Yup, it’s that time of year again. The week long bacchanalian glut of of new products, technology, weissbeer and hammered pork that is Eurobike has returned to Friedrichshafen in Germany.
Chipps, Jon and Matt are pounding the aisles to find all the new and exciting things while avoiding the dreaded pork leg, people in very short denim shorts with fantastic ideas for a new touring hub and the other perils of trade shows.
Keep checking back for more news as and when it happens, feel free give us a shout in the comments if there are any brands/things you’d specifically like us to check out for you. We’re working on finding the electric XTR that we’re sure is hidden around here and uncovering the next next wheel size standard but that may take some time…
RaceFace
As we stumbled through the first (of many) halls, we came across the gentlemen of Silverfish on the new Race Face stand, so we got Pete to give us a quick tour of the highlights.
The new Race Face Knee Guards are designed to offer a spot of protection without the bulk and restriction of conventional knee pads. Think of them as well-padded knee warmers. Made from a stretchy, perforated lycra style sleeve with a tough covered knee section, they should be just the thing to prevent the inordinate amount of pain you get from knocking a cold knee against stem or top tube. They also come in an elbow version.
The Next Wide Flat bars are still designed as a full on XC bar, but now come in a slightly more beefy 720mm width. They still weigh in at a rather light 175g thanks to the carbon fibre construction and they come in many lovely colours. If you need a bit of height, the 725mm wide Next 3/4 may be more up your street.
If all that’s a bit skimpy, the carbon fibre SixC bars are available in a full fat 785mm with a 19mm rise. This year they also some in some colours that’ll match your Yeti – also brought into the Uk by Silverfish – brilliantly.
The Atlas all mountain range now has an I-beam saddle and post added to it. The post will come in 30.9 and 31.6mm only, but there is a carbon fibre option too. The saddle weighs in at 156g – not bad at all for a reasonable well padded perch.
Rocky Mountain Slayer SS
Our new favourite bike that we’d never really use is the Rocky Mountain Slayer SS. It’s a short travel, jumpy version of their all mountain machine that we absolutely loved when we tested it last year. The back end is super short to give rapid handling, though it comes at the expense of a front mech. Head angle is a steep 69° with the 100mm forks and there’s a super low BB. The shifter is mounted to the downtube to let you do lots of bar-spinny tricks – or not.
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Hi there from rainy Yorkshire. You guys come across the thomson stopper post?. Genuine rival to reverberated and ks methinks. Cheers
The Race Face kit looks very nice, might have to get a pair of those knee guards. Any sign of manitou doing a 160mm fork yet? And also any chance of seeing the rest of the Transition 2013 range, please. Cheers
cube stereo 650b and 29er; liteville (650b? 29er? 301 mark 11?); Nicolai new range; bos suspension; thomson dropper please…
Thomson dropper is just a cable actuated job with the cable termination at the top, same as the i950 really.
It’s biggest claim is that there’s no saddle wobble, which doesn’t matter anyway. Bit disappointing really.
Rocky Mountain should have put the shifter on the top tub – Raleigh Chopper style! Perfect for catching your nethers on.
@Wrecker, but it is Thomson so we will buy it anyway