| VITUS
At the Vitus booth, I ran across some literature that said that bikes
(like cars and motorcycles) are moving from frames to chassis as the
basis for their design. If anything was the theme of the show, this
was. Battaglin, Cinelli, Colnago, Kestral, Vitus, Sannino, and others
all had one or more models made completely of composite materials,
without normal tubes or lugs.
Vitus was showing off their own wild carbon-fiber "chassis" called the
ZX-1. All the components just sort of hung off this strange aero
sculpture -- not a tube in sight.
For more pedestrian cyclists, Vitus is still designing new Aluminum
frames. They have a hefty mountain bike version now, as well as one
destined for cyclocross. The cyclocross one has a new "tuning fork"
style seat stay, but otherwise looks like their old frame with more
relaxed angles.
COLUMBUS
Columbus wasn't listening to Vitus, or perhaps they've heard loud and
clear, and are now on the counterattack. They announced yet another
new line of steel tubing for road bikes, called EL. It's made of
Nivacrom (the super-hard alloy they use in MAX), but has thinner
sidewalls for a total weight of 1.6 kg. This puts it in the same
ballpark as aluminum for a frame. It also should alleviate some of
the problems with MAX, which is too stiff for normal use. EL has a
tapered downtube, but everything else appeared to be round. Nobody
was showing a bike built out of this stuff yet, so it may be a while
before it appears at your neighborhood shop.
Around the exposition, lots of people were showing Crit and TT bikes
made out of MAX. These were pretty wild-looking, as all the tubes are
tapered, and the convention among builders is to extend the top tube
beyond the seat post a couple of cm, and then saw it off flat. The
frames look like they're made out of intersecting chopsticks! The TT
bikes look more practical than the road bikes.
CINELLI
Cinelli builds bikes that are meant to be drooled over as they hang
from the wall. I've never seen anyone ride one. The "Evolution"
track model is the most beautiful bike I've ever seen. The steering
tube ends below the top of the top tube, so that the steering stem
points forward at exactly the same level and angle as the gracefully
reclining top tube. The simplified lines that result are profound.
The finish is a classy light blue pearl, and there are no decals
anywhere. It's a work of art, not a bicycle....
RIVA TRECIA
For $4000, you can buy a seven kilo titanium bike. They do not sell
frames separately, because they replace major components with titanium
equivalents, and custom-machine parts for individual riders'
dimensions. (For example, they will change the length of the bottom
bracket spindle to match your stance.) People were lined up to get
measured and buy these rarefied beasts. And yes, there's a mountain
bike, too....
MASI
My first close look at the 3V frames. I think the main tubes are
steel with a wrapping of kevlar and carbon fiber, but I'm not sure.
There's a little raised ring where each lug joins the tube,
(ironically) just like the cheapo Raleigh Technium bikes. One of the
frames was pearl-colored, and cast a rainbow-like sheen as you walked
around it. Another (a TT bike) had seat stays that met the seat tube
only halfway up, instead of at the top.
SANNINO
They want about $1000 for a MAX frame. Mauro's son told me that they
had measured the rear triangle stiffness of the MAX prototype they
built, and it was double that of MS. (MS is enough for me, thanks.)
Sannino's had the nicest brazing I've seen -- supposedly it took them
four days to finish it! Somehow, I don't think they'll use the same
process on the production models....
BOTTECHIA
Greg Lemond's Tour-winning TT bike was there. (The handlebars definitely
looked home-made.)
MOSER
Franceso himself was there, sequestered in one of the little
negotiating rooms that his booth had. Whenever he stuck his head out,
he drew crowds. All kinds of great historical racing photos were on
the walls. His bikes all use German (Oria) tubing, and Japanese
(Shimano) components. His lugless frames look nice, except for the
cheesy "airbrush and masking tape" paint jobs. The seat tubes extend
past the seat stay/top tube junction towards the seat, like Klein's
do.
COLNAGO
Beppe Saronni was there signing autographs. There weren't that many
takers. People were interested in the bikes, though. Ernesto had
"Ferrari Engineering" emblazoned on all the walls, and he was showing
the "funny bikes" that came out of the Colnago/Ferrari joint venture.
The twin-downtube carbon-fiber model used in the Giro was the feature.
Virtually every Colnago bike (steel, carbon fiber, or aluminum) now
comes with straight forks. They had a couple of really gaudy "special
edition" steel bikes with gold-plated components, crocodile saddles,
etc. Yuck!
ROSSIN
Wow, what a paint job on their latest models. One was in green
glitter with about a thousand layers of protective clear-coat.
Liberace would have paid dearly for that one! Then there were zebra,
checkered, splattered, faded, you-name-it combinations. Practically
every type of tubing is used, including Tange prestige on one of the
top models.
MERCKX/DE ROSA
Combined stand: 10th anniversary for Merckx, 30th for De Rosa. Very
traditional bikes. The most "radical" thing was Merckx's use of
Columbus TSX tubing (yawn). De Rosa's sticking to his guns with SL/SLX.
If you want a classic Italian racing bike, none is closer to the real
thing than a De Rosa. But hurry, who knows how much longer they'll
hold out....
BASSO
Not so well known in Italy. The Ascot (MS) has blinding orange paint
on the rear triangle, with white and green elsewhere. They also had
the Monza, with MAX tubing.
BIANCHI/LEGNANO
"Emotions rise" was their theme. They had "inspirational" music playing,
and bikes set on little flood-lit stages, out of reach. Gross.
LOOK
Their new frames are very sleek -- carbon fiber, with exotically
shaped lugs. They had three photo models dressed up in red tights,
wearing giant mock-ups of their new cycle computer as headpieces.
