Highlights from the London Bike Show
With the UK hosting the Core and The Bike Place Shows very recently, we weren’t too sure if The London Bike Show would have any more to offer in the way of fresh products only one week later. We took a trip to the big smoke of London city centre to hunt around for anything different on offer from the UK’s capital city.
Schwalbe was displaying their current available models of plus sized tyres with the Nobby Nic and Rocket Rons, as well as the 2016 Fat Albert. Also available now is the much anticipated Procore system (Check out our Procore review here).
With the current range of tyres, there seem to be no plans for developing any thicker side-walled plus size rubber, we guess the weight would then be far too high and the benefits of the bigger tyres would be outweighed by the high weight.
Jim, very happy to get his hands on the Procore system for testing in proper racing conditions over the 2016 season. These things will be pounded to within an inch of their lives, whilst fitted out with some of the latest thin side-walled tyres; the results could be interesting!
Another close inspection by an excited Jim, this is his choice of frame-set for 2016 race build and parts testing mule, arriving and being built up very soon, expect to see thorough reports on the frame and all it’s components during 2016.
The new colours of the Scott Genius LT Tuned 27.5 are stunning for 2016. Sporting the Twin-lock suspension with one remote on the bars as usual. With Remy Absalon hammering one of these on the EWS circuit this year, and a couple of top riders from the UK (soon to be announced) it will be interesting to see how they get on.
This is just so wild, it’s called The Boxer Rocket and this model will set buyers back a staggering €9,600! For that it comes with some funky electrical gizmos, indicators, e-bike hub drive, this one being able to carry four kids and a small amount of luggage in the nose with a rain cover.
On close inspection of the gorgeous hand stitched leather and stunning metallic red paint job you can see where a hell of a lot of the work has gone into this stunning and crazy looking UK made machine.
Now available the new Joe Blow Booster pump is all you need for those stubborn tubeless tyres. The dial on the top lets you charge the pump with 160 psi, then switch it over to blast out and fill the tyre with a rush of compressed air.
At €150, this isn’t your usual cheap track pump, but we feel this could be an option for many who have struggled with tubeless and may need to replace their track pump, not wanting to carry a track pump and Airshot.
This we could see as being a tyre of choice for many a rider. made to compete with Schwalbe’s Rock Razor, the Maxxis Minion SS is their version, also offering more side grip with bigger nobbles on the outside edge than the very popular Rock Razor. This will soon be available in Max C, as a trail tyre and also in what Maxxis are calling Double Down, the DH version, as a standard or Super Tacky.
Maxxis really have opened up their options of available tread patterns, rubber thickness and grip for 2016, let’s just hope all will be available ready for the upcoming race season! The Minion SS will be available in both 27.5 and 29”.
Fabric finally has their little Chamber Multi-tool in production, this sleek and clever little tool comes with lots of double ended bits, which fit in the end, acting as a very nifty ratchet driver. Jim managed to take home the very first available tool for testing; watch this space.
Magura had their 150mm Bluetooth cableless Vyron eLECT dropper on display. This nifty wireless dropper post saves all the hassle of routeing those annoying cables through or around frames and comes available in 30.9 and 31.6mm diameter. The post is said to give 400 drops on one charge.
The Magura Vyron eLECT has won the prestigious Design & Innovation Gold Award 2016 and these posts will be available in around a couple of weeks.
This was definitely worth a pic, real old skool GT Zaskar LE, of which a mere 50 were made in this very rare purple colour. Back in the day, this was such a desirable bike, real bike porn!
GT had this great looking bargain full-face helmet on display. Strong, light, comfortable and selling for a bargain €100. With many enduro races now insisting on full face expect to see several of these during this season. Available in black, yellow or white and comes with a removable liner for washing.
It may have taken them awhile, but UK company Cotic have finally produced their enduro bike in 27.5, and what a stunner this €4,700 steel framed bike is. These have been brutally tested to near destruction by some very fast UK riders over one of our shittiest of winters, with this being the final result of many a tweak in the design. With 150mm of rear travel, we think this bike will be a popular site at UK trails and race events alike.
Rose were sporting their freshly tweaked flagship full suspension alloy XC model for 2016 in the form of the Dr Z 3 29er. Slightly slackened out in the head for this year and coming in at 11.5kg, this bike has only undergone minor changes for this year, but as us Brits say, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’! This frame will also be available in a carbon option sometime soon.
Well what can we say, forget the bike, just look at that motor on display at the X-Bionic stand, do you think anyone would ever dare put a mountain bike covered in shit on the top of a thing of such beauty, you’d hope not!
This very high-end X-Bionic top, coming in at €190 is said to eliminate arm pump for riders, now that’s a bold statement! Jim shall soon be getting one of these on test to see if this is myth or some kind of wonder top! This top is said to work by mid-capillary compression, putting pressure on the capillary veins of the rider’s body via some deep ridges in its make-up, these ridges are also said to hold in the cool or warm air for comfort in different temperatures.
Words: Jim Bucanan Photos: Isac Paddock
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