‘Obey’ posters with Andre the Giant. Fuji commissioned him to design this bike. Sorry for the not-so-sharp photos. It was getting late in the day.

A very wild mesh frameset by Delta 7. Its called the Arantix and the frame made from IsoTruss. The IsoTruss frame uses an open lattice carbon fiber structural design. Pretty wild looking. It would certainly turn some heads when you are out on a ride. Wonder how it rides? What happens on a muddy ride, does it fill it up? It is supposed to light (less material obviously), greater stiffness and resilience (tougher in a crash) and can be tuned (direction specific design). And it looks cool. It thought at first glance it was some sort of wire mesh until you see it up close.

Commentary by Francois:

Ok, I have to say something here. I was going to post about this frame but I’ll just add to pastajet’s post.

This was one of the lowlights of Interbike for me. There’s a bit of hype and there’s big crowds at their booth. I checked it out and walked right out after a couple of minutes.

- This frame is $7000

- It is coyote ugly

- It is so impractical with dirt and debris getting in the frame. On their website, they have the down tube wrapped with plastic.

- How does it ride? What’s the geometry? Nobody knows. And they expect us to buy it for $7000 for the frame? Come on! I’d rather get an Ibis at 1/5 the price and is better in every important aspect.

This seems like a science project gone big. In fact I believe it was a student’s college project. The materials company decided to produce the frame and hired him on. That’s all good but $7000? And how does it ride again?

In the end, Interbike has its inventors and it’s not bad to have these wild products. But I’m no billionaire and I don’t have a wall to hang a frame like this.

http://delta7sports.com/

francois

Follow up Comments:

Wow, I did not know that is was $7000, thats totally insane. Yes, my Ibis Mojo was a heck of a lot cheaper and is actually a gorgeous fame as opposed sort of butt ugly!  Like I sad this was interesting looking.  Per their website “The IsoTruss frame uses an open lattice carbon fiber structural design concept that was originally developed at BYU under the direction of Prof. David W. Jensen, Director of the Center for Advanced Structural Composites. Tyler Evans, who spearheaded the project at the Center for Advanced Structural Composites at BYU, has been hired by Delta 7 Sports as Program Manager to develop the new frame which will go into production early next year.” Hype most likely, but it would be interesting to take it for a ride.

Pastajet

There were a couple of new things from Magura world. They have some great world class brakes, like the Marta SL and some well engineered shocks. The new brakes are Louise BAT and the Louise Carbon. I wish they made something in the 140mm range for forks. Thats a great untapped market for the older rider (well not that old) that doesn’t do any freeriding and does more then cross country. The 2 new forks are the Durin (100mm/1480g,80mm/1450g) and the Laurin (130-100mm/1910g, 110mm/1740g, 80mm/1685g). They are beefy well built shocks.

The very pricey Syntace Torque Tool 1-20 is one great product . I am working on getting the Magura rep to get me one to test. I have so many little bolts that need just the proper amount of torque. Don’t want to break any Ti or AL bolts or harm any expensive carbon parts. This kind of tool is becoming a must.

DT Swiss had some pretty sweet parts. This XRC 1250 wheelset with a carbon rim was the Cats Meow. Very pretty and very light at 1250g. I saw them out in the sun at the outdoor demo and they really are beautiful looking. Not sure about how durable or beefy they might be, but they sure are sweet.

The XR Carbon (aka the SSD Carbon) is a very light weight carbon rear shock (140-165g) that is used on the Ibis Mojo SL. There is some incredible machining that was done every where on this shock, even the little adjustment wheel. Very nice and a bit pricey like everything from DT Swiss.

DT Swiss recently aquired the UK firm Pace shocks. How their shocks fit into the picture is unknown, I am sure some of their engineering will end up within the DT Swiss team? Their current forks are made in Switzerland in-house (I was mistaken and thought they were Pace forks, oops!). Shown are the EXC which means Enduro X-Cross Carbon (150mm/1590g) and the XMC which means X-Mountain Carbon (100mm/1510g and 130mm/1570g). Not pictured is the XRC which means X-Cross Country Carbon (80mm/1380g and 100mm/1380g). Very pretty forks. The weights seem to be a bit generous to me? I would have checked the weights since I had my scale with me but the forks were attached to the display.

Followup Comments:

I have edited a few mistakes in this reports and fixed what I could. I had mixed up forks models. I also called DT Swiss and did find out that the they still make their own forks in-house.

I had a nice long talk with Jacky from KCNC. He showed the whole slew of great light weight bike parts that they make. They do all of their own CNC work themselves in house and its some pretty sweet work. You can really tell how much they care about squeezing the most out of a part. The cogsets are a piece of artwork and engineering. They are made of 3 parts for a 9 speed: a 4 Al outer cogset, a 3 Scandium middle cogset and a 2 Ti inner cogset. When the larger Al cogs wearout you can just replace that portion of the cogset and not the entire cogset. Cool!

The V-Brakes are just plain stunning. Its amazing how much CNC went into this set. Can’t wait to try this set out on my hardtail! They have made some improvements over their first version of them and so far the feedback has been good.

They also have some light stems (the SC Wing is my fave), light seatposts (Ti Pro), light cranksets (really want to try the K-Type XC1 at 728g), some trick bar ends, light seatpost clamps, etc.

Ashima is a small company from Taiwan with some pretty cool products. For the weight weenie (count me in) they have an extremely light disc rotor. Here is the weights on the 160 and 190(?) sizes. Pretty tricked out! Thats the lightest on the market, it beats the Alligator Serrated by 6+ grams. Time to do some testing! I caused a scarcity issue when I got people psyched up for the Alligator rotors and these appear to be more tricked! Wayne the rep was a great Brit thats now living in Taiwan. I am working with him to get some products for testing. Their product will be distributed in the US by JB Imports.

They also make a couple of interesting brake pads. They have a multi-compound disc pad (organic, semi-metallic and sintered) that I can’t wait to test. In addition they have V-brake pads that has a 4 function braking surface. Pretty cool stuff.