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2003 Interbike Confidential

Interbike is a show with many purposes. Like most, we use the time to explore opportunities and do deals. But nothing is so appealing to us as the general sense of intrigue that's so intensely a part of the 3 most important days for the US bike market. Gossip and rumor permeate the air as thick as fake fog at a Motley Crue concert. It's an exhausting 3 days, and in one sense it feels like an eternity, but in another it's too short. There's never enough time, it seems, to vet the stories that seem to get juicier and crazier and the show goes on.

We do a rather substantial bit of business with Gita Sporting Goods - the wonderful folks from Charlotte, NC who import Pinarello, Eddy Merckx, Pegoretti, and Opera Bike. Thanks to this, and also thanks to the fact that Gita's National Sales Manager and I have long been friends - dating back to many years past, when we were both mere pups in this crazy industry (he was an inside sales rep for Litespeed and I sold bikes at the old guard LBS here in Little Rock) - I was invited to dinner with the key members of the Gita staff along with Dario Pegoretti, Fausto Pinarello, and Alessandro Petacchi. I wouldn't say it was an intimate gathering, as Pinarello and Petacchi both had their entourages in full effect. By the time it was said and done, about 35 of us descended on the only Mexican restaurant in the swanky Venetian Resort.

We've had a sizeable immigration of Mexican folk to Little Rock. As such, I've become quite a fan of what you might define as blue-collar Mexican food. A handmade tortilla, carne asada, fresh lime, a bit of salsa and a nice flow of grease cascading down my forearms is heavenly to me. But this is Vegas, a town defined by a hyper-excess of luxury. In every last detail - architecture, interior design, staff uniforms, etc - the Venetian meets the most outlandish standards of regalness. To be honest, I was shocked they had a Mexican restaurant at all. Make no mistake about it, we ate grub explicitly tailored for well-heeled gringos. I saw no pools of grease, the cilantro was doubtlessly organic, and in a crime as unimaginable as the revered Lutéce running out of Cabernet, the bar was empty of Negra Modello, Pacifico, and Dos Equis. We settled for Tecate, and redemption only came with the fact that I spent the evening sitting next to Dario Pegoretti. He charmingly used the lack of his beloved Negra Modello as leverage with the waitress as he pleaded with her to allow him to smoke at our table. She stuck to the rules and instructed him to take two steps backwards to cross the imaginary line into the bar. She strained to be firm with him as he flirted with her with a fury throughout the night. His thickly accented English was endearing, no doubt, as was the T-shirt he wore. It was bright orange, and in black text it read: "Treats: The Uglier you are, the easier it is to get some." He bragged to the waitress - just as he'd bragged throughout the day - that he'd bought it for $5 in an Arizona K-Mart. In fact, it wasn't until 6 hours into the show that the folks in the Gita booth gathered that Dario had no earthly idea what the English idiom "get some" implies. His charisma was unforced and natural - it's such a powerful vibe that the waitress could do nothing other than leave him alone as he tilted his chair backward toward the bar and lit up another Marlboro.

Fausto Pinarello is a skinny, very fit looking man. The fact that he's pictured in the 2003 Pinarello catalog leaning against his bike, sweaty and apparently fatigued is certainly not rooted in make believe. It's obvious he rides a lot. He and his posse and the Alessandro Petacchi crew were dressed with full-fledged Italian style. They wore the type of Versacesque sporty, casual haute couture I see when skimming through spring issues of the New York Times Magazine and GQ. For better or for worse, their colorfully patterned denim and exquisitely moussed hair defied every notion of fashion my Arkansas roots have driven into me. Pinarello's sharply cut figure was a million miles away from the near-NASCAR-like aesthetic of Dario. Dario's impressive potbelly was quite a contrast to Pinarello's Men's Journal cover-quality tummy. I was quite relieved to be nowhere near Pinarello or Petacchi - after all, what does one talk about with people like that? Pinarello is all but royalty to me, and Petacchi surely lives in a mystic's trance of utter fearlessness. Try to make small talk with people like that and you turn to stone, no?

