Interbike 2012

Interbike, held annually in Vegas, is the largest gathering of bike industry products in the country.   2012 was my first year at the event.  Shannon has attended the past four years, however I have never been able to get away.  This year, I decided to make it happen.  It made for an incredibly busy week that went like this:  Work Monday, fly to Vegas Tuesday morning, attend Dirt Demo (where you can ride new bikes on actual trails) all day Tuesday, attend Interbike trade show at Sand's Expo Center all day Wednesday and Thursday.  Fly home Thursday evening.  Work Friday.

Phew.

Running around Vegas doing all things bike with Shannon was totally worth it!

Here is a sampling of some interesting new bike products:

 Focus Raven carbon 29er is a sweet ride

 Stan's NoTubes has all wheel sizes covered including the increasingly popular 650b

 Speed Sleeve makes all sorts of light-weight straps to attach tubes, air, pumps, gels, etc to bike.  

You can even get them custom made with sponsors logo.  

 Okay.  This may only be interesting to me but I rode a bike with a Silverado at Dirt Demo.  

Super comfy, super light.  Perhaps the remedy for my year-long lingering saddle sores?  

 Vittoria makes a super stiff full carbon shoe.  

All shoe models come in 1/2 sizes, women specific, and different sizes for mismatched feet.  

 The Pivot 429 Carbon wins the most fun to ride on the Bootleg Canyon trails. 

 Rock ledges?  Big drops?  No problem!  It goes uphill fast too!

 I think I'm in love with the new SRAM 1x11 drivetrain.  

Crazy since I just converted to a 2x10 last month!

 Magura's front shock has a stowaway wrench in the front axle 

that fits all Magura shock and brake bolts.  Cool!

 The front end of the Look carbon hardtail gets the award for being the most funky.  

 DT Swiss carbon rear shock with lockout!

 Topeak/Ergon Olympian Irina Kalentieva's custom stem/handlebar.  

For a mere $15,000 you can shave 1/2 pound off your bike!  

 Sweetest new helmet: Kali.  

 The Kali helmet comes with a video camera/light mount.  

Perhaps even more importantly, there is enough space to slide a ponytail through the back buckle.

 FiveTen has a sweet lineup of BMX/dirt jumping/casual shoes.

 Barry Bonds stopped by the FiveTen booth and went home with a pair.

The FitWet gets the award for oddest product.  This exercise bike in a tub is reportedly a favorite lunchtime workout in Europe.  Perhaps the next big thing in the States?