Before Interbike opens its doors in Las Vegas, Nevada, the tradeshow hosts two days of Outdoor Demo in the nearby smouldering desert town of Boulder City. BikeRadar walked the dusty Demo in search of new or remarkable road gear. Here is what we found.
Kappius Road Wheels
Company founder Russ Kappius started out with an innovative mountain-bike hub that took advantage of the cavernous backside of a SRAM XX cassette with an enormous pawl ring. The company now has complete wheelsets, including road clincher and tubular options. Built with 35mm-tall and 25mm-wide rims, the Kappius road wheels build up to 1,515g clincher or 1,295g tubular sets.
Kappius designed the clincher to work with tubeless tyres, and cyclocross tubeless tyres in particular. "We fit them with a tight interior profile for low ’cross pressure," Kappius said. "There is a retention shelf with a high spot to hold the bead on."
The Kappius KH1.5 at left and original KH1 at right
Sony Action Cam
Jumping on the action-sport video camera bandwagon that GoPro effectively created, Sony has a new Action Cam called the HDR-AS100V that shoots 1080 HD 60p footage with image stabilization and stereo sound recording. A US$399 kit includes the camera plus a wrist-mounted remote that has a screen where you can see what the Action Cam is recording, as well as navigate through the control functions. The Action Cam is also sold by itself with three mounts for US$299. A Mini Action Cam is in the works, which promises most of the functionality of the original in a more compact size.
Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie and Motivus Maximus
Road disc wheels are certainly coming, but they are not completely here yet. And what final axle standard will the industry settle on? With these variables in mind, Van Dessel founder Edwin Bull built some flexibility into the new Full Tilt Boogie cyclocross and Motivus Maximus road bikes, including replaceable rear dropouts that can accommodate 130, 135 or 142mm hubs, and fork options for quick release or thru-axle.
Complete bikes are built to order, with framesets starting at US$1,799.
130, 135 or 142mm? Van Dessel's new frames can accommodate them all
Prologo Saddles
The Italian saddle company has a few new perches in the works, including the hyperlight Zero C3, a sample of which weighs 135g. The Scratch 2 and Nago Evo continue for next year, but with a tweaked nose shape reminiscent of a Concord jet. The Zero Tri saddle is a shorter, wider-nosed model with a channel and CPC grippers on the nose.
As is the trend with saddle companies these days, Prologo has a multi-step process to help riders find their ideal saddle. In Prologo's case, it's a four-step process done at a bike shop looking at intended use, sit-bone width, flexibility and body mass index.
The forthcoming Zero C3 weighs 135g in this prototype form
Speedplay Pavé
Many riders like Speedplay Zero pedals for the ice-like float, but the lollipop design with the super-snug cleat interface is not mud friendly. At all. In recent years a few sponsored pro teams took to using modified versions with part of the pedal removed so mud and muck wouldn't jam the pedal. Now, Speedplay has a consumer version for sale called the Pavé. Speedplay had to add some weight to keep the strength while removing surface area, so the stainless steel Pavé pair is 230g to the Zero's 206g.
Turbine nostril expander
And then there is this thing. The Turbine is a product out of Melbourne, Australia that the company claims increases oxygen intake and therefore power output by a a substantial measure. Turbine also says Team Sky's Chris Froome is using it at the Vuelta a España now.
What is wrong with breathing through your mouth to get more air, you ask? The company says that breathing through your nose ultimately uses less energy than breathing through your mouth, as your nasal passages filter, humidify and warm air to a condition better suited to be processed by your lungs.
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