Dario's English is superb. He seemed excited to learn how close I live to Memphis  home of Elvis. I asked him if he still rode much and he explained to me that his Trento home is the center of the epic northern Italian mountains. You dont simply ride there, he said. You climb and'climb and climb some more. What's good for steeling local heroes like Moser and Simoni isn't so good for casual riders. He told me that when he still raced, his preference was to travel to Bologna or Parma because that's where the flat races were. Our conversation certainly suggested what type of rider is closest to his heart: the flatlander, the sprinter, the prototypical hardmen, hence his emphasis as a builder on oversized tubing and torsional stiffness. Even though Dario was clearly more interested in talking about the music of Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, our conversation kept returning to steel bikes, and about how Excell and the other tubing manufactured by the French Gautier-Troussel factory was the finest he'd ever worked with. In fact, the last Tour de France bike he built for Miguel Indurain was won on one of his Excell-tubed bikes. He told us that Indurain was incredibly easy to work with, but that all of the "bullshit" heaped on him by most pros (he mentioned Chiapucci and Pantani) made it an easy choice for him to quit building bikes for them.

It was as though through our casual conversation I could see what spirits compelled him to develop his latest bike along the lines of a B-17 Superfortress. His Big Leg Emma was one of the real superstars of the show. The "legs" are a reference to the unimaginably oversized chainstays. No matter how prepared you are to see them, you are guaranteed to say "omigod" at first glance. They are full suspension mountain bike big, and that's only half the reason why the bike should ride with such phenomenal stiffness. Pegoretti has pioneered the concept of inserting horizontal plates into the downtube in order to make the frame resist the torsional flex induced by pedaling forces. He told us that it's an adaptation of an idea of Falerio Masis, who inserted similar plates in the chainstays of track bikes back in the 70's to give them flex resistance for trackies as they dove down the bank of a track in a full-blown sprint.

Here's how it works: before welding up the tubes, Dario takes the downtube and uses a laser to cut several small grooves into it. He installs a temporary copper insert into the far side of the tube, so the laser only cuts through one side of the tube, and doesn't go through the other. He then moves the copper insert to the opposite side, and makes the matching laser cuts there. He removes the insert, then brazes in the horizontal anti-flex plates. The final step is brazing ornamental hexagons over the laser-cut incisions. The result is quite beautiful, but it's also intensely functional. As though he's giving props to his homeboys in Parma and Bologna, it's perfect for gear-mashers and sprinters. A notorious nit-picker no less esteemed than jumbo-sized Leonard Zinn rode the BLE during the demo days that preceded the bike show, and he could hardly contain his enthusiasm in his review of the bike. Combine this along with the line of people who stood at the Gita booth in order to peer down the sample downtube to see the plates inside and it's undeniable that the BLE was one of the giant hits of the show.

Just as the BLE was such a hit because it was the freshest rendition of traditional materials we've seen in a decade, the Pinarello Dogma Ego was a showstopper because it reaches further into the future of the art of framebuilding than any other bike at the show. The buzz of the Ego started several weeks ago when it was first introduced at the EuroBike trade show in Germany, and the intrigue grew even more intense at the EICMA Milan show not long thereafter. Its final stop was at Interbike, and Gita set up a flawless display to highlight what was undeniably the superstar bike for 2004. The Ego was attached to a fully mirrored stage, with perfectly angled spotlights highlighting its reflective finish. It was certainly the centerpiece of the Gita booth, and for most of the show Alessandro Petacchi sat between it and his Fassa Bortolo team-issue Dogma from this year's Tour de France and signed autographs for attendees who seemed equally awed by being in the presence of the most noteworthy pro cyclist of 2004 while simultaneously being in the shadow of a bike that earned near-legendary status in the matter of a few weeks.

