From DIY carbon rims through to Grogu in a Perspex box, there’s something for everyone here. Hopefully.
What is the Icebike Show?
Madison IceBike is one of the UK bike industry’s key early-season meet-ups: a trade-focused showcase where brands, retailers and media get a first proper look at what’s coming next. Hosted by Madison (one of the UK’s biggest cycling distributors), IceBike brings together its roster of partner brands under one roof for a couple of busy days. It’s primarily aimed at bike shops and buying teams. Think less consumer show, more behind-the-scenes: new kit, sales conversations, tech talk, and the occasional espresso-fuelled reunion.
Anyway, on with the show..
DT Swiss carbon rim-onlys
In what we think is a first, DT Swiss is going to be offering its carbon rims to buy individually ie. not just in complete wheelsets. So yes, a Hope hubbed DT carbon rimmed wheel is now an easier proposition. Price: £575 per rim. These rims are made in Poland and have a slightly different finish to the wheelset carbon rims (like the XMC 1501 wheelset), slightly more ‘raw’ but in a good way. Most importantly of all, they come with a choice of three decals.
DT Swiss 26in wheelset
For legacy wheeling singlesprocketeers and dirt-jumpers and pump-tracksters out there, the DT Swiss D 1900 comes in 26in only. Nutted axles. 12T sprocket supplied (13T optional). Price: £305 for the pair.
Elite Leggero Carbon cage
Just a beautiful thing. That does its job surprisingly well. We’ve yet to lose a bottle when using one of these dinky cages. Weight: 13g. Price: £30.
Beautiful bidons
No, we’re still not tired of the Cannondale pink-purple colourway. It’s the new Mapei doncha know. And on the right, a perfectly purple Elite Fly bottle. Want. Just great looking, lightweight bottles that also work well. Price: £6.99 Fly Team and £6.00 Fly Elite.
Miss Grape bikepacking luggage
Claiming to be the best of both worlds – the two worlds being panel-constructed bags and seam-welded bags – Miss Grape is made from a panel construction outer which is then lined with a waterproof… er, liner. Basically. The idea being to offer the weather protection of seam-welded stuff with the ruggedness of panel-constructed stuff. The last picture is off someone trying to rip the fabric (which reminded us of that scene in Napoleon Dynamite). Made in Italy. Lifetime warranty. Price: £notcheap.
M:Part Thermal Handlebar Mitts
‘Pogies’ – or handlebar mitts – are the correct answer that no one wants to hear. If you’re tired of spending money on gloves that just don’t do the job through UK winters, get some bar mitts. You won’t regret it. Price: £24.95.
Aztec Hexvent
Finned disc brake pads and a new floating rotor from one of the original braking brands, Aztec. All the items in this heat-sinktastic range are called HexVent. You can probably see why from the Blockbusters inspired(?) hexagonal aesthetic. The rotors in particular look really nice.
Madison Flux E-Sweep saddle
AKA the comfiest saddle of all time. We first encountered one of these on a Saracen Ariel 50E and it was love at first perch. We’ve been wondering when the saddle would be available to get on its own (or just what it was called really). Price: £39.99.
New blue photochromic lens
Not-quite-out-yet is the new blue hue photochromic lens for certain Madison glasses (the Crypto is pictured above). As any gnarled old downhiller will tell you, blue is the best tint for riding in and out of tree cover. These new darkness-changing lenses will change quicker than ever and will always have blueness, as opposed to the outgoing grey tinted ones.
Mr Crud
It’s the legend that is Pete Tomkins. Around since the birth of Brit MTBing and still as enthused as ever about riding fast in all types of weather. And still making mudguards that are up there with the best.
ODI cockpit
ODI has made cockpit stuff for motocross bikes for a while now but this is its first dabble in mountainbike cockpits. The ODI Flight Control Stealth handlebars come in 35mm clamp only and in four rises (12, 25, 38 and 50mm). The ODI Flight Control Stealth stems are 35mm clamp and 35mm length only. Oh, and there’s new colours of the D30 Vanquish grip. Price: £99.99 bars, £139.99 stem, £39.99 grips.
Best in show
Sometimes a paintjob is all it takes. The new colour on the Genesis Croix De Fer 725 is well nice. The colour is called ‘Massive Li-Lac’. Price: £899.99 frameset.
Thirty two
Big diameters. Small knobs. Lanky speedfreaks rejoice!
Lifeventure Solo Peak Tent
Apologies for the bagginess of the pitching, the floor of Manchester Velodrome is not an ideal surface for pegging out. Anyway, this a one-person tent that weighs 1,000g all-in. Price: £229.99.
Aeroe proto top-tube bag
Aeroe does bikepacking luggage in a manner we like; its stuff fits on full-suspension (e)MTBs. So you don’t have to go bikepacking/bivvying/bothying on a Special Bike (ie. gravel bike), you can just use the bike you already have. And have more fun on it. Because mountain bike. This is Aeroe’s prototype top tube bag by the way, which mounts via a magnetic quick-release pull-tag doohicky.
