iceBike2013 – Featuring 2014 and beyond!

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We’ve been sifting over a ton of photos from Madison’s iceBike* house show and here are some of our favourite new bits and pieces from the day:

Pro bike bag

Pro is Shimano’s own-brand that makes components, clothing and accessories for road and mountain bikes. It has come out with its own take on the ‘hold the frame securely inside the bag’ semi-rigid style of bike bag. It apparently will take a downhill bike or a full-suspension 29er with only wheels and seatpost out and bars off. There are velcro pads to protect the frame and to hold seat post and bars – and the fork and rear triangle have their own ‘dropouts’ to fit into. It comes with nearly all the different size of dummy-axles too. Price £299

 

Pearl Izumi X-Project 2.0

We’ve looked at the Pearl Izumi X-Project shoes in the past, but we think that UK riders in particular will like the second-from-best 2.0 models that have perforated synthetic leather instead of mesh panels, making them far more suitable for autumn/spring use. £169.99

Shimano Hotaka bag

Shimano released its range of hydration packs at iceBike* a couple of years ago and keeps on adding to the range with smaller, and bigger, bags. Rudy from Shimano here is modelling the Hotaka, which is the big bells and whistles pack for Trans-Alp type events. There’s a 24L (£79.99) and a huge 32L (£89.99) version.

Shimano’s moob-enhancing cross strap offers good stability. But where to fit the GoPro?
Heavy gear sits low, with room for light jackets etc at the top of the pack.
With or without you. The minimalist Unzen U2 pack is for racers and ‘one hour loop’ rides. £49.99

Lazer Helmets

Lots in the works from those kerayzee Belgians!

Pining for a good helmet? Lazer has been going crazy with some of its designs.

Cappuccino lock

Lazer’s Cappuccino lock was one of our favourite gizmos from Eurobike. It takes up little room in your pocket and clips in between the two bits of your helmet strap when you stop for a coffee and it’ll stop people either stealing your £200 helmet, or if you’ve ‘locked’ your bike with your helmet straps, as many riders will do outside a cafe, it stops someone unclipping your lid and making off with your bike. £12.99.

Don’t worry, they don’t all have the same combination!

Lazer’s Genesis Lifebeam

Many riders don’t like the constriction of a heart monitor chest strap and there aren’t many other alternatives (earlobe clip anyone?). This clever helmet from Lazer has a recessed electrode in the inner lining that measures the pulse across your forehead, giving a universally recognised ANT+ signal out that can be picked up by heart monitors or the Garmin on your bars. A battery charge will last 15 hours and there’s a cool blue glowing LED at the rear of the helmet to show that you’re transmitting. It’ll be out in July and should cost £199 for the helmet.

Sensor sits on a foam cushion and is unnoticeable in use
Cool blue Cylon glow shows that you’re transmitting.
Entry level helmet for you? How about the Lazer Cyclone? Good looks and only £29.99.
We did ask if they made these helmet ‘aero’ covers for grownup lids, but unfortunately not.

Lazer Z1

The new Z1 helmet is a road helmet, but it has some good features for mountain bikers that like a road helmet, such as extended temple protection, very rare in a road lid, and called ‘T-Pro’. There are minimal weight buckles and a scooped front over the forehead that’ll let you wear your favourite cycling cap under it. Weight is a minimal 210g and price is £199 including a free aeroshell that clips in place.

We like the colours! Very GT40.
We reckon these’ll be popular with the ‘crossers too.
Because Lazer’s Belgian, OK? Nice pour, by the way.

Truflo

Over at the more mountain biking end of things, TruFlo was showing off a neat CO2/pump combo called the T10 Mountain CO2 (there’s a road one too) which is a regular mini pump, but also a CO2 dispenser. It’s not a new idea, but this one is a reasonable £29.99

Nutrak has been offering ALL of the inner tube sizes for a year now. Big, medium and normal.

M-Parts tools.

Madison’s own brand, M Parts makes just about every little tool and spare that nobody else does. It’s new range of mini tools aren’t just me-too products and have been designed to solve a few problems that the engineers have found out on the trails. Take this chain tool that also has a Shimano crank-arm tightener – it’s one of the few things that’s hard to bodge while out on the trail if you don’t have the proper too. So, now you have. It’s part of the £29.99 top-end tool.

Hard to bodge. Easy to fix if you have the right tool.
This £11.99 tool is as slim as M Part can make it while still keeping the tools of good quality.
The family: £11.99, £29.99 and £7.99 on the right.

Gamut

Not just chain devices no more! Gamut has been working on chain guides, chain rings, stems – both XC and DH and more that they promise to show at the Sea Otter. Here’s where they’re up to so far.

Single bolt-on guide. For riders that don’t quite trust their clutch mech, this bolts to a direct-mount front mech guide.
Gamut’s new DH stem will do 45/50/55mm and weighs 120g.
The forged and machined Cillos stem comes in 40/50/60/ and 70mm and will cost £89.99
Chainrings too! In a thick/thin style. 104mm, 4-bolt and £39.99. 30T-38T
The whole Gamut. Geddit?

Continental

Conti has all sorts of new stuff that we’ve been mostly keeping on top of recently, but this is a new development. With Conti’s Black Chilli compound appearing only on German-made (i.e. expensive) tyres, there was a big gap between grippy, expensive tyres and cheaper tyres with harder compounds. Now, Continental’s wholly-owned Chinese tyre factory has produced ‘Pure Grip’ which is a softer compound for the more economical tyres. You’ll be pleased to hear that this new compound will be available in all three wheel sizes and the tyres will be tubeless-ready. Here’s a Mountain King, which’ll be £32.95

Supple sidewalls and grippy tread available for mortals!
Big ‘n’ sticky(ish)

Madison Clothing.

Madison’s clothing range has exploded in the last couple of years. This year it launched three (three!) road lines aimed at commuters, beginners and full-on pro riders. On the mountain bike side there are the Madison/Saracen-inspired downhill kits, new colours, affordable soft shells and some great colours.

How do you feel on two-tone zips for these women’s softshells? We love them!
This thin Zenith soft-shell jacket will be a mere £59.99
Look pro or go home. The new Alpine range inspired by the DH team.
The new Flux short gets laser-cut vents, waterproof zips and solid construction.
In bright blue and modest black, the Flux short will be £59

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Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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Comments (3)

    Ooooh, things. Shiny things! I have questions:
    1. Do you have pics of that Pro bikebag showing where the wheels live?
    2. How do those new ‘budget’ Conti tyres compare weight-wise?

    1. The wheels live in their own pockets on each outer side of the bag.
    2. I didn’t have my gram-scales with me, but I’ll find out.

    Whats the weight on the bag? As some of us have to work with 20/23kg weight limits it’s a bit more of an issue. Evoc + trail/AM bike and a couple of bits extra comes in around 23kg making it a tight fit.

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