Hutchinson’s RT1 deep-section carbon clincher is the French company’s first wheelset. It is made by Corima and sells for $2500; price includes two Hutchinson Fusion 2 Road Tubeless tires, two Hutchinson Fast Air cartridges, and four special brake pads specific to the rim.
Fulcrum’s Two-Way Fit Racing Zero wheels have a unique look and offer compatibility with my favorite clincher, the Hutchinson Road Tubeless. They are lightweight and stiff, and they are made for fast-rolling tires that won’t flat if punctured, won’t pinch flat, and will stay on the rim in the case of sudden air loss from a torn carcass. What more could you want?
Too bad that Fulcrum (and Campagnolo) wheels now come with these quick release levers. Remember the nice feel of steel Campagnolo QRs (now shared by Mavic Ksyrium and Dura-Ace levers)? They were nice and easy to close but there was a high resistance to opening them. But these Fulcrums are the opposite; they feel hard to close but flip open easily! Who wants that? I want them to stay closed, not to open easily!
The Cannondale TwentyNiner 1’s OPI stem is one piece hollow all of the way up the inside of the head tube and comes in 12 sizes. It’s more hassle to change stem lengths or angles, but it is very light and stiff. Also, the hollow stem cavity makes great trash can for bar wrappers or a place for cut flowers a’la VW Beetle. The Lefty 29er fork has a nice lockout lever.
The Cannondale TwentyNiner 1 comes with a nice, stiff Lefty 29er 80mm-travel fork, and the stem locks into the lower crown (but a standard Lefty steerer with a standard stem is available. The fork offers great steering precision and no binding under side loading. If you were racing the Great Divide race, for instance, you needn’t look further than this bike.
Being stiff, light, and a fast climber, the Cannondale TwentyNiner 1 is an awesome cross-country race bike. The big wheels roll fast and eat up terrain, which, along with its stable handling, make it a decent descender for a hardtail. I must admit to being spoiled by riding nothing but full-suspension 29ers the past couple of years, but its harsh ride coming down is smooth compared to any 26er hardtail.
The all-carbon Cannondale Six is a nice bike at a nice price, and I liked its ride. But it sucks to not have barrel adjusters on the frame or cable housings. It’s terrible at this event, where derailleurs are always maladjusted when you get a bike. Yes, you can keep stopping to adjust the rear derailleur barrel adjuster, but undo the cable-fixing bolt and pull the cable tight out on a ride? Come on! I wouldn’t have a bike that I couldn’t adjust cable tension on both derailleurs without stopping.
Lance Armstrong will hold a pair of press conferences in the next two days — the first on Wednesday in New York and the second on Thursday at the Interbike trade show in las Vegas, Nevada. In New York, Armstrong will discuss his Global Cancer Initiative. At Interbike, he will detail plans for his 2009 return to professional cycling, including his team, a partial schedule and development program. VeloNews will be attending both events. Stay tuned.
Cannondale marketing director Scott Struve showed the new Six an Asian made full carbon bike modeled after the Super Six, but made with materials that allow its retail price to start at $1800.
D3OPads are molded out of the material, which in an extreme example is soft and formable like playdough in your hands, but does not mar when hit with a hammer.
Protective gear maker 661 debuted an impressive technology this year with its d3O-impregnated pads; the line increases for 2009. d3O is a material that remains soft and pliable under normal conditions, yet firms instantly during impact.
Speedplay has a new prototype mountain bike pedal called the Syzr. Its designed to square off the mud shedding abilities of crankbrothers pedals. It is not ready for production and Speedplay wouldn’t offer a release date.
King also rounds out its selection of un-ramped single-speed cogs with 21-, 22-, and 23-tooth models.
The front derailleur on Pivot’s FFD system stays in place through half of the travel. When the swingarm comes within 3mm of hitting the end of the derailleur cage, the pin attached to the chainstay hits the black tab, causing the FFD mount to pivot forward, keeping the front derailleur from hitting the swingarm and in a good working range of angles with the chain.
Pivot’s Floating Front Derailleur system on the 6-inch-travel Firebird frame allows the front derailleur to pivot with the swingarm, so it will still hold the chain on and shift properly. The chainstay can then come in straight and directly without fear of it hitting the front derailleur, rather than doglegging down below, adding flex and deepening the chances for nasty chain suck.
King added the 10th color to its palette — brown. The new color also ushers in the use of its Sotto Voce branding. The softer logos were first debuted during February’s Handmade Bike Show in Portland, Oregon.
King will offer two 15QR hubs for 2009, the one on the left has a standard ISO disc hubshell and the right uses the brand’s 20mm hubshell.
The BB has a trio of tools that allow for proper installation and service. The installation tool was pictured alongside the bottom bracket in the previous photo and the grease injection tool is demonstrated here.
Chris King was proudly showing its fully serviceable external bearing bottom bracket. If the brand’s headsets offer any indication, this is going to be one sturdy unit. The BB’s are compatible with Shimano’s HollowTech 2 road and mountain crank specs.
The Masi Soulville 10 is retro with a new style. It has a compact double crank and a 10-speed cogset. The shifter is a SRAM 10-speed DoubleTap lever for flat handlebars. The Soulville has slide-on full-cork grips, cool, flat fenders, and sparkly red paint.
After pushing in the pin from the non-drive side and breaking off the pilot pin, you turn the chain around and flip the gate of the tool down. On the flip-down gate is another pin that supports the assembly pin from the back side against which you tighten the chain tool until it mashes out (peens) the head of the assembly pin to lock it in place.
Campagnolo’s 11-speed chain tool has the same wire loop as the 10-speed version that you insert into the tool to hold the chain in position when you are using the tool. You leave the unique lifting gate open when you cut the chain, as well as when you do the initial chain installation.
Campagnolo’s hollow 11-speed break-off type connecting pin requires Campagnolo’s special 11-speed chain tool to install it through the “virgin” link on the end of the chain. Push the pin outward from the non-drive side so that if the end with the break-off pilot protrudes toward smaller cogs, where it won’t hang up, rather than toward bigger ones.
Even though we focused much of our attention on the electric parts, it's worth noting that the bike was equipped with a prototype tubeless version of the 7850-C24 carbon clinchers.
The shifters in the first photo represent the newest version. We were allowed to ride an older version, like the ones used in the ProTour last year.
The slickest item in the group is the auto-trim function of the front derailleur. The computer knows to trim the front derailleur when the rear is at either extreme end of the cassette.
The first thing people might ask of Shimano’s Electric Di2 drivetrain is: What’s the weight penalty? There isn’t much. The group is roughly 60-grams lighter than the 7800 Dura-Ace group and only 60-grams heavier than the new 7900 group.