Hey all,

Here’s some pictures from the 2009 interbike show in Las Vegas.  I’m not in the bike industry, but was lucky enough to have a friend in the industry who could get me in!  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  Monday and Tuesdays were the outdoor demo days at Boulder canyon just outside Vegas.  Lots of fun single track, a downhill course (with shuttle), BMX track, and a few miles of freshly paved road.  Toss in most every bike you could think of from vendors like Specialized, Trek, Ellsworth, Cannondale, Santa Cruz, Yeti to name a few and you had cycle geek nirvana!  I spent most of Monday riding as many mountain bikes as my legs could handle around the trails. Not being much of a downhiller and watching as they brought down multiple “casualties” I didn’t get up the nerve to try a run….maybe next year.  Tuesday was spent riding the multi-thousand dollar road bikes and the assorted “other” breeds of bike like electric assist, elliptical, off road unis, incumbents, etc. Wednesday and Thursday was spent at the convention center at the Sands casino walking the indoor show.  Not as fun, but enjoyable non the less. Hope you like the photos!

Saint Bike - Looking an aweful lot like a Yeti 303 or a Knolly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79804688@N00/sets/72157622336030863/

I have been noticing all over the last two months of Dirt mag and on the internet that a few bike such as the Atherton’s World Cup and Champs bikes have been sporting Shimano Saint branded rims such as below…

Looks like we could be seeing complete Shimano Saint Wheelsets for 2010 with bladed spokes..?

Rumour mill started!

Its been quite a couple of weeks!

Unfortunately most of my time has been taken up with work and I havent had much time to post.
That said, lots has been going on with the steeds…

My Tango Nomad has been upgraded. After a couple of weeks deliberating and talking to Tim Flooks and others at TFT (note, Tim is no scribe! I highly recommend a phone conversation rather than exchanging one liners over email – as he him self suggests on their site) I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy ‘09 Lyrik Solo Air’s – TFTuned of course!

WOW. That is the only word I can use to descibe how good these forks seem to be on initial impression. They (as you might expect) blow the Domain 318’s out of the water. I also upgraded my rear shock spring to a Manitou 750 (there is a great spring rate calculator on TFTuned’s site HERE) which can handle my general riding and pretty big drops without bottoming out. The Manitou fits my Fox DHX 5.0 in a 2.5 where the fox spring is a 2.8 (FYI).

So far the forks seem to have come setup spot on with about 30% sag at rest. somewhere between freeride and downhill, as I requested. There was a great personalised setup instruction sheet for me in the box and some stickers too. The steerer was cut to my specified length and star nut installed. All I had to do was swap the crown race over.

TFT threw the spring in free even though the price of the shocks seemed initially high compared to others, they came straight off the line at RockShox and were immediately stripped and rebuilt flawlessly by TFT. The work to cut the steerer and install the star nut would have been at least  £10 at a shop and hassle. You get the first years service free (worth £130 on these forks) and postage etc included. Once you add it all up the £150 difference between a large online retailers stock and TFT’s price starts to seem reasonable – even good value!

Anyway, more to come as I experiment. But needless to say I CAN RECOMMEND TFTUNED HIGHLY!!

Other goings on, my wife’s Orange EVO2 has required some pretty major maintenance. I have fitted new shifters and serviced the whole drive chain. I have shortened the chain by a link, installed a Hussefelt double + bash crankset (24/36) attached to a Howitzer XR BB (51mm chainline), added a Charge Ladle saddle (which she HIGHLY recommends), some DMR V8 pedals (thanks to my MBUK subs!) and put a shorter, lighter stem on there for her. Big thanks to Cycle Works in Guildford (Burpham) who managed to free the ruined bottom bracket from the EVO2 with no charge! The right tools, or should I say, the BEST tools clearly make life MUCH easier!

I ALSO had my first snake bite flat on my Orange P7 Pro riding badly up some old rocky scree piles I probably shouldn’t have been. It was instant and put a large hole in my sidewall. A complete blowout! It was a long walk home… no, I didn’t take a spare innertube – I did have a pump

Busy and expensive times!! I look forward to giving the Lyriks a good pasting over the summer. I will post pics soon.

Ant

Yumeya is japanese for “Dream Workshop”… according to Shimano.

Premium aftermarket kit for Shimano XTR components:

http://www.shimano-yumeya.com/

This time last year we were looking at Shimano’s all-new SLX group and pontificating on the fact that the ostensibly 2009 model year parts were set to hit the market in July 2008. And now here we are with details of the all-new Deore components that will apparently reach the shelves this June. That sound you hear is the calendar being torn up and thrown away…

Read the full article on Bikemagic.com HERE