Interbike round up, part six

Redshift Sports
You’ll read a lot about Kickstarter success stories on BikeBiz, it’s an interesting route to market and one that’s working for innovators that would otherwise find it hard to get a business going.
No such trouble for RedShift, though, they raised the $20,000 target to bring its products to production within the first 72 hours, adding another $30,000 in funding thereafter.
The product’s slogan, according to co-founder Erik de Brun, is "two bikes in one". Designed around on the fly adjustment that sees a road bike become a time trial rig, there’s a seatpost that changes the seatube angle from approximately 73 – 76 degrees, simply with a swivel of the hips. This results in the same leg extension throughout the switch, but a five-degree downward tilt of the saddle, enabling the rider to lower their position on the bike. The sub 400-gram post is currently available as a 27.2, with shins to boost width if needed.
Then there’s quick release aerobars in aluminium or carbon that take a matter of seconds to add or remove. UK backers of the Kickstarter are now set to receive their good within the next two to three months, though the label hopes to tie up a firm UK partner to see the product in the UK for 2014.
Contact: erik@redshiftsports.com

Leyzne

Danny MacAskill has become part of the Lezyne story, adding his signature to a track pump and multi-tool.

The latter of the two items in particular has had design input from the man himself, who having used small multi-tools, decided his model needed some extra leverage, thus it’s a lot longer than most on the market.

On the lighting front, the Deca Drive with its 800-lumen output and USB recharge function is one of this year’s predicted big sellers. Lezyne describe the Deca as a ‘more affordable’ version of its Mega Drive.

There’s a new shock pump too that carries a digital gauge for accurate PSI readings. An isolated valve system prevents air loss when attaching and removing.

Fat Tire

Drawing people to its stand with a claim to have the fattest of the fat tyred bikes out there, Fat Tire All Terrain Bikes have a few unique products.

First of all, the label does fat tyre bikes for kids so the youngsters can enjoy the unbeaten track too. There’s also a few unique tyres. Firstly, at the show a very rough concept fat spike tyre was on show, but we were promised a production version with square tipped ¼-inch spikes, which will uniquely strap onto the rim, so once the snow melts it’ll be no hassle to pull off.

Fat Tire placed great emphasis on the products being of their own design, with the frame carrying an asymmetric chainstay to ensure the chainline runs straight, a hitch on fat bikes to date.

“We make our own hubs, bottom brackets, cranks, fishing rod racks and even have an exclusive wheel design,” says Tommi Coghill, Fat Tire’s research and development office. “We’ve even developed a hauling cart that will enable you to tow your canoe to the river or beach.”

IceDot

Now in the UK with 2Pure, the IceDot crash sensor is looking to expand its presence in action sports retailers.

For those who missed the fresh tie up and are unsure exactly what the product offers, IceDot straps to a rider’s helmet and will sense ‘rotational acceleration’ that occur during a crash. Once the crash has taken place the device will send a text, complete with GPS link to a map of the rider’s location, to a list of up to ten emergency contacts, which are tailored via a mobile phone app. False alarms, which shouldn’t be a frequent occurrence thanks to the device’s programming, can be turned off easily. Sensors can be individually tagged, so that there’s no interference during group rides where more than one rider is using the system, which runs on a set frequency.

A compatible android app is to launch shortly.

Fox

Subtle innovations have worked their way into the 2014 Fox line, which has an added a pressure relief valve to its downhill fork – the Float 40. This small button, located by the seals, eliminates the pressure that can build up when ascending to the top of a mountain. Furthermore, over last year’s model, Fox has shaved a pound off the weight.

Other upgrades include a thicker chassis on the dirt jump going 831 fork, with 2mm in thickness taking the leg diameter up to 34mm.

Praxis and Turn

Upgrade will eventually carry Praxis off-shoot brand Turn, which has been in the pipeline for some time, but ‘been delayed’ as Praxis has surged in OEM popularity.

The label told BikeBiz at Interbike, where it showed early samples: "The cranks are all made in our factory in Taiwan alongside the forged rings for which Praxis is best known for. Each crank is hollow and tapered along the length of the arm for greater stiffness in the high stress areas. They’ll use a 30mm spindle and an oversized wide outboard bearing to further enhance the feedback."

The cranksets will work with BSA threaded, BB30 and PF30 standards and will feature a self extracting crank bolt making them both user and workshop friendly for easy maintenance. Each crankset will be supplied with Praxis cold forged rings of the customer’s preference.

Praxis wouldn’t be drawn on a timescale for the product, but did say that Upgrade had expressed an interest in taking the product when it eventually goes into production.

Matt Ryley at Upgrade told BikeBiz: "We are very excited about the Turn brand and the development of the cranksets. The early pre-production samples that we have seen are very good and if the quality and performance is anything like the Praxis rings then I am confident that Turn will very quickly become a serious contender in the crankset market." 

Sony

Sony revealed its next generation helmet camera to the bike market at Interbike, introducing the $299 HDR-AS30V.

Recording at 1080x60p in full HD and capable of shooting 120 frames per second, this one’s an editor’s dream for slow-mo shots. A Carl Ziess lens is the only outsourced component from the tech giant and that, we’re told, is simply because “it’s the best available.”

As the world’s largest manufacturer of sensors, Sony’s camera is excellent in low light conditions, with the firm going as far to say their helmet can will out-do most DSLRs. The camera even has an underwater mode that automatically adjusts the white balance. The standard model is waterproof to 16 feet without a case upgrade.

Using GPS technology, the user can easily overlay their trip video onto a route map and once in the editing suite, include on screen data on speed, elevation and a live route map on the finished product.

The new build also uses something called NFC, which was described to BikeBiz as ‘WiFi on steroids’. This means that the camera can easily link to smartphones for framing up while the camera remains on a helmet.

Sony UK is able to sell to bicycle retailers looking to take stock.

Exposure

Plenty of fresh lights to cater for both the commuter and the night time woods dweller from Exposure.

The Equinox takes its place on the top of range, offering a 2,000 lumen output on maximum burn. A wireless remote switch is supplied that can mount to a handlebar, meaning a rider no longer has to remove reach around the back of their helmet to alter the output. This switch also doubles as a fuel gauge, indicating how much power remains, so no more asking your trialling friend what colour the indicator on the back of your head is.

Burn time for the triple Cree LED Equinox is just half an hour on 2,000, but as much as one hour on 1,200