Back again from beating the carpet down inside the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are some more bikes seen on the show floor for your enjoyment.
Fuji showed this lone hard tail 29″er in its booth. A small trend I noticed was that some of the brands not known so well on the 29″er front were not showing much for big wheels, or had cut back models to just a few. This in contrast to some companies which expanded their offerings. (Specialized comes to mind here). It could be that the second tier brands are feeling the pinch of the bigger companies grabbing more wagon wheeler sales.
SE Bikes showed the Big Ripper again, but had no evidence of a Stout 29″er on the show floor.
Orbea showed this aluminum Lanza 29″er with an interesting rear drop out. (I know, looking at drop outs is pretty geeky!) Anyway, I had a hard time finding any evidence of the 29″er Alma, although several versions of Julien Absalon’s 26″er carbon rig were all over the place. Unfortunately the over riding feeling I got was that the Europeans are still not getting on with the idea of big wheeled bikes. This from a corporate sense, since I am well aware of the European contingent that visits this site regularly. Be that as it may, it is not only affecting European brand offerings, but it is still holding up development of other 29″er related products since the perception is that 29″ers are “just a U.S. phenomenon”.
A couple of Kona’s 2010 alloy hard tail wagon wheelers on display. These bikes had really cool metal head badges and had a clean look for 2010.
The 2010 Kona Unit in a lovely shade of green. (Is it just me, or is green a big 29″er color again? Reminds me of 2003-04!) Anyway, if I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it here: That Kona steel fork looks impossibly spindly. Nice, but kinda on the skinny side of burly for sure!
The “Monstercross” theme was worked by not but a few companies this year. Here is an excellent example of the genre. Van Dessel Cycles, which…let’s be honest here…..has a pretty stagnant line of big wheelers, wowed me with this latest rig dubbed the “WTF”. (Officially they are telling me it stands for “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Uhh huh…….right!) At any rate the gracefully arcing twin top tubes are matched with a versatile eccentric bottom bracket configuration allowing for single speed or geared set ups. They even had some skinny tired, Alfine equipped commuter WTF’s on display. Pretty cool rig here from Van Dessel.
And finally, here is a better look at the Salsa Cycles Woodchipper. Again, it’ll be available in 31.8mm and 25.4mm clamp sizes, has 80mm drop and a healthy outswept drop section with longer extensions. It accepts bar end shifters and has a single cable groove for taping cables out of the way. Looks like it could be available in time to make a good Christmas present. I’ll be putting it on my list for sure!
Stay tuned for Report #3 coming soon!
That Kona Unit sure is pretty….and those forks you’re worried about there GT? They’re quite nice! I had one of the triple butted versions a while back that rode very well thankyouverymuch. Never worried about it breaking on me.
@martini: I’m sure they are okay. Since things are tested to a higher standard anymore and all. I’m just saying they “look” spindly and less than burly.
That said, it is a really sharp looking rig.
The Salsa site lists the sizes of the Woodchipper as 42cm or 46cm. Is that measured from the bar ends or what? They look too wide for that, but if they are that skinny they’ll be my new CX bars.
The WTF is very nice!
Didn’t you see the spot full suspension 29er?
The Kona P2 fork has not changed much in the past few years. What makes it look any less aggressive than it did before?
get you big butt over to the smaller companies like Vassago etc. If they are there that is
@XchokeX: I’d recomend the narrower one. The 46m is ginormous!
@david: Nope! Didn’t see it up close.
@BigChris: Okay folks. I just think it “looks” spindly and less than burly. That’s all. Nothing more and nothing less. YMMV.
And I did not see Vassago here. There are a lot of “no shows” at Vegas this year. But I will have a lot more coming. Stay tuned.
Van Dessel is a cool bike but they should check with other companies before naming something. Sinister has had a Trials frame with the name WTF for a couple of years now. WTF being a spin on Frank The Welder who is often referred to as FTW online etc.
Drooling on the Van Dessel, but slightly confused. Is this a frame for MTB singlespeeding that has been monstercrossed, or more of a cyclocross frame?
Yup, I’m digging the WTF too!
um, what are the tubes on the VD?
you da man thanks for everything this is a great site and the effort you put in is appreciated
The WTF is the same geometry as the Country Road Bob so it’s kind of a more relaxed than normal CX frame but the larger tire clearance makes it a realistic monster crosser. I would build this rather than putting drops on a small Mtnbike frame which can cause problems with weight distribution and stability.
It is steel.
The WTF looks like a fun bike. Any thoughts how it compare to the Fargo as an offroad touring/adventure bike?
What else is happening with Salsa? Are they putting out new Mamasita, Selma, Big Mama, or Casseroll frames for 2010?
XchokeX ,
My Bell Lap 46′s from them are 52cm really. Illegal in the peloton, officially. 3cm of flare each side.
Somehow, I don’t need the specs for a Surly dirt drop bar. I just trust them to mae something awesome. These guys listen to riders like you and me, and make the best of ideas, according to their own liking. Like those brilliant 17deg bars. They are bar design leaders. I just might get one of these for my Karate Monkey. The frame is too big for a MX, but the Salsa bar will surely help compared to its curent Midge. I just never ride the thing now, too frikkin long.
@Spiff: Salsa has things in the hopper that I am not at liberty to discuss, but trust me, there are some really cool things coming.
As for the WTF vs Fargo thing, the WTF, while versatile and fun looking, isn’t as design intent as the Fargo. Long off road touring, or single track on the menu? Fargo is the serving you should order, but I would hold off judgement on the WTF until I got a better look at it.