SHOWTIME! PEZ Sneak A Peak At ’08 Gear
Every year, we get treated to little sneak peaks of cool stuff that will show up “some place down the road”. Pez have a pretty good relationship with several manufacturers and have been slobbering over prototypes for months waiting for that time where we can spring things… Now is the time (well, actually the next few days will be)…
By the looks of things Zipp have had a fairly busy summer. They will present several things to the media and the Euro crowd in a few hours, and topping their tech list is tough, as they have revamped their wheel tech across the board and will also spring what is on paper, the highest performance cranks released anywhere to date in their new Vuma Quad…
Not satisfied with that, they’ve also come out with a wheel (The Sub 9) that, at 15 degrees yaw, actually produces NEGATIVE DRAG… No worries, as the tunnel numbers are also exceptional at 5- 10 and 20, but the tunnel data I’ve seen for these at 15 degrees is way cool… Minus 80 grams drag, so roughly 11 watts forward power!
And what’s silly is their new 202 climbing wheel has been given a makeover that has it testing better than some 50 deep section wheels…
A new group set is in its final phases too…
Sampson Sports are tweaking the final version of a multi level set that will include Rear and front mechs, brake and shift levers, cranks and they already have some good brakes… The question “do we need another group set?” is answered with a simple “YES” and just like we have been pulling for (and using the hell out of) SRAM, we’ll cross the fingers for Eric to get this up and in our hands!
A former upstart, now enjoying a dominating position in Tri as well as having great continued success is Kuota Bicycles. This year will see a new track frame (Kuraro), a New TT bike (Kueen-K) several components and a revamp of several of its models like the new version Kredo Ultimate.
Standard bearer Colnago will also bring a few adjustments to their line and have absolutely confirmed that White is the new Black…
And another standard bearer confirm that white is a great canvas as Selle Italia (distributed through Pronet) have teamed with the Pharaoh of Phunk Troy Lee to give you a saddle to match those days when you’re pounding so hard your eyes are popping out…
To Keep your eyes from coming all the way out (or from crap getting in) and mostly to look cool rolling, Giro bring glasses to the masses with designs that are head / eye / helmet friendly as well as a whole set of shades that will help North Americans in their desperate effort at trying to look Euro…
A brand that has been Euro only for quite a while might make its way state side as well, as ROI BIKE are tickling lots of eyes and ears with the potential of bringing their pimped rigs to more folks.
And as for Pimp with world wide exposure, TREK have taken a new course this year, at least for Interbike Vegas. Their goal is to very simply let the product do the talking and get as many folks on the new Madone as possible. Kudos, as they’ve done so much to the new bike that it only takes 5 minutes of riding to understand what takes an hour to cover in speaking or reading. They’ll be at the outdoor demo rather than the show floor.
So that’s round one…
We have a guy rolling round the floor in Germany for Eurostuff and we’re busy sleeping now until late September so that we can try and survive Vegas. Stay tuned for more…
Have Fun,
Charles Manantan
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