Aero hub caps? Here they are |
Mavic Cosmic Carbone hub looks familiar |
Every Pinarello owner should have one |
Colnago's Saronni Replica |
More carbon from Easton |
The Cycle Show found itself for 2007 in a new venue at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, and was far more accessible than in previous years when hosted at Excel in Docklands (or Islington for that matter). It also felt much more intimate than in recent years. A good spread of exhibitors, with some big names such as Raleigh making a welcome return, guaranteed something for everyone.
I have chosen a few personal favourites and appreciate that I missed many more, such are the perils of stopping to chat to old friends and new every few minutes…
As I looked around the show the vast range of different bikes on offer in today's market really struck home. These days we really are spoilt for choice whatever we are looking to buy.
Swiss brand BMC had new colour ways for next year; monochrome seems to be the way they are going and their predominantly black and white frames looked very smart. The aluminium alloy-framed Street Racer is great value at £799 including headset, seatpin and carbon fork.
Perhaps the most striking paint finish at the show, worlds apart from the previously mentioned BMCs, was to be found on London-based Mosquito Bikes stand where a one-off hand-painted Pegoretti, laboured over by the man himself, was a talking piece for sure…
Carbon fibre was everywhere as usual and striking new chainsets from Easton and Fulcrum were just two more examples of the black stuff being used to maximise stiffness whilst offering lower weight than ever before. Easton also had a nice new bend option on their carbon EC90 Equipe SLX3 handlebar. In response to modern lever designs, the ergonomics have been reconsidered and the new shape is claimed to suit Campagnolo, Shimano and SRAM equally well. Not easy to achieve and something we hope to report on further in the near future.
Yellow UK were at the show in force and were showing the new Pinarello Prince Carbon alongside new products from Rudy Project and Swiss clothing specialist Assos, who had an almost clinical display showing their wares for 2008. This included shorts featuring their new inner pad, which has an unusual honeycomb construction claimed to “keep things cool” when the heat is on. New Lycra panels have also been introduced to support muscle groups better…
“Best looking bike of the show” for me had to be on Colnago distributor Windwave's stand. To commemorate Guiseppe Saronni's world road race win at Goodwood, Sussex, back in 1982, Colnago have introduced a limited edition colour scheme PR82 which commemorates the wine-red Mexico that he rode to victory. With its lustrous paint and chrome detailing it was a classic example of less being more…
Windwave also showed the new range of more affordable ready to ride Colnago bikes. These bikes are, it is now widely known, Italian-designed and Taiwanese-manufactured, unlike Colnago's upper end carbon products, which are still all home grown. The initial versions of the CLX introduced for 2007, whilst being attractive, were perhaps a little adrift on price point from their intended rivals but with much improved livery and more aggressive pricing, they are sure to find a new sector of the market eager to try this legendary brand.
Recently several areas other than frames have found new ways to extract every last ounce of performance from them, none more so than the wheel. Easton have been busy and had a full range of face-lifted products with a move away from their original twin thread spoke system. A svelte front wheel with narrow flange spacing and “aerodynamic” axle ends was on show for the first time and should appeal to those looking for every last aerodynamic advantage…
Fulcrum wheels are a spin off of Campagnolo's special hoops division and have a brand new range of mountain bike wheels that looked very impressive. Using lessons learned form their road division the off road market looks ready for an Italian invasion… As for the new Racing Zero in black with red spokes…very smart indeed!
Mavic's new Cosmic Carbon wheelset features carbon fibre bonded spokes with a technology visually similar to that found on another high end wheel manufacturer's designs and combines all that Mavic know about wheel design with the best materials currently available.
All in all, it was a well attended show with some great new products destined for your favourite local bike shop. If you failed to get along this time make an effort to get to next year's event for a drool if nothing else …
Details of Cycle show 2008 to be announced…
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