Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine

Let’s start off with certainly the first look we’ve had at Easton’s new disc ‘cross fork. We’re not sure if it’s fully officially in production, but it looks HUGE!

Still has the prototype sticker on the top of the fork and it's on a proto Felt bike. Don't expect to buy this combo before the winter

And now here’s a look at Felt’s prototype full carbon disc cyclocross bike that we found lurking round the back of the booth. No comments about the saddle height or classy pedals as it was probably used for riding to get a burrito or something.

TRP was showing off its prototype Shimano DI2 and hydraulic conversion ready for the future… It’s still a ways off, but it’s getting there and it’s certainly more than we’ve seen from Shimano. There’s a clunky looking up/down pair of buttons on the bottom of the brake lever and the hydraulic master cylinder is still a very visible square shape under the wide rubber hood. Should be ready in time for ‘cross season though and then we’ll see how the pickup in the pro ranks is. We expect to see lots in our local Vet 40 class as the lawyers and doctors all try to buy vital seconds…

Easy to miss from this angle, but those buttons still have a home-made attachment feel to them.

Here we see the bulge of the master cylinder. The wider grip actually felt pretty good, apart from the square edges.

Turner Cyclosys – David Turner’s making some ‘cross bikes for this season. Limited to 25, you won’t see many around. Traditional cantilever style too.

Worth it for the name, the Cyclosys

Another view of Mr T's bike. The other Mr T.

Grammo bikes come through Pearl Distribution in the UK and it makes some good and bold looking road bikes. This is its full carbon, full disc cyclocross bike. It’ll come as a frame/fork combo and as two full bikes. An Apex level and a full-on Red probably. The frame is also available with a press-fit eccentric option to allow it to convert to single speed. The full Apex version is going to be about $1800 all in.

Here's the pimp version. It'll be around $3500

King/Enve... No expense spared here...

Good Avid BB7 brakes, still going strong.

Full hidden cables through the top tube so they don't gunk up or get caught on your clothes.

Cable exit. Cables only, rather than full hydro. At the moment.

Now what's this? It's a Formula hydro disc on a Colnago.

This is Colnago's go at a full disc road bike. Very stealth.

Formula's prototype hydraulic and Di2 controlling electric levers. Very light action (a little too light we reckon)

There’ll be more on Praxis Works in a later story, but for now, know that they’re the only other company (other than Shimano) that forges its own chainrings. This is its new Dura Ace chainring and bolt set that allows your to bolt on its chainrings but still maintain the svelte look of the Dura Ace cranks. It also offers its ‘holy grail’ ratio of 52 x 36T…

How about this neat Lezyne bottle cage? It seems to fit a beer can fine...

Singlespeed 'cross is big in the States. Strangely it doesn't seem as popular in the UK.

The Lion of Flanders' evil twin. Raleigh US gets all the cool bikes. We hear that Raleigh UK might start carrying a few of them.

Nearly a brakeless 'cross bike. This has a back pedal brake.

Robert Egger is (and always has been) Specialized’s Creative Director. He never stops making crazy stuff – he’s also a demon fast rider. Even so, he built up this Specialized time trial bike as a regular road bike so that he could ‘keep up with the lunchtime ride’. The lunchtime ride at Spesh is F.A.S.T. More on this bike later too… Robert’s been busy…

Classic Specialized '70s colours...