News And New Stuff

More Eurobike Meanderings: As if yesterday's post wasn't enough..... Anyway, I see one of the "big news items" of the day was Ibis' outing of their much rumored 29"er project. Thankfully, they didn't name it the Mojo 29.

Ibis Ripley 29: Yes- all carbon fiber!

Nope, instead they pulled another older name out of the hat, and that would be "Ripley". I think it will most likely fit the bike rather well.

Why? Because with a 120mm fork, the head angle will be 71 degrees. I already have a bike that does that, (albeit heavier, and far less sexy), in the Big Mama. Yes, the rear travel is less on the Salsa, but my point is about handling, and this bike will be a very snappy handling bike, judging from the numbers.

Which isn't always a good thing to do, (judging by geometry charts, that is), and yes- it is green lighted for a 140mm fork, which would get you back to 69.5 degrees. Not very earth shattering there. In fact, that's about what a Rumblefish gets you. Okay, so Ibis hasn't bought into the "slacker is better" geometry-du-jour that 29"er nerds are calling for. It'll still be a great bike, I'm sure, and it is definitely going to be a technological tour de force.

Plus, it'll appeal to a wider audience. Always an important factor with a high priced rig that needs to show some results for Ibis. 

Oh Yeah! Eurobike.... See this is what I was talking about yesterday. Ibis slipped the info, not at a North American show, but at Eurobike. Yup. That's what I'm talking about......

A couple more interesting tidbits: The "Show Daily", an electronic newsletter about the day's biggest newsy bits, mentioned how American dealers are going to Eurobike. Why? Is it because it is cooler, with better new stuff to see, and you get to go to Europe? You tell me.... Also, I was speaking with a prominent Mid-Western based rep yesterday who mentioned that only about 5% of his dealers in his territory are going to Lost Wages  to attend Interbike. Wow! Are the two things connected? Most likely not. But it is an interesting observation, none the less.


And Speaking Of Carbon...Completely off topic here, and a break from all the industry babble- I picked up a sweet deal on a carbon Trek fork for my "Orange Crush" rig, and will be trying it out very soon. I hope to get a bit of a test ride in on it tomorrow. Just an experiment here, to gauge the differences between the steel and carbon. I'll report on the findings later.

Another thing about carbon that is amazing- All the carbon hard tail intros at Eurobike, (and the as yet to be covered Interbike, which will surely add to the pile), are mind boggling in their numbers. I bet that at least double the amount of carbon hard tail 29"ers that were in existence last year have already debuted at Eurobike. Crazy! Wanna know something else? Strip the paint jobs off and a lot of them look veery similar.  Just sayin' I think that it is rather odd. You have to wonder what the marketing departments are thinking now that all the curtains have been raised on these things.

Whoops! I did it again. Talked about this danged industry show stuff and carbon fiber. Okay. Shutting up now.....

Tomorrow I promise to write about something totally different!