Interbike ’10 v2: More We Saw & Some You Missed
Round Number Two: Tunebug’s Helmet speaker, fi’zi:k’s new seat post and Versus saddles, Lemond’s revolution trainer, Carnacs Lid and the lightest watch ever… More stuff from Interbike 2010.
One of the coolest items at Interbike speaks pretty loudly to safety. A slick new speaker system that works via Bluetooth (or wired) with most personal listening devices.
I like riding with music but living in the city means that wearing ear buds will keep me from hearing traffic. And on weekends with groups it’s nice to have a chat… This little piece of equipment essentially vibrates and turns your helmet shell into a speaker.
You can use a simple velcro strap (my fave) or you can use the funky (and effective) three-toed “Gecko mount” shown below…
If you have a Bluetooth music device, you can ditch the cord…
Sound is not on par with higher end ear buds but then no ear bud allows you to hear what’s going on around your bike as well as this does (at same volume levels). The Shake is actually loud enough for the people around you to hear as well.
A couple of little bumps on the unit are touch sensitive to adjust the sound level and a charge seems to last a couple of hours.
Looking for a futuristic bean protector to mount your shake?
THE CARNAC HADES might be the ticket.
Most folks know this company for their shoes, but Carnac have a pretty reasonable broader line of glasses, gloves and the new helmet.
The Hades shape isn’t like a lot of other products on the market and to pull off proper ventilation, they count on the gel padded liner inside to raise the helmet up for air flow, as well as make for a pretty comfy interior.
The retention system is larger across the back of your head than some but it’s easy to adjust with gloved hands and more flexible than it appears.
Reinforced with carbon this seems to be a very solid piece of kit and hopefully we’ll see in the future what the production weight and airflow are like.
Weight is nada for the AIR SPORTS WATCH
Now we can’t comment on the benefits of negative ions and far infrared emissions by the watch. What we can say is that the design is pretty neat.
Past being silly light, these little things sport an easily readable display, a medical grade silicone band, ribbing on the back for breathability, 6 sizes and 25 colors (some glow in the dark which are bad for Ninja’s and good for raves or if someone needs to search for your body), a one year warranty and they’re 3 for $50…
I know this is an age where having a lap-top strapped to your arm is oh so cool, but at 10 grams, this gives the rest of us who just use a watch to tell time (which is all 90% of the people with the giant watches do anyway) a nice alternative.
FI’ZI:K always seem to have something new and this year they came with another few saddle options, along with a new seat post and some of the slickest shoes available.
The post is a carbon fiber version of their rail friendly Cyrano.
Very similar to the metal tube Cyrano post, the Carbon sheds 35 grams (31.6 / 330) but loses none of the VERY good features including a lot of tilt adjustment and being able to take most round rail saddles as well as oval saddle rails.
The best feature is easily the big surface contact area that is a lot more friendly to seat rails, regardless of saddle manufacturer.
But of course, fi’zi:k have a couple of seats they wouldn’t mind you using and this year they have a few versions of their already popular profiles that will include a love canal…
The Versus models come in Antares (shown) as well as Arione and Aliante and use a dip rather than a cut out and they run it virtually the full length of the saddle (smart).
We’ll cover the fi’zi:k shoes in the next go.
As it’s November, this last one is looking pretty good.
Lemond Fitness’s REVOLUTION TRAINER
Most know the story here as no rear wheel is required…
So you’re not tearing through rubber in the off season and you’re also not leaving a whole lot of rubber-dust on the floor.
The unit’s also not horrible in the noise department but that is a big fan. It’s also not nearly liquid or mag drive quiet, but it’s no place near overpowering your TV.
And toss on the sensor and you’re all set to use the Power Pilot meter
That’s going to give you power, speed, distance etc in a wireless format.
This is also a very stable platform and its design makes for a height that is about 4 inches lower that other trainers (because you’re not fitting anything under a rear wheel) so easy on and off and no front wheel block needed…
That’s all for round 2, We’ll be back with a couple others shortly.
Have Fun,
Charles Manantan
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