The upper management of Pinarello was quite generous with their time with us, and in particular their General Manager Luciano Fusar Poli sought out our feedback regarding the strengths (and small, isolated weaknesses) of the 2003 Pinarello line up as well as our impressions of 2004. During one of these conversations, he gave us the inside story of the Ego. The frame, in fact, is the standard Dogma. First and foremost what sets it apart is its extraordinary finish work. Most people who set eyes on it assumed that it was an unpainted frame that had somehow been buffed into an insanely high polish. The reality, though, is that its intense reflectivity is due to its paint. Luciano explained that it requires 5 coats to achieve its mirror-like effect. Unlike other types of paint that can be put into an oven to assist with the drying process, the Ego's paint must air dry. As such, it takes 2 complete days to get through its paint process. The Onda fork and seatstay are painted to match, as are the Pinarello carbon crank and Selle Italia SLR Carbon saddle. Luciano mentioned that they considered painting the carbon Pinarello Charisma rims in the same fashion, but that the time involved would simply be so overwhelming they decided against it. He said Fausto Pinarello's Ego would probably get such paint, but the other 198 Egos they plan on making will come with the stock rims. Another beautiful detail of the Ego is the use of nickel carbon fiber to give the handlebar, stem, and seatpost a silver weave. It looks akin to chainmail armor, and while it's beautiful in itself, when used on the Ego the silver looks especially electrifying. The one of a kind laser-etched Dogma faceplate on the stem is a final detail that tops off what appears to be a perfect bike. The plan for Pinarello is to release 199 Egos worldwide. Right now there's only one available, its a 56cm, it has a retail price of $16,250, and we've got it in stock.

Why is the frame called the Ego? Luciano gave me an excellent answer: the paint on the frame was designed to provide such mirror-like reflectivity that the rider could look down while riding and see himself, a la Narcissus peering into the river to admire his own image. Ego, I suppose, implies the intense sense of pride that comes with owning something so beautiful and rare - the prized bottle of vintage wine, the heirloom wristwatch - that it becomes priceless to its owner.

Another highlight of the show was the personal tour of the 2004 DeRosa line we were given by Cristiano DeRosa himself. Some things remain the same - the King, Dual, and Corum go unchanged, as does the Neo-Primato, except for the addition of a gorgeous new Molteni Orange color to commemorate the fact that DeRosa built Eddy Merckx's personal race bikes from 1973-1978. Where things changed, though, they really changed. Nothing drew a larger crowd than the special edition DeRosa Cinquanta bike  a super-light version of the DeRosa King to celebrate DeRosa's 50th anniversary. The frame itself has a beautiful blue tint, and it's an evolution of the King in one key aspect: unlike the King's aluminum front end, the Cinquanta is a full-on carbon frame, saving over 200g to make a 48cm Slope frame come in at 1.05 kg. It's offered as a complete bike only, in Record-10 with tinted-to-match blue Ergopower levers, plus a blue-tinted carbon seatpost, crankset, and one-piece bar/stem combo designed by DeRosa and built by Mizuno. The wheels are built on Corima deep-section rims with Mizuno carbon fiber hubs. Only 50 are earmarked for the United States, and they are special-order only. The price tag? A healthy $11,000.