Those goofy French....
MUDDY FOX
They were only letting dealers into the booth, but I still peeked in the
window. Real serious-looking off-road bikes, all in flat black. They
have at least three models that fall between a typical mountain bike
and a cyclocrosser. A hybrid of that kind is just what I've been
looking for, so I was pretty depressed to have to gaze on them from
afar.
MIYATA-KONI(?)
Mean-looking mountain bikes. They had one where the crank was mounted
on a triangular piece of aluminum that hung down from the main
"chassis". The American salesman was talking about how strong it was,
but everybody was asking how you'd manage to shoulder an off-road bike
shaped like that (an important feature at times!).
KLEIN
A big, friendly American guy was there, who didn't speak a word of
Italian. Who knows, maybe it was (David?/Gary?/Bob?) Klein himself.
Behind him was a really sexy aluminum mountain bike, with a huge
front fork and steering tube. We were shown the custom-made headset,
which looked strong enough to steer a truck. But my Italian friends
oohed and aahed the most when they heard that a complete bike weighed
9.5 kilos. With Deore XT II, it goes for $1825 ("in America", the
Klein rep was quick to add).
SCOTT
They had a system called "softride", which replaced the normal stuff
that supports the seat on a MT bike (like a seatpost, seat tube,
seatstays) with a long fiber arm that stretched from a spot near
the handlebars back to where it held the seat. There was no visible
means of support -- just the torsion of the arm to hold the rider's
weight. There were also front forks with 4" of suspension travel. I
assume that this bike is useful only for downhill competition -- it
would drive me crazy to have the distance to the pedals constantly
changing. Does anyone know more about this contraption?
|
| CAMPY
o Nearly all Campy gruppos are now available in a "Graphite" finish, a much
darker color than the typical polished aluminum. For the most part,
I didn't care for it. (Campy's polished aluminum is the nicest in the
world, so why use a different finish?) I have to admit that the
Chorus derailleur and brakes look nice that way, though.
o The mountain gruppos now offer a twist-grip shift mechanism. It worked
great on the stand, but everybody wondered if it would be practical on
the trail. Would the jolt of your hands on a bump cause a spontaneous
shift? (We saw a Shimano system later that made more sense: a collar
mounted next to the grip that you could slide your hand over to twist.)
o C-Record (now just called Record) gets a new derailleur, which supposedly
works well with click-shift.
o I got a six-page brochure on the Campy aero waterbottle. Talk about
over-engineering -- they've done aerodynamic, ergonomic and hydrothermic
studies of it. (Yes, the top model [there's more than one] has built-in
insulation for your precious dose of Exceed.)
o There's a new low-end road gruppo called Xenon. It seems to copy a lot
of Japanese features; its only claim to fame is the five-position adjustment
of the rear derailleur to handle max cog sizes of between 20 and 30 teeth.
I got a brochure, but I couldn't read it, 'cause it was in German!
SUNTOUR
They had their new brakehandle-mounted shifters for road bikes. The
idea is great, but I thought the shape could be improved. I'll wait
for the inevitable Shimano knock-off. The Mountain-bike twin-lever
shifters were really nice -- but Shimano had these, too. Suntour even
came out with their own clipless pedal. ("Why?" I have to ask....)
The neatest thing by far was the Browning Servomagnetic shift system
for the chainrings. I played with it for a few minutes, and it seemed
to work great. They're marketing it under the name "The BEAST".
SHIMANO
Hyperglide will work on my 8-speed Dura Ace as is. Not that I'm
particularly ready to throw away all my existing cogs just to get it;
it's just nice to know that Shimano seems to be catching on to the
idea of "backward compatibility"
MALTHAUSER/MAGURA
I always thought that hydraulic brakes were a gimmick before. Now
that I've tried them, I'm impressed! They have great feel, and plenty
of force. They might be a match for my Campy Record Deltas, but I'd
have to take them on the road to say.
REGINA
They've come out with their own gruppo, for some reason. The brakes
are the only interesting feature -- the pads are mounted on swingarms,
which swing along a vertical axis, instead of a horizontal one (like
every other brake in the world). The construction looked a little
cheesy.
FIR
Besides their penta- and tri-spoked wheels, these guys were showing a
TTT bike with a solid front wheel that bulged in the middle. The
front axle was about 30cm long! The idea was to reduce the turbulence
caused by the cyclists legs. Unfortunately (or fortunately,
depending upon your point of view), this was ruled illegal when the
bike was entered in this year's Giro d'Italia.
WOLBER
They had Jeannine Longo's world hour record bike in the middle of the
stand. It was geared at 56x16. [Try pushing that for an hour
sometime!]
Wolber was showing off their new "self centering" Profil TB tubulars.
They don't have a separate innertube; everything is sandwiched
together into a form that leaves a lip where each side of the tire
meets the edge of the rim. (The sales rep gave me a sample.)
That seemed like something of a gimmick to me -- many Clement tires
have had this shape for years. What got our attention was that the
new construction process allows permanent repairs to be made (using a
special spray) in one minute, without removing the tire! If it works,
this feature could breath new life into the sagging market for
tubulars.
The current models are designed for triathlons. I'm going to wait for
them to bring out a "road" model before trying them, because the
current ones have the dreaded center ridge (for "aerodynamics").
VITTORIA
Gross new bold graphics on the sidewalls. Fortunately, the CX was spared.
No other news of note.
HANDLEBARS (all brands)
Tri bars have finally arrived in Europe. Everybody was showing two or
three models of them. Bikes on stands all over the place had them.
|