Trek World and Some Tidbits

Many of you may know about Trek World, the dealer only bicycle showcase that Trek puts on this time of year in lieu of going to Inter Bike. The show was this past weekend, and my imbedded mole was there taking it all in. I have yet to digest all the materials and photos from the show yet, so I won't make any full on analysis until tomorrow. Until then, here are a couple of things that stood out to me so far.

1. Tubeless ready wheelset and two tubeless tires fo 29"ers to be available soon. One tire is a currently used design, the other is to be a previously unreleased design that is described as a race treaded tire. Also, the XR's are said to be "tubeless compatible" right now! I have seen reports of guys running the XR's tubeless, so this isn't necessarily news other than it now seems that the company says it's okay to do it.

2. The Fisher Ferrous: We saw a 26" proto type last year and were wishing that we could have had it in a 29"er then. Well, we got it. Sky blue glory, with a EBB and derailluer hangar. They sell it geared, by the way, but I suspect alot of these will get SS'ed in a heartbeat.

3. A Manitou 29"er Fork? Well......yeah, sort of........ Probably not until '08. (sigh!)

4. More Fork News: Many of you might know about Genesis 2, Fishers newest incarnation of his Genesis theories on bicycle geometry that has resulted in a new offset/ trail figure for his 26"er forks. So far, Manitou is the only manufacturer on board, but my mole tells me that he learned that Rock Shox and Fox are currently testing proto types to enter in this new offset/ trail standard. First of all: If this is true, then Fisher commands alot of respect in the mtb world. Enough to change the fork status quo that has held reign for over ten years now. Amazing! Even more pertinent to this reporter is the fact that this offset is perfect for 29"er forks. I suspect we will see this used on future 29'er suspension forks and soon.

More on Trek World tomorrow!

In other news: White Brothers is releasing a rigid fork for both 26 and 29 inch wheels! More details at Inter Bike time.

I posted up a little verbosity and a few of Jeremy Bidwells excellent pics on the GTDRI blog, if yer interested................

Formulating the fall plans now. Looking to get alot of Trans Iowa V3 work done. Stay tuned for more!