After the Cinquanta, Mr. DeRosa was clearly proudest of the revamped Merak frameset. The Merak has long been the signature frame in the DeRosa line, and for 2004 it's now in its 3rd generation. Rather than continuing to build with round and oval shaped Dedacciai V107 aluminum tubing, DeRosa takes these same tubes and now first places them in a mold. He pumps the tubes with extremely high-pressure gas, which forces them to take the shape of the mold. This process, known as hydroforming, is done in order to give the Merak more stiffness. In Mr. DeRosa's opinion, it has stiffness equal to the King. It was amazing, in fact, to see how the downtube of the Merak so resembles the exact shape of the King downtube, all the way down to the quite distinctive flat section immediately between the water bottle bolts and the BB shell. The other major change of the Merak is in its rear triangle. Last year it was full aluminum. For 2004 it's full carbon, with beefy tubing clearly intended to stiffen up the rear end of the frame. It's apparent that DeRosa took stiffness very seriously with this bike - rather than simply plugging the stays into the dropouts as you often see on carbon rears, the ends of each stay mate to each other and to the dropout not unlike the shape of a bent human knee (this was the analogy used by Mr. DeRosa). The aft end of each stay shares quite a good bit of surface area with the dropout, and those ends are virtually at one with each other where they come together, thereby minimizing the amount of wind-up you'll feel on the rear of the bike under effort. Its quite a beautiful design. The new Merak weighs in at about 1.25 kg, the same as the King, and is available in both a beautiful yellow and in dark blue, each of which will feature a good bit of unpainted, polished aluminum. As with the Dual, it'll be quite tough to figure out which color to choose since both are so well-done.

The one other new DeRosa for 2004 is the Macro. It replaces the Planet. The Macro uses a slightly beefier tubeset than the Planet. Instead of being built exclusively from Dedacciai SC61.10a scandium, DeRosa now integrates heat-treated 7003 aluminum into the frame. The heavier gauge tubing eliminates body weight restrictions, and allows for a stiffer ride. It uses the same rear triangle as the Planet, including the beautiful carbon fiber seatstay.

You probably saw pictures on cyclingnews.com of the seemingly glamorous Sinclair Imports/Hincapie Clothing party. There's no denying that it was amusing to be standing in the outbound taxi line at the Venetian in between Floyd Landis and Francesco Moser. Virtually the whole US Postal team was in attendance, as was David Millar, Gilberto Simoni, and a host of other pros and celebrities. The party was fun from certain standpoints - the Monte Carlo microbrew was quite good, as was the sushi and other delicacies, and it was great to catch up with some old friends from far-flung corners of the US. But the party suffered from one fatal flaw. As a friend of mine phrased it: What a sausagefest! Where were the beautiful women? Yes, the Tour de France is a very sexy event, and the riders who participate in it are intrinsically attractive in many ways. But don't confuse that for our industry as a whole. Sometimes I think our relative appeal as conventioneers ranks up there with a gathering of Star Trek fanatics. Live long and prosper!

We were invited to a small gathering of elite Colnago dealers early on the 2nd day of Interbike. Ernesto Colnago himself gave us two Powerpoint presentations. The first was a historical overview of the Colnago company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2004. It was a pretty interesting seminar, as Ernesto included many personal photographs - we saw pictures of him racing his bike in the late 40's, acrobatically hanging outside the team car in his role as Italian National Team mechanic at a score of World Championship races in the 50's and 60's, doing an emergency bike swap mid-race for Eddy Merckx, presenting bikes to countless members of continental royalty and being generally chummy with A-list Europeans like Enzo Ferrari and Michael Schumacher. He told quite a few personal anecdotes, and given the sky-high stature he possesses in the bike industry, he had an amazingly humble demeanor. He emphasized once and again the amount of time he's spent in his career in the role of a mechanic. Even though his company is celebrating its 50th anniversary, he wrenched part-time up 'til the mid-70's, and even though his company has flourished since the mid-80's heyday of Giuseppe Saronni and the legendary Del Tongo-Colnago squadra, he clearly still defines himself as half-artist, half-laborer.

His second Powerpoint presentation was an overview of the extreme to which Colnago is devoted to the proper application of carbon fiber. He stressed that he relies on Italy's most experienced and most expensive carbon manufacturing firms to help him maintain his standards of quality control. The C50 HP, for example, has its tubes and lugs produced by the same company that makes the monocoque components for Ferrari's F1 program. 900 people work at this facility, they work exclusively with carbon fiber, and they have a group solely devoted to Colnago-specific projects. He bragged on the knowledge base of those responsible for Colnago carbon, and stressed that their mastery of the nuances of the material is unmatched. His argument was persuasive in itself, but when he started showing us cross-sections of dissected C40 frames and Star forks in comparison to "Brand X" competitors, it was hard not to be convinced.

