By Yokota Fritz
In my earlier Eurobike post, I misidentified one of the sites as Mountain Bike Review. I was mistaken -- MTBTR.com is actually a Turkish mountain bike magazine. I don't read Turkish, but the site looks pretty slick.
The folks from MTBTR are at Eurobike 2009 and now they've posted seven pages of photos of components, parts and accessories. There's an interesting 15 mm quick release adapter from Crank Brothers, and the usual assortment of carbon fiber cranks, shiny wheels, colorful rims (from Crank Brothers and others), brakes, tires, forks, saddles, handlebars and other goodies.
There's some nice bike porn over at Maglia Rosa, the German MTB News website has lots of video coverage if you can understand German and plenty of photos if you don't, and a ridiculous quantity of bike porn at the Italian edition of the Picasa photo sharing service.
Other notes... Reminder -- I'm giving away the Monkey Electric bike lights this next week, so watch for the contest announcement. I'll be at Interbike in Vegas in a couple of weeks. And finally, I have a bike for sale that I'm probably asking too much for. How much do you think a one year old Raleigh One Way should sell for?
The folks at the Turkish mountain bike website MTBTR.com are at Eurobike. As usual, they have lots of photos pushed online: 3 pages of Eurobike Demo Day photos and 16 pages of Eurobike bike photos.
Velovision has the Eurobike news roundup, with info about Sunrace Sturmey Archer's new run of 3 speed non-ratcheting (i.e. 'fixed gear') hubs (also mentioned at the Sunrace S-A blog, Rohloff's gold plated hub, and more.
Eurobike debuts a Green Award, which went to an e-bike manufacturer of all things.
By Yokota Fritz
The big European bicycle show -- Eurobike -- starts Thursday in Friederichshafen, Germany. If you have the software installed for your web browser, you're viewing below a multimedia presentation from Oamos of random images, text, and sounds related to a search for "Eurobike." It's kind of entertaining. Via Velorution.
While Giant Bicycles of Taiwan reports amazing growth during 2008, and exports from all of Taiwan's bike vendors to North America grew 19% in volume and 20% in value, Bike Europe seems bearish on the 2009 bicycle market in Europe. Because of a drop in consumer confidence amid gloomy economic news in Europe, bike vendors aren't quite sure what to expect for 2009.
Other factors include a stronger Taiwan dollar and higher material costs for vendors. “Although prices of aluminum and carbon fiber have been more stable recently, compared with three years ago, they have increased nearly three-fold,” says Giant spokesman Jeffrey Sheu.
In the meantime, there's plenty of low hanging fruit to pick in the United States, which lags behind much of the rest of the developed world in encouraging bicycling for transportation.
Commuters in Northern Europe have been lured out of their cars by bike lanes, secure bike parking and easy access to mass transportation. At the same time, steep automobile taxes, congestion-zone fees and go-slow rules have made inner-city driving a costly pain in the neck. In the Netherlands, where such carrot-and-stick policies have been in place for decades, 27 percent of all trips are by bike.
"It is very clear how to do this," said John Pucher, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University and lead author of a global study of strategies that promote cycling. "It is not rocket science."
Has anybody tried Google Chrome yet? I haven't figured out how to easily subscribe to RSS feeds through Chrome, like I can with Firefox or Internet Explorer. Chrome also has a hard time with Flickr -- just logging into Flickr took several tries, and I never was able to upload images through Flickr's web interface with Chrome.
A record 34,280 trade vistors made their way to Eurobike 2007, an impressive 8% more than last year. Velonews reports it it took an hour just to park. Carlton Reid @ Bike Biz also reports on the record crowds, with surveys showing the bike industry as "stable to rapidly improving."
Velonews Eurobike report and photo gallery, with product intros from Schwinn, GT, Litespeed, Formula, Adidas bike shoes, Mavic, and Deda.
Pez Cycling News reports on Eurobike with plenty of yummy photos of carbon fiber mechs, wheels, cranks, and, of course, Pez's famous Daily Distractions.
