It’s been a busy month for us in the cycle industry with three top events taking part in a matter of weeks! Between those events, we saw a bunch of new products that tickled our fancy, and we just couldn’t resist collecting our top 10 and sharing then with you.
This pick of top 10 products from the past big three events (Eurobike, Cycle Show and Interbike) is based on nothing more than what caught our eye. If you feel that a product should have been included here and wasn’t (or vice versa) jump the comments section right now and state your case!
Eightpins Dropper Post
We feel fairly confident saying that the dropper post is one of the best inventions the mountain biking world has ever seen, and we also feel confident saying that many of the current designs aren’t quite perfect yet. Perhaps what’s needed is a different approach? Eightpins have teamed up with Liteville to release the first built-in dropper post, meaning more girth and added stability!
The 34.9mm seat tube standard they’ve based it around makes it so chunky, that it’s sort of like an alternate reality Soviet Russian dropper post. It’s entirely mechanical, apparently using a system of interlocking pins, but has an infinite adjustment like most droppers. Video of the Eightpins in action can be found here.
Box Components 1 x 11 Drivetrain
Box had its new 11-speed derailleur and shifter on display at Eurobike, and the big news is that they’ll be available before the close of the year. The drivetrain currently consists of a svelte rear derailleur with an internal clutch system and a patented one lever shifter. The Box One is the top of the range offering, with Box Two and Box Three variations to follow at lower price points. More photos and details of the Box One drivetrain can be seen here, and if you’re interested to see a review keep your eye out for our review coming soon.
Right: Boost Pike, Lyrik and Yari.
MRP Ramp Control
MRP already have a range of their own forks, but if you are a Rockshox owner and want a piece of MRP magic you now can. The MRP Ramp Control current Pike, Lyrik, Yari and Boxxer forks, replacing Rockshox own Bottomless Tokens. With the Ramp Control in place riders have 16 positions to choose from to get the most from their RS fork. MRP say their new cartridges offer finer adjustment and have less effect on initial travel. More details here.
Phil Wood Headsets
Spotted at Interbike, Phil Wood’s headsets are CNC-machined from a single block of alloy, feature beautiful anodised finished and are basically jewellery for your bike! Phil’s entry into the premium headset market includes full-compliment lower bearings, lighter caged uppers, and fragrant green grease throughout. The bearings themselves are easily serviced and -with reasonable care- should last close to forever.
The headset itself sells for $150- but it would be a shame to miss out on a matching spacer kit, which is can be bundled with the headset for $170. More here.
White Industries Cranks
After receiving news that Middleburn had closed its doors, it was great to see that not all our old faves are struggling. White Industries were at Interbike with new external bottom brackets and splined cranks. Not unlike RaceFace’s Cinch, the MR30 system consists of two sets of crankarms (each available in black or polished finishes) and several bottom bracket spindles to fit most bikes and riders. For you purists White Ind. are still offering square taper cranks too.
Thule Legend Backpack
While it may at first glance appear to be targeted at the unusually paranoid commuter, Thule’s Legend GoPro backpack is in fact designed for the sick edit specialist. The 25L backpack features integrated GoPro mounts, and a special padded section to safely store and transport additional action cameras. As usual, this Thule product isn’t going to come cheap and has an RRP of around $200!
9point8 Drop External Post
With requests for 27.2mm frame owners ringing in their ears, the team at 9point8 took a look at their well-regarded dropper mechanism and realised that the best route might be to turn the post inside-out, moving their clamping mechanism to the outside of the stanchion and to run the cable externally. This made for a more robust mechanism for smaller-diameter seatposts while opening the brand up to those without internal cable routing.
Wolf Tooth Dropper ReMote
For those of you who use a dropper post with cable remote Wolf Tooth have their own, premium made, remote lever for you to use.Currently tested and approved by Wolf Tooth for use with Easton Haven, Fox Transfer, KS (all), RaceFace Turbine, Specialized Command (all), Giant Contact and Thomson posts, the website says that more compatibility tests and results are to follow.
MET Lupo Helmet
MET used the Cycle Show as the launch pad for new helmets. The Lupo is a premium trail lid from Italian brand MET, with massive ventilation and a shapely profile that increases coverage where it’s required, while stripping away material where it isn’t. The result is a high-quality sub-300 gram helmet that offers incredible ventilation and decent coverage for trail riders. Bluegrass also had new helmets on show too.
Garbaruk 11-45t Cassette
The company’s wide-range cassette features ten cogs machined from a solid block of steel backed (not unlike SRAM’s higher-end models) plus an aluminium top cog. It’s a time-consuming but light way to do things: the $250 (£190), 265g cassette weighs nearly 40% less than the similarly-sized XT 11-46.
So there we have our top 10 picks from Eurobike, The Cycle Show and Interbike, are there any components on this list that are likely to make their way onto your bike? Are there any other new products that you were excited to see?