Interbike 2007 report from the floor

My very good friend and advocate Kevin, is the owner of Tribe Multisport. His company is the largest triathlon store in the Phoenix metro area and as plainly obvious at any local triathlon, has a tremendous footprint in this incredible sport most of us enjoy. Not only does his crew uphold quality customer service that honestly puts most LBS to shame, Kevin genuinely is a man who cares about his customers and their level of experience in his store.

As many of you know, I would not think a trip to the valley is complete without introducing you to Kevin. And as especially Nytro and Benny have found, his generosity lasts past my presence or that singular event. Kevin and his crew truly make me proud to introduce them to new people. How many of you simply must introduce your out of town guests to your LBS crew? Exactly.

He is a fountain of information in the sport and innovative in his approach to business. Recently he took his entire staff to Interbike in Las Vegas and he wrote a message to many of his close friends relating his experience. I knew immediately it was gold and asked if I could post his message, which of course he gave full consent to do.

Please enjoy.

Howdy everybody,

With all of the Interbikes I have attended, it is getting increasingly difficult to get excited about it. When I was a kid, you go to the show and are blown away at the sheer magnitude of it all, being awed at each turn of every isle seeing one new thing after another. Then, you get older and it becomes quite routine; you know, the same bike lines with close to the same product with new splashes of paint and some slightly varied component specification. …and even worse, when you become a shop owner, you literally sign your life away. I go to the show with the responsibility of “forecasting” the year to come with pre-season orders. This includes all of the bike lines, some of the accessory lines, and all of your clothing lines.

This year was a little different. At first glance, the show seemed to be just another dog and pony show of last years stuff with new shiny paint. BUT WAIT!!! There was new stuff every where I was winding up. J!!!!! New wheels, new frames, new computers and heart rate monitors, and completely redesigned clothing lines. Below are some of the highlights that caught my eye.

BIKES:

For me, Argon 18 had the show stealer. Their new triathlon frame set is not only wicked cool looking, but functionally correct. It is the Element 114 and it is very obvious that they did their homework when it came to the finishing touches. They use M-series carbon throughout, proper internal cable routing, functional and beautiful integrated aero bars and fork with 6 cm of adjustability (!!!!!). Wind tunnel testing was off the hook for this guy too! They also have a version called the Element 112 with conventional cockpit for those needing a more affordable option.

Cervelo is staying the course with their resilient and proven P3C and P2C offerings. New paint and a new $2,500 option on the P2C. They have a new road frame that is quite a find… The RS: a race bike for the older athlete or distance road racer.

Felt is always good for good looking bikes. Their ability to “buy” market share is diminishing a bit, but they still offer some neat stuff. They have a Tri bike that is $9,500!!! Holy cow! It looks really cool, but 10K? Not for me, but thanks.

As for complete lines, I am most excited about Jamis, oddly enough. They are not really known for their “wow” factor, but they brought it in truck loads this year. They have a road line up that is to die for. The buzz about the show was, “did you see the wind tunnel results for the new Jamis?” You may want to sit down for this one: A wind tunnel test was conducted with almost all of the heavy hitters and specialty bikes and the Jamis Zenith T bikes TOPPED the list. There will be a line for these. J Good thing I sell ‘em.

Kuota is always strong and their booth is always packed. I am their number one dealer in Arizona, number 4 in the western half, and number 12 in the world and I even had to wait for them to create a free moment to walk me through line. Their road bikes are always amazing, and their tri bikes are among the best of the best. This year, they are trumping that!!! The new Kueen K is a sub 900 gram triathlon frame that Norm Stadler rides and now we age groupers can too… and it is sweet! They also introduced the K-Factor SL; it is 400 grams lighter that the K-Factor and more substantial looking. I have already received some of these for the floor, so it wasn’t as exciting. LADIES!!! The K-Factor will now be available in an XS frame in a women specific geometry! Yee Haw!!! It never hurts to have some options.

The lightest bike at the show was at our local frame builders booth, Ruegamer. Brent had a sub 8 lb road racing bike!!! It is ridable and way cool! As I attended meeting after meeting, Brent’s name kept coming up. The big boys noticed him and are keeping an eye on him.

There was a slew of way cool bikes with ginormous price tags from the usual suspects: Time, BMC, Look, Pinarello and others. Beautiful? Yes. Ridiculously priced? Uuh huh.