By Yokota Fritz
Dahon introduced the lightest production folding bicycle at Eurobike 2007, the Mu XXV. 250 of these limited edition bikes will be built to commemorate Dahon's 25th Anniversary in 2008.
This 7.5 kg / 16.6 lb folding bike is built up with Shimano Dura Ace along with custom components designed just for Dahon from FSA, Shimano, Syntace, Schwalbe, Kinetix and Kore. See more photos -- including a nice one of the sweet white FSA crankset with ceramnic bearings -- and details at Bike Radar.
Bike Radar also reports on other Dahon bike products like the eye-catching Smooth Hound 6.0 mini-bike with stylish touches like a leather Brook's saddle and leather handlebar tape on moustache bars with bar-end shifters. This mini-bike is not a folder, but it is packable for travel and storage.
The Dahon Cadenza 2008 "urban mountain bike" is equipped with the Alfine internal gearing hub and Shimano disk brakes. This 28 lb bike folds in about 10 seconds, according to Dahon.
By Yokota FritzBRaIN: "Traffic clogged all roads leading to Eurobike Thursday as thousands of visitors poured into the exhibition center’s 13 halls to get a firsthand look at 2008 products."
Bike Radar: Nice and new Crank Brothers kit likes very shiny and pretty: Integrated headsets, cranksets, wheels, and seatposts. Very interesting.
Speaking of porn, a little Australian bike accessories company is getting some attention from their Eurobike presence. Knog's website, though, just has some lesbo girl-on-girl action instead of any substantive product information. Kinda weird way to do marketing.
Cannondale's Jack Knifeconcept is now a ridable, working reality! This prototype Cannondale folding bicycle -- designed in Switzerland by Cannondale engineers Torgny Fjeldskaar and Chris Dodman -- was seen at Eurobike.
Cannondale designer Chris Dodman shows off the prototype folding bicycle at Eurobike 2007. This is a full size bike with 26" inche wheels that folds back so the front wheel overlaps the rear wheel. That beefy chainguard you see is also an integrated chainstay and rear wheel rocker, providing all of the support for the rear wheel. The non-drive side is completely empty.
This bicycle has SRAM's iMotion 9 speed hub which has been modified for the unique characteristics of this folder.
Like the rear wheel, the front wheel is supported on one side with a one-sided "fork," kind of like the Lefty fork, except this one is a "Righty." This enables more compact folding of the bike.
According to the German cycling magazine Aktiv Radfahren, production of this bike is dependent on dealer response to this prototype.
Read more also at Bike Radar, where they talk about urban bike offerings from Cannondale (including the new Hooligan) and Bianchi.
Eurobike 2007 -- the huge International Bicycle Trade Exhibition in Germany -- has kicked off. The 2007 edition is the biggest Eurobike ever with 30,000 trade visitors, 20,000 bike fans and 1,000 journalists expected to visit the 868 exhibitors spread over 13 halls.
More Eurobike photos -- parts and stuff
On the One Way, seems a fair price.
The 2009s are just around the corner, so it's really 2 model years old, but it looks in great shape.
Thanks for the note, Len.
hi Fritz, thanks for mentioning MTB-News.de.
Some of the videos are also in english language, e.g. NS Bikes and Norco (presented by Ryan Leech). Also a part of the Specialized presentation was done by Matt Hunter and is in english language, too. Cheers Tom
Eurobike 2009 photos
Hi,
Any news yet on which companies are attending the 2009 Eurobike show? Or is there a list available or something?
Reason being, I'd like to approach some of them and get my new vertebrae ceramic cable housing on some of their show bikes...
I'm planning on attending the show myself as a trade visitor, but I am almost certain that all the details of the show bikes will have been sorted out by then and hence it will be too late to just show up & expect them to install some parts...
Hoping someone can help...
Eurobike and web tech
Eurobike report
Ha! He took an hour to park at a bike show! That seems so very wrong.
That's one very long line for sign posts.