Miss Grape stuff may be expensive but I have one of those Il Coso bar bags mounts and it works great!
Oooh that colour on the Genesis is lovely!
The Aztec pads & rotors look interesting.
Do the rotors only come in centre-lock?
Want DT grey carbon rims. And hooj vented brake pad 🙂
I want a combination of those carbon rims and single speed hubs to build a Gucci pump track/DJ bike.
I’m guessing the rims don’t come in 26″.
@dirkpitt74 Centrelock only at the mo I believe.
@sharkattack just 27.5 and 29 🙁
Pete Tompkins is legend. To find a need, to fill it so perfectly that your product still sells, and still meets its basic function without requiring any sort of iterative process to improve it. Is a rare and beautiful thing. Got it right first time.
Has anyone ever actually chose to put Aztec stuff on their bike? It’s always seemed like the brand you go to when there’s no other choice (eg you’ve just broken something pre/mid-ride and that’s all the shop has)
Bet the pads are cheaper than the ones Absolute Black do though
“Price: £575 per rim."Â
Shit a brick!! 😳 😳
Can I ask if rear Crudguards are still suffering with an annoying rattle when the clip that connects to the mudguard wears loose ? The originals used to be held with a nut and bolt then I guess to cut costs that was changed to a plastic clip . I seem to remember contacting Pete when 29ers first came out , I think he sent me a new version to try . Still wore and rattled, you can drill holes and zip tie in place but the old version never needed that .
I bought a new one recently and was pleased to see they’ve gone back to a bolted connection.Â
 I tried lots of pads and rotors for when the customer wanted cheaper than original. Aztec were consistently excellent quality, well made and performed well. Some brands had to be filed to fit, paint cleaned off or too small so they rattled!
 Aztec rotors are consistent quality too and the floating ones (available in six bolt too) are excellent.Â
Do the Aztec pads have 3rd party data/testing protocols to back up their claims on heat dissipation?, otherwise it’s just more marketing bullshit
I have a love hate relationship with my Crud Fender XL. On one hand it provides more coverage than any other equivalent mudguard but it buzzes the tyre during big compressions which is really annoying. It feels like a few tweaks and it could be perfect.
and there was me thinking that the meeting of the grumpy northern contingent of me, Al and Hannah would have been your highlight of the show!
That Miss Grape Ilcoso bag cage/extender thing is an interesting design, probably would have bought that instead of the Tailfin Bar Cage if I’d known it existed!
Those DT rim only offerings have been on sale for more than a year, they’re not new
Bidons without a cap cover are useless for MTB’ing, who wants to drink from a nozzle covered in mud or worse still various farm animal poo.
Are cooling fins on brake pads worth it, don’t brake pads work better when they are hot? F1 drivers seem to spend a lot effort getting their brakes hot (ok they are made of ceramic and some other exotic material) so that they work better. Also those Aztec fins are huge and surely would be easy to break?
Any news on if Shimano are going to bring out a T47 bottom bracket?
I want to find out what magic Pete T uses to not age a blimmin’ day.
About 25 years ago he and his son came along to a race series in Metabief, heard the race organiser (who had put blood, sweat and tears into setting the whole thing up) had been stung with an extra bill that pushed the event from a tiny profit into a chunky loss, and helped them out. No big fanfare, no press release – just no-strings-attached help to keep a race series run by someone for the love of the sport going.
“Bidons without a cap cover are useless for MTB’ing, who wants to drink from a nozzle covered in mud or worse still various farm animal poo."
The bottles in the write up are aimed at road use, hence the road teams graphics. There is a Fly Tex 750ml MTB that comes with a clear plastic lid over the nozzle. If you wanted smaller there’s the Jet MTB in 550ml which also has a cover on the nozzle,
My favourite thing at the show was the Croix de Fer 50 in a dark blue with subtle flecks paint job. I have the current purple 50 and had no need to change it until I saw the updated colour.
Apparently the bomes in soil are good for your gut and some are only available in dirt. I’d skip the animal poo if there’s choice but what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you, right? My fave thing from the show turns out (after riding it) to be the 32″ bike. There are some things about that bike that I really, really like. A lot. Riding that low below the axles is quite something. And it corners just fine through the singletracks, just needs a bit more lean which is both fun and something it’s very good at. Also the Miss Grape kit – keen to get that big wheeler loaded up.Â
What was the handlebar height (or the RAD distance and RAD angle if you subscribe to these nomenclatures) compared to what you usually ride?
I’ve gotten more interested in handlebar height recently after spending many years trying to get my handlebars as low as possible and I’m beginning to wonder if a lot of what I’ve been experiencing on bikes and attributing to various differences in geometry might just be me not paying enough attention to keeping my body position consistent (based on the mistaken belief that the key to getting more weight on the front wheel is to get my hands as low as possible).
Not that I’m saying you haven’t taken this into account but looking at most bike write ups I don’t think I’m the only one who hasn’t been paying enough attention to consistent grip position relative to the BB, especially when switching to new wheel sizes.