Interbike 2012 was a great success this year. We had ten people from five stores attending and applied all our our power to cover the event as much as possible. From “The Lab” with new technologies not yet on the market and original concepts to the main floor of the Sands Expo with thousands of booths, tables, bikes, gear — you name it. All of the top companies attend, of course with their best limited edition bikes tricked out with every bell and whistle you could imagine.
One of my favorite finds was the Sworks Allez that Specialized had on display. A beautiful aluminum frame with deep dish carbon clinchers, carbon this and that, and Dura-Ace. If marketed, it is sure to be a hot bike in demand. Hutchinson released a tubeless cross tire that shows good promise for those still no clinchers.
In the Italy section, Pegoretti had some stellar track bikes painted with his unusual, yet flashy style. It was built with sheriff star Campagnolo Record hubs and a Campagnolo track drivetrain. Campagnolo was in full force with EPS shifting taking the highlight along with a time trial Bora Ultra carbon crank.
One of my favorite booths was the Paul Components display. Simple wooden tables with the most precise machined components polished to perfection. Paul was a really cool guy to talk to, as well as his collegues. They had their brand new road hubset on display, which uses an Industry Nine ratcheting pawl system combined with CNC machined hub shell and freehub body. It is both 10 and 11 speed Shimano and Campy compatible.
White Industries was also in full force with their styled CNC machined components, including the popular ENO hub, which I have ran through the ringer for years without any single issue.
Meetings were scheduled with some our major brands, including Continental, Geigerrig, Ortlieb, Thule, and Optic Nerve. Several of our normal reps were there to run through exciting new items, programs, and technology advances. Prominent in many brands were the replacement of buckles for helmets and saddlebags with rare earth magnet clasps that worked exceedingly well and operating and keeping closed when it should.
QBP showed us all the new tech in helmets and Salsa Cycles, which uniquely had display models of all the employees bikes, so they were covered in a little road / trail use.
The hippest place in the show had to be the Chrome exhibit. Picnic tables, on-demand bag making with sewing machines and limited edition photo styled Citizen messenger bags, fresh screen printed T-shirts, a DJ spinning tunes at 4pm every day. The reps were great to talk to and it was nice to associate behind the people that handmade the bag you’ll use day in and day out.
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