Even though Colnago created huge waves with the release of the C50 HP and CT2 HP, center stage in their booth was reserved for their gorgeous 50th Anniversary complete bike. Only 1000 are being made worldwide. It's built with a refined, lighter version of the monocoque carbon frame used on the CF3-Ferrari bike of 2003. Available in either Dura-Ace 10 speed or Record, it features carbon fiber nearly everywhere on the bike, and a load of laser-etched Colnago 50th emblems on the components (in the spirit of the pantagraphing you saw on Colnagos of yesteryear). Only a handful of these bikes will make it to the US, but the good news is that available at the relatively reasonable price of $6600 - not really much more money than a C50 HP with comparable components.

Going into 2004 Reynolds unequivocally proved that they take dealer and consumer input seriously. They certainly had every right to be dismissive of constructive criticism - after all, they introduced their wheels last year and in complete violation of bike industry standards they made it through their inaugural season with no technical glitches whatsoever. Their delivery times were on schedule, their advertised weights were generally accurate, and their wheels held up to all sorts of usage from from riders of all shapes and sizes. If any company had the right to hit the cruise control button as we approached 2004, it was Reynolds. But they listened to our concerns and took precise action. Of great interest to most of our customers, Reynolds is releasing a full carbon fiber Stratus DV Clincher wheelset. Unlike the clincher wheels of their competitors, Reynolds clinchers use no aluminum whatsoever - the rim itself is full carbon, and they avoided the need for alloy inserts to reinforce spoke holes. Even though we saw full carbon clincher prototypes from other companies, Reynolds stressed that their clincher is the only one in existence that has no rider weight limit and no tire PSI limitations. They also emphasized that due to the extraordinarily high-quality carbon used in their wheels, they'll have unparalleled resistance to flat-spotting if you smack a pothole. For now, it's only available in the Stratus DV deep model. We were told that Team Health Net tested the wheels extensively on the domestic pro circuit, and powerhouse sprinters no less demanding that Gord Fraser had no durability-related problems whatsoever. They'll be built 16 spokes front and 20 spokes rear, they weigh in at 1450g, and they retail for $1999.

The other great piece of news from Reynolds is that they indicated a shift in their promotional and marketing strategies. You'll see a more aggressive approach in comparison to 2003. Long-gone are the cheesy full-page ads featuring a smirking Chann McRae in full Team Schroder Iron kit holding a single Stratus wheel in his past-his-prime grip. You'll see more advertising that articulates the technical sophistication of their wheels, and you'll also see a lot more visible usage of their wheels on the Division 1 Euro pro scene, giving them a very public trial in the hardest road riding conditions imaginable.

Reynolds is also releasing track-specific and Cyclocross-specific wheelsets. They'll both be 20 holes front, 24 holes rear. And you'll also see a disc wheel coming from Reynolds. All new wheels are either in stock, or will be ready to ship no later than mid-November.

After 3 straight years of product innovation, Zipps widely loved 303 and 404 wheelsets remain unchanged for 2004. Nevertheless, two significant pieces of news emerged from the Zipp booth. First is the introduction of the 202 wheelset, a shallow cross-section "climbing" wheel built to compete with the Campagnolo Hyperon and the Reynolds Cirro. The 202's weigh in at an impressive 1040g - 80g lighter than the 303's. They have a 24.8mm deep rim, roughly equivalent to the depth of a Mavic Open Pro. The use the same hub internals as the 303 and 404, but use a J-bend spoke instead of straight pull spokes. Second is the fact that all Zipp wheels - including the 909 and the 202 - will be available as Z-Series wheels, meaning they have distinctive gold decals and Silica Nitride ceramic bearings that have less than 1-millionth of an inch total variance within each matched set. As a Zipp engineer once explained to me, Z-Series bearings are so round that it's impossible to measure their out-of-roundness. What does this mean to you? Less friction-induced drag, and more speed for every watt of power you generate.