I'm glad you caught the irony of that ;-)
Lightest folding bike
Looks kinda like the Delta ixi
At 12 lbs, Sir Clive's A-Bike is lighter...
Larry Lagarde RideTHISbike.com
Good catch on that, Larry. You're right.
Why'd they have to make it look like a Ghost Bike?
Eurobike Friday news
I don't want to detract from your Eurobike coverage, which is fascinating because I have no money and can only dream, but I do want to discuss your comment about the knog marketing.
You know, that knog advertising is more mainstream than most bicycle advertising. They're not selling a bike product to a cyclist that can't wait to replace the bearings of their headset with the latest plutonium-alloy ball bearings or pick up the latest Formula One-inspired bottle cages.
They're selling bags and clothes. Fashion accessories. Accessories that you wear on a bicycle. Compare it with any fashion house website, like Prada. You'll find similar imagery.
This leads me to a long rant (don't worry, I'm going back to fark.com after this). I think most bicycle product advertising is missing sex appeal. As we know in these United States, sex sells stuff. How many custom framebuilder websites does one see with pictures of a bike leaned up against what looks like a post-Katrina garage door, or an overweight male in his 60s perched precariously over an extremely well produced custom lugged steel frameset? Or Specialized/Trek/Giant/etc. with pics of bikes against a high contrast abstract background, with the bicycle to be sold as some sort of Platonic ideal? You think that's going to move product?
This knog website, with the girls making out and other images of both swarthy men and sultry women isn't weird marketing at all - this is what moves product in the rest of the consumer fashion sphere.
I might be drunk right now (it is Friday night and I'm home early from the pub), but I'm positively sure that only after a 15 year period of bike manufacturers and retailers using adverts that feature attractive men and women using bicycles in mostly undressed fashion will we in these United States see the desire for bicycle transportation become truly mainstream. I base this on my belief that it's foolish to think forcing guilt upon the American populace for expelling invisible carbon gases will make people get out of gas guzzlers and into healthy forms of living.
People buy gas guzzlers because they're insecure about their individual image and think that peers will think better of them and their sexual prowess because of the ownership of a vehicle that, to many, is a cultural display of virility. This isn't just SUVs, I'm going to include two door automobiles above $30,000 in this and four door automobiles above $40,000.
People don't buy bikes because they think only health nuts or children ride the two-wheeled deathtraps. Elevate the bicycle to the level of a 'must-have' accessory, like a Prada handbag or Hermes scarf, and introduce that same level of exclusivity, and bicycle sales will take off. The only way to do that is to market bicycles and their gear with statistically underweight men and women (or triathletes) in revealing -designer- clothing. Package it as a sexy lifestyle choice. Look at how cars, Abercrombie and Fitch, and rock and roll have been sold. Even Dell uses attractive models in skimpy outfits to unveil its new computers.
Alright, I'm done. Thanks for the coverage, Fritz. I'm going to go drool over that SRAM red powerdome now.
Thanks, Anon. Certainly a lot to think on. I'll probably followup in an article later on.
I'm too broke for most of this stuff, too ;-)
Fritz,
Thank you very much for the link you posted. I know I discovered it a couple of weeks late, however here you have also the link to the parts gallery:
Really, though, I know what you mean. So many cool bikes, so little time and money.
I wonder how long it takes to fold them and un-fold them. Also, would the bike feel unbalanced?
I would really like to see it folded. I cannot see how it can go that small, more dismountable than truly foldable.
If it does not go Brompton small I am not interested :)
I'm interested also in seeing how small this folds. If I see this bike at Interbike I'll post a followup.
WOW! BIG TIME!
Wired is getting their information from Cyclicious!
amazing
if it came in a 20in wheel version and somehow rear fox shock it would be perfect. i like it so far, but the 26in wheels might make it a bit large. good thinkin tho
Eurobike 2007
http://www.velovision.co.uk/cgi-bin/show_comments.pl?storynum=876
Permalink: More Eurobike photos -- parts and stuff