WHEELS:

Lew, Lightweight, Mavic, Reynolds, Zipp and others were showing off their ultralight wheels. Lew and Lightweight are the lightest of the bunch (currently), but they are really expensive ($3,500-$6000). Mavic has the new Carbone Ultra (and so does Tribe) and they are almost as light with NO weight limit. J Zipp has retooled and changed their line up a little… they are joining Blackwell with a 100mm rim and are now offering a more aerodynamic disc. Reynolds is offering a bunch of new wheels and in my opinion, the most complete racing wheel line up among the bunch of ‘em. They now have a disc wheel and an 85mm rim’d wheel/set. Really sweet. There are more race-able wheels in the sub $800 category to include some in the $450ish range!

CLOTHING:

Usually, it is the same old stuff with different colors… NOT THIS YEAR! Holy cow! This spring will be gangbusters when it comes to the many choices that the triathlon market will have.

Zoot is still going to be the industry leader with their proven lines and innovation in technology. Come late February, Zoot will release their new running shoe line. There is so much design and intelligence that went into this shoe, that it most likely will receive some awards. It is so functional for triathletes that Newton will be shaking in their shoes. Diana is currently testing them… feel free to hit her up for the results in the near future.

TYR is re-born. They blew my mind!!! They completely redesigned their entire line up; scrapping their tired old stuff in favor of technically proficient and smart looking pieces with excellent color stories. I can’t wait for this to hit the shelves in the Spring. They are also offering some new goggles that seal like there is no tomorrow. Large busted ladies, Tyr will be offering a new sport top that not only will give you coverage, but also will hold everything in place. We had one of our gals give it the bounce test and it passes with flying colors!!!

Pearl Izumi has some great new running shoe offerings that will hit the shelves come late Feb, early March.

Jaggad and 2XU are looking extremely sharp for 2008. Again, I’ll have their offerings on the shelves come late winter and early spring.

WETSUITS:

It was funny how many manufacturers were saying, “we are the only company using the new Yamamoto 40 neoprene.” It got to the point where it was practically a joke, laughable if you will. Either Yamamoto is lying to their wetsuit companies or each company is completely oblivious to their competitors… who knows.

Zoot still offers the very sweet Xenith. They will now be offering a lower priced version of the same technology in a suit that will hit $450.

Blue Seventy, Neo-Sport, QR, Profile, Aquaman, and others are offering some updated versions of their offerings from last year.

2XU has some new features on their suits as well… you know Tribe will have them in stock the second they are available.

Nineteen continues to impress us all. Not only is their customer service to die for, but their product just keeps getting better and better. They us a blend of Yamamoto in the flexibility zones and Jako in the durability zones. Jake tried one on and both Diana and Jake will be sporting the new Nineteen Frequency as their wetsuit of choice for 2008. (Note: They were not comp’d the product, they purchased it!)

COMPUTERS/HEART RATE MONITORS/POWER METERS:

SRM is still the king of the jungle with their $3,000 plus power meters… BUT WAIT!!! They have some serious competition. Tons of technology hit the market this year. Let’s see if I can get it all to you here…

Power meters and cross compatibility was the “it” thing this year. Garmin has the new 705 forerunner and edge coming out! Super cool and way functional… the 705 allows interface with the majority of the Power Meters out there.

Polar was showing off their new wireless version power meter. They have worked out the bugs from versions past. Their demo version seemed to work, but is is still very clunky looking. Polar is now offering the 810 GS which is GPS enabled. Other than that, staying the course.

QuarQ is joining the foray of Power Meters with a lower cost alternative to SRM. Not quite as refined, but I love to see the competition.

I-Bike is still one of my personal favorites. They work with a few short comings at a very low price tag. Whoa! They fixed the short comings and now offer a complete wireless system and can also be used on a trainer!!! Yee Haw!!!

VDO will soon hit the market with one of the slickest heart rate monitor/bike computer around… did I mention that it will also do theoretical Power for less than $400?!!!!! I can’t wait.

Sigma continues to be the bang for the buck option that absolutely no one can beat. The bike computers rock. The heart rate monitors make Polar worry. …and their customer service is A++.

As always, the show is overwhelming and yielded a clear portal as to what 2008 will offer up. Now it is time to get my nose back to the grind stone. Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions about product that is on the horizon.