Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Peering Into The (near) Future

With Intebike come and gone the expectations of gear arrival are much like a child awaiting Christmas. Sometimes the anticipation gets to be too much and you see some outbursts on some of the internet forums. Not here! We deal in only quality, officially inspected rumors here! Here's the latest tidbits that have tickled my ears of late.......

Tires: Tubeless and Otherwise- Tires for 29"ers has been an active subject lately with several new companies and treads announced. The latest is that Bontragers much anticipated Dry X Tubeless Ready tire is to be released in November. I would suspect that some spy shots of the tread design will show up sometime between now and then, but Bontrager has really been good at keeping this tread design under wraps so far, so maybe not. Even the dealer info doesn't have pictures of the tread design. Wheels to match up with the Tubeless Ready System are due out before years end. Hutchinson, which had been expected to show a Python 29"er tire at Interbike, and did not, is still working on the tire for release. There is a story going around the 'net that it's going to be offered in a UST compatible version, which then begs the question: "Who's going to have the proper rims/ wheels? Well, at Interbike the story surfaced that Mavic is working on a 29"er wheelset that is UST compatible. Nothing else on that as of yet. Another new tire manufacturer that showed a sample at Eurobike, but curiously not at Interbike was Geax. Supposedly the tire called the "Saguaro" is due out in January.

Raleigh XXIX + G: The geared version of the single speed XXIX from Raleigh is due out in December just in time for Christmas. This bike will feature the same double butted tube set that the single speed version has, but it will be equipped with a Rock Shox Reba, and a SRAM drivetrain. Will Santa be good to me and put one under the tree? Stay tuned!

The Extremely Hush-Hush Department: There are a couple of things here that will rock the 29"er world if they come true. I have it on good authority that they will, but I can't say anything yet. Just be prepared for more really cool 29"er stuff. The well ain't run dry yet, folks! Not by a long shot!

"No Longer A Rumor" Department: Here are a few things just coming online in the 29"er world that were promised and now are being delivered.

Panaracer "Rampage" 29"er tires are out now and are super hot sellers! Most distributors stock was sold out within hours! Don't worry though, like the chip commercial says: They'll make more!

Zion 737 29"er is available now for an outstanding price for a frameset. For more info and a picture click here!

Fisher Super Caliber Race Day 29"ers are hitting the trails, finally! You long time readers of this blog might remember the promises of a summer '06 release date on these and how I said it was probably not going to happen then. Well.............. So, I won't gloat, I'll just say that I'm happy to see it available now.

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more Rumors and Hearsay in the near future!

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