The only thing dead, is Vegas. What happened, I don’t exactly know, but the cultural underground that invaded the show in years previous, was tame and sedated for this 2008 running. And even if there were a lot of good ideas on the floor of Interbyke, Carbon fiber blinded me everywhere. The coolest thing of course, was Vegas Cross, which was off the hook. just think, it only took the gathering of the entire industry (interbyke), plus Lance Armstrong to get a few thousand people out to the cross race. And for that, we Mericans got a little taste of what many cycling centric countries experience on a weekly basis. Then we got back in our Escalades and headed back to the strip…
Other notable highlights of the show: Tattoos, messenger bags, Asian BMX gangs, Fixie Fashion shows, and more messenger bags and cycling caps and a few flat-brim SoCal shit heads. For the first time ever, everyone who’s been “in the industry for years” showed up all at the same time…
Thursday night saw the party in the Git-Tower, complete with messenger bags, followed by a small procession to the Gold Sprints down at the other end of the strip, also complete with messenger bags. I made it through to the “quarter finals” pulling a 20.99 second 500 meter sprint, on a fix gear, bolted to a set of rollers. Apparently, not good enough because it was over before it started. Bloated and savoring my own vomit, I walked back to the hotel 6 miles away, stopped by the local Denny’s on the way, and arrived at the room around 4am, to a snuggling group of NAU Cycling Club members. I was done. There’s pics somewhere.
Overall, I kept my bike show floor time to under 45 minutes total out of the 48 hours I was there because it is painfully obvious that Interbyke is a fairly lame experience as far as culture goes. Believe me, it’s no representation of reality.
More Highlights:
- Trail Bikes are the new marketing angle. Many of you know this, but the 5-6 inch travel “all mountain” bike is going to be the central design paradigm of MTB. To the wayside will go hard tails, XC focused dual sus units, and full DH. Hello All Terrain Bicycle!
- With trail bikes comes the DW-link. A new angle on suspension that is gauranteed to give Specialized a run for their money.
- 29er dual suspension bikes? Useless over techy crap, and yet so many companies are bankinig on it. History seems to be repeating here, but don’t tell them.
- SRAM is onto something with their Hammerschmidt 2 speed planetary gear crank.
- Bye-Bye standards. Finaly, a good thing. One of those companies out there is going to skuttle traditional bicycle design standards and develop a completely integrated soluton that will actually work, and that will then become the standard. History is repeating here again, but don’t tell them. They are geniuses.
In conclusion, the show, and the after hours were tame in comparison to years past. Only memories of the Double-Down remain and never again, will E.K. pass out on the pool table. Everyone, with their messenger bags, looked around for the messiah of the show, who never showed.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
sounds gay.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
last year the crowd at the cross race was 5 times smaller and 5 times louder. the next night at the crit the only cool thing was the long bike crowd and Paul the Fossil Fool Rock’n the Bike in the parking lot. To see the slackjawed locals stares of disbelief the next morning as Paul and co. rolled down the strip toward the show dragging a small truck load worth of shit ON THREE BIKES was worth the trip in and of itself.
Paul — you rock.
September 27th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
dude
vegas is for drinking and going to crazy horse 3. play craps maybe win a grand and take a spin with some hottie whore for an hr.
then Wake up go home.
out
September 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Vegas was a blast.
Utility bikes are cool.
Hard tails are fine but so are suspension bikes……. ride to ride.
Carbon on mountain bikes is wrong.
There were two goldsprints on Thursday.
Hammer Schmidt looked promising.
Electronic Dura Ace is over priced.
Museau is going to race for Rock Racing.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I said last year it was my last year.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Oh, and Lemond is a douche.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Thanks for the props, here are a couple good videos of the parts you liked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQoGuwM9iV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIN4qTkQVXo
September 27th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The shitty thing is that interbike really is a pretty good representation of what the bike biz is. For every well meaning person who thinks selling bikes will make the world a better place there are three hungover douchebags: One trying to score a free t-shirt, another hording brochures, and a third sitting in a seminar on how to get away with paying his mechanics 8 bucks an hour.
September 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
word on dat
September 28th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
What CS said.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Sorry Gnomie, but you went to 3 days of the show for 45 minutes, and that allows to judge it how? Can you see Russia from your house, too? Last year was better, Lance sucks balls, and fixies eat shit. Oh yeah, and messanger bags. This site has gone to shit. All that goes on here anymore is some tired hate. Sorry Jon, I’ve been trying to stay here for a at least a year, but it’s over , baby. You can keep the house and kids. We had a great thing once but I’d rather be alone than lost.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
CJ Eder ,
A seminar it does not take. What of the store manager who starts an employee with a decade of shop experience, a former Cat 1 state champ, with a young child at home, at $8.50 an hour? All the while talking up “his” store as the best in town, if not “the best in the entire state”; even though he’s never seen half the shops in Phoenix or Tucson? And, need I mention his guy brings home $50k+ a year on the backs of people barely covering the cost of living? Yeah. The bike industry: Where people with one semester of college under their belt can make the big bucks.