The handlebar and stem line for Deda Elementi maintains status quo for 2004. Everyone's favorites - the ultra-light Newton and the beefier Magic - go unchanged. What set the show on fire, though, was their new one-piece carbon fiber Alanara bar/stem combo. In almost every aspect it's nearly identical to the legendary Cinelli Ram, all the way down to the optional bolt-on computer mount. Where it differs, though, is that it's more anatomically comfortable than the Ram in both the tops and the drops. Secondly, unlike the horrendous availability problems we experienced throughout 2003 with the Ram, the Alanaras are in stock, and should continuously be in stock throughout 2004. Lastly, the Alanara costs around $100 less at $549.

Given Interbike's supersaturation with carbon fiber componentry, a rather vigorous debate broke out during the show regarding the lack of industry standards for carbon production. Esteemed companies such as Colnago, Reynolds, and Deda clearly felt compelled to go to great lengths to outline the extent to which they test and retest their products to ensure their safety and durability. If you've never ventured into the world of carbon bars, the Alanara should rank as a top candidate, as Deda's reputation for manufacturing excellence is well-known. We plan on selling a lot of very nice bikes that'll be made that much nicer by the choice of an Alanara.

No company made greater strides in visibility and industry respect than FSA. They've achieved great success on two fronts: First is in the intensely lucrative "OE" market - meaning that they've placed their products as original equipment on prepackaged bikes you'll see on bike shop showroom floors throughout the US. You'll see FSA handlebars, stems, headsets, cranksets, and seatposts on 2004 mid and high-end bikes from big-hitting domestic bike manufacturers. Much more important to us, though, is how incredible the high-end FSA aftermarket componentry looks. Their K-Wing Carbon handlebar was seemingly used on every top-dollar offering from boutique manufacturers throughout the show. It's light, comfortable, and beautiful. Like Deda, FSA bragged up and down about their testing protocols and the extent to which their relationship with Team CSC taught them about real-world product performance. Unlike the Deda Alanara, the K-Wing is a handlebar only, so you aren't locked into limited stem length and bar width combinations. And when you factor in the $249 retail price for the K-Force combined with the $199 K-Force carbon/alloy stem, you're saving a load of money in comparison to the Alanara.

When riders set their hands on carbon bars for the first time, rather than commenting on their lightness or potential for absorbing road shock, their initial comment is normally amazement at the comfort of the wing-shaped, non-round tops. It's unquestionably more anatomically friendly than round tops. Until now, you've found this shape exclusively on carbon bars. With the introduction of the $70 retail Wing Pro Alloy handlebar, FSA brings anatomical sense to aluminum bars as well. It's such a great idea that we're tempted to use them as our standard bar in our road kits for 2004. Put one in your hands and you'll be converted for life.

FSA's carbon seatposts looked outstanding. They're light, they're backed with the same amount of product testing as their handlebars, and they're offered in more sizes than any other carbon fiber seatpost out there: 27.2, 29.4 (Pegoretti Marcelo owners rejoice!), 31.6, and 32.4mm.

FSA's carbon cranksets are lighter and even more visually appealing than their 2003 counterparts. FSA now offers cyclocross and TT specific carbon cranks, each of which comes stock with the appropriate chainring combination. They're also expending great effort to teach the public the virtue of "compact" road cranksets with a 50x34 chainring combo. FSA made the argument that 50x34 is absolutely race-worthy, as a 50x11 is a bigger gear than a 53x12, and a 34x23 is smaller than a 39x29. With a 50x34 you can go with a nice, tight cassette cluster such as 11x23 so your jumps in between gears will be subtle, instead of the giant leaps in gearing you experience with a 12x27 or 13x29. They cited the fact that in the '03 Tour Tyler Hamilton couldn't pull up on his handlebars, so he chose a 52/36 chainring combo to get down into the low gears that allowed him to spin his way to such success.