And the last Interbike Gear-Hurrah

So here we are—the seventh and last gear-related installment of my Interbike coverage. Oh, I’m working on a couple of other Vegas weirdness-related posts, but this will be the last gear-lapalooza-type column. If you somehow missed all the other posts, I’ve hyperlinked them below. If, on the other hand, you’re up to date on all that, just keep scrolling down till you get to the Moots post.

*Interbike Report Part Six
*Interbike Report Part Five
*Interbike Report Part Four
*Interbike Report Part Three
*Interbike Report Part Two
*Interbike Report Part Six

MOOTS KILLS SMOOTHIE, INTRODUCES ZIRKEL Moots Cycles has never been a big-hype company. Everybody’s doing carbon this year? Ummm…not Moots. Everybody’s selling dirt jump bikes? Again, not in Moots’ corner of the universe. Nosiree. Just a handful of hardcore riders welding titanium bikes out of Steamboat Springs. And yet, Moots refusal to jump on the sexiest bandwagons doesn’t mean the company is behind the times in any respect. They’ve got a massive line of unique and quirky bikes—the fact that these models are made out of titanium are often the only real common link from one model to the next. Cyclo-cross bikes? They make em. Five-inch travel dualie with wicked-fast geometry? Check. Ultra-light road bike with pivotless rear suspension? Yup. 29ers? Uh-huh. I’ll stop the annoying list-thing, but you might want to cruise on over to MOOTS WEBSITE….they’ve got a ton of interesting bikes.

The Zirkel is one of Moots’ latest inventions. The Zirkel takes the place of the Smoothie, which is to say that it’s a lightweight, 3-inch travel, full suspension bike. The big difference between the Zirkel and the Smoothie is the rear shock placement. The Smoothie’s rear shock mounted on the downtube. The Zirkel’s rear shock mounts near the base of the seat tube. Moots also stiffened up the rear-end and added a bit more tire clearance by switching to an extruded yoke system (instead of straight chainstays). The Zirkel’s front triangle is titanium, the rear end is aluminum (built for Moots by Oregon frame manufacturer, SAPA). The Zirkel frame will sell in 2006 for $2,850.

Giro's new carbon full-face helmet is freaky light.

CARBON FOR YOUR HEAD The problem with full-face helmets is that wearing one often feels a lot like you’re riding your bike with a mountain gorilla sitting on your head. Well, I’m guessing this is the case, but I have my reasons: sauna like sensation, top-heavy sensation, limited vision, that sort of thing. Giro showed up at Vegas with an answer to that nagging Mountain Gorilla Head Gear problem: the Remedy CF (“CF” as in carbon fiber).

Yup, a carbon fiber full-face helmet. They’re making everything else out of composites these days, I guess it was just a matter of time. I was grumbling and thinking along these lines when I picked the helmet up and, damn, this sucker is light. How light? Crazy, unbelievable light. Okay, that’s still a big vague even with two adjectives in play. So, for all the uptight Germans out there here’s a big, scientific factoid: it weighs 900 grams. In American-ese, that means 32 ounces (which sounds heavy, but is actually very light, a good quarter pound lighter than the Giro’s standard, fiberglass Remedy helmet).

Here are a few more facts: Carbon composite shell, EVA-lined chinbar, 14 vents, 3-position adjustable bolt-on visor and a washable interior lining to help keep that socially-limiting head-funk to minimum. If the smog-colored version here doesn’t light your fire, the Remedy CF also comes in a matte coal version and a red flames over carbon version for everyone who thinks that wearing a full-face helmet alone just won’t get them noticed enough. Oi.

The new Giro Hex offers Xen styling at a lower price point.

ON A MORE CROSS-COUNTRY NOTE…Giro also presented a new XC-style helmet at Interbike. The Hex weighs in at 11 ounces (just a half ounce more than the top-of-the-heap E2 model). Style-wise, the Hex borrows from the popular Xen helmet—sorta round and wide in that dirt-jumping sense, but still really light and well ventilated. You’re looking at 21 vents, snap-on P.O.V.visor (with 15 degrees of adjustment), Roc Loc 4 retention system and six color options.

