Interbike: Vernon's Top 10 Part 2

6. American Classic All Mountain Wheelset
Bill Shook, the man behind American Classic, spends more time thinking about spoke nipples, bearing loads and pawl engagement than is healthy. All that OCD, however, makes for some incredibly light and durable wheels. The 2020- gram All Mountain Disc wheelset looks promising. It features a 28-millimeter wide rim and comes in both 15 and 20-millimeter thru-axle options. It also boasts all the usual American Classic niceties, such as the patented, six-pawl, cam-actuated engagement system. For 2009, all American Classic aluminum cassette bodies also get steel inserts that should help prevent the lightweight cassette bodies from getting chewed up by your cassette.

7. Fox Limited Edition 40
In commemoration of World Champion, Gee Atherton's dominating season (hell, the whole Atherton clan had a dominating season, for that matter), Fox is selling a limited run of 200 special race-tuned 40 RC2 forks and DHX RC4 rear shocks.

8. Syncros FL CR25
Syncros has always been synonymous with durability. I was surprised, then, to see this carbon mountain bike wheelset. The guys at Syncros, however, are confident that they'll hold up to serious All Mountain-style abuse. Very interesting.

9. Ibis Hakkalugi Goes Carbon
Back in the 1990s, Ibis made a beautiful steel, booger-colored cyclo-cross bike called the Hakkalugi. Today Ibis is all about composites and so it the new Hakkalugi. Frame weight on the new cross bike is a mere 2.4 pounds. The guys at Ibis also figured out a way to bring back the old Hand Job (see picture). Very nice.

10. Titus El Guapo
Titus founder and president, Chris Cocalis, left the company last year, but the ship looks to be sailing better than ever. The new El Guapo is lighter, stiffer and sexier than before. It boasts six inches of rear travel, a true Horst Link four-bar suspension design, a 1.5-inch headtube and ISCG tabs, making it a perfect candidate for a potential HammerSchmidt front transmission swap. It's basically a lightweight, go-anywhere, do-anything kind of bike with a lot of thoughtful details.

Reader Comments 

Posted Fri Oct 3, 2008, 12:57 AM — By John Coleman

As usual Vernon says it like no human can. He is too legit to quit! I love to read his shiznit. I dream of going to interbike. Please someday Make my dreams come true BIKE! No jooke Vern is a literary GENIOUS who deserves praise and monstrous financial rewards for hios flawless and completely unduplicatable sense of the English language. Much thanks for the the entertainment in this F'd up republican brainless disaater we are going through in our country. All my best, Dr J

Posted Wed Oct22, 2008, 11:01 PM — By Laz

They could have at least hired biker chicks to tend the booths (pic 5). Those two look like "Flab" and "Pudge" from our local beer garden.

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