Frostbike 2012

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I made the trip to Minneapolis last week for Frostbike with AC and The M.A.F.E. to get some learn on and check out the QBP HQ. We made the hotel by 6pm Thursday and were 2 beers in by 630.

For the next 3 days we were treated to great (and I mean great!) food and drink, seminars, and an expo full of schwag. Much of the expo showed products we were all aware of, but definitely had a few new things as well. For fat bikes it was the new Hope fat bike hubs and studded Husker Du prototype frozen in a 6′ tall block of ice.

I have been on some rides in Flag recently when that tire would have made a huge difference! I also heard a few comments about a possible Big Fat Nate… That would be a massive tire! But actually not one person at Surly or Salsa was willing to talk about anything new and upcoming whatsoever for fat bikes. I did ask both Whiskey Parts and Foundry directly about a fat bike frame or fork and both said ‘no way, that would be Salsa’s department.’ So who knows… Here is a sick Ti Miukluk with the new Hope fat bike hubs and Marge Lite rims. This thing is light!!

…And I failed to get a decent photo of the Salsa full suspension fat bike so here is a link to Guitar Ted’s site for more info.  Switching gears to different bikes, I really liked the new Foundry and Ridley bikes. The Foundry frames look so bitchin! Good lines and finish with understated graphics are pretty f-ing sweet. Ridley showed the new Noah Fast with integrated road v-brakes, and aerodynamic features.  Get more details on that bike here here from an old Bike Radar article. That is the hottest road bike I have ever seen, but the yellow has got to go! Both Ridley and Foundry are promoting disc-cross bikes heavily which is perfect for that type of bike. Also you can use your extra 29’er wheels laying around, provided the rim width does not push the tire sidewalls out too far. Disc brakes make perfect sense on cross bikes. Oh yes they do!

With that I will leave you with a couple of images I took at the One On One bike shop during the All-City Bikes party… thanks to QBP for a weekend 100 times better than Interbike.

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