The Spinner Cargo Air: 110-150 millimeters of travel & plenty of features.

SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T SEEN…What’s in a name? Quite a bit actually. People have confidence in brand names. Oh, sure, you’re not one of herd-following, brand name slaves right? I know I like to think I’m not and yet whenever I put a healthy gash in my hand and I’m strolling the drug store aisles with hemoglobin dripping everywhere (I’m clumsy and I love power tools, so this isn’t an example without foundation), for some reason a box of Band-Aides is always more attractive to me than a box of generic “adhesive bandages”. Sure, the generic adhesive bangages are probably just as reliable as the Band-Aides, but I grew up on Band-Aides and there’s comfort in that history.

Same brand name magic holds true with suspension forks, I imagine. I’m betting that a lot of people passed on by the Spinner booth while at Vegas without giving the product a second thought. In fact, I know they did. I stood around and watched retailer after retailer speed up as they neared Spinner’s exhibit.

Simply put, Spinner, as a brand name, isn’t exactly rubbing elbows with names like RockShox, Manitou, Fox or Marzocchi. And yet, there is a real connection here. Spinner has built forks for a couple of those companies and if they could build forks that you’d consider with another brand name slathered on the fork legs, it stands to reason that they’re at least capable of building comparable forks on their own. I’m just hypothesizing here, but that’s what these meandering web posts are for, no es verdad?

The Spinner fork that caught my eye was the Spinner Cargo Air. It sells for $599, features adjustable rebound, compression and “threshold” settings. The Cargo Air sports between 110 to 150 millimeters of adjustable travel and is also available in a 20-millimeter thru-axle version. Lowers are of the one-piece magnesium variety and stanchions are 34-millimeter aluminum tubes. There are two other Cargo models available in 2006: the Cargo 1 and Cargo 2—both are coil sprung. I have no idea how this fork rides, but I’m angling to get a test model and once it’s been beaten thoroughly, I’ll post a review on this site.

Pedro's new shop stand is impressive. A more affordable, consumer-oriented version is also available.

DUELING REPAIR STANDS…Park and Pedro’s had booths within spittin’ distance of one another at this year’s tradeshow. Kind of interesting given that both company’s occupy the same block of the bike market, so to speak. I was reminded of this fact as soon as I bumped into the new Pedro’s Rock Stand Double. This massive two bike-workstand is pure bike-shop fare. Professional-quality hardware. Why is this interesting? Because until recently, that kind of equipment has purely been Park Tools’ domain. Pedro’s has long fielded consumer-level repair stands, but this professional-grade stand is definitely a new direction.

So here are the basic stats on the new Pedro’s stand: the double head design allows for two mechanics to work independently or for a single, caffeinated mechanic to work on two bikes at once. The stand rotates 360 degrees and locks in place with a quickl release. Massive, heavy-as-hell base plates are sold separately and the stand itself retails for $799. Yeah, that’s pricey, but this is aimed at bike shops who’ll use the stand day in and day out. Pedro’s is, however, selling a consumer-oriented version (the Rock Stand Portable) for $549. This portable version uses the same head as the shop stand, but the base can be removed for those occasions when you get the wild urge to actually park your car in your garage, and thus feel obliged to move the stand.

Park's Super Lite stand is precisely that.

Park Tools, on the other hand, used the tradeshow as an opportunity to show off their new Super Lite Repair Stand. As the name so boldly implies, the repair stand is light—14 pounds, to be exact. The stand is also quite portable. The many quick releases allow you to collapse the stand, clamp the bike (it’ll accommodate tubes up to 3 inches in diameter), and so forth. The stand folds down to 41 inches and features a three-point leg system for increased stability.