BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Saddleback
Ceramic Speed make kit for anyone serious about shaving any resistance from their ride and CoreBike gave us insight into what they’ve been developing. Most notably the firm now carries press fit 4624 road cups, as well as a 30 to 24 press fit. If you’d had a roll of the test bearings on ceramic Speed’s demo unit the difference in drag is noticeable, though the price is too, so these will be upgrade items for the customer who has to have the best.
Sportique showed off a countertop unit filled with warm up creams at £14.99 for a 180ml tube, protective Elements creams for £16.99 and warm up oils from £9.99. It’s a £75 buy in for a unit decked out with a variety of the above and the resell value is £180.85.
Saddleback had also added a mounting hardware brand called Raceware, which produces colourful mounts for GoPros, Garmins and a variety of other devices.
Steve Peat’s Santa Cruz decked out with the best of ENVE’s downhill kit was also on show, with the ‘world’s first all carbon downhill clincher’ the highlight of the decked out build. ENVE now say their wheels corner faster than any they’ve tested before.
E4/EBC
The electric bike market, in particular the E4 group, has made some stellar efforts in recent months to convince dealers that now is the time to reconsider stocking electric bikes.
We spoke to Paul Stanforth of EBC/E4 about why 2013 was the perfect year to exhibit at Core and he said: “There’s a brilliant quality of dealer here. They’re all clued up to what’s going on in the market and we will be doubling our space at Core next year to make the most of this opportunity. Our job in recent times has been to demonstrate to retailers that the technology has come on leaps and bounds, no longer will you suffer in the workshop or with customers returning with complex problems. Plenty of the people we’ve seen here are open minded to the potential of the market and increasingly ready to do business, it’s very encouraging.”
Within the EBC and Hero Eco shared room, Stanforth pointed to AVE’s new Alfine eight-speed, hydraulic brake build, coming in at £1,299 as a strong quality build at a strong price point.
Having been the favourite in a Sunday Times ‘commuter group test’, EBC’s own UCR-S0 at £999 is also a bike the firm is keen to get in front of dealers.
Elsewhere Solex has a new 36v battery build coming in at £1,399.
I-ride
It was unavoidable for many as soon as you entered i-ride’s room, so we’ll cut to the chase. Thompson’s prototype dropper post isn’t available just yet, though it’s expected to come in around the £350 when it does land. For that figure your customer will get a custom sealed 125mm travel post in 30.9 and 31.6 diameters. It’s cartridge based and has an easily serviceable trigger and cable actuation, which won’t take up acres of space on the handlebar. Side to side play shouldn’t ever be an issue either thanks to rubber dampers that ‘expand with use’.
As a prototype, it’s currently weighing in at 450 grams and when asked about 27.2 versions, we were told that a road version is likely to hit before the thinner model comes to fruition. This will aparently have a ‘PAVE’ function where the post provides a sight element of suspension over cobbles and rougher tracks.
Elsewhere, Spanish helmet label Catlike have a new point of sale stand available to all i-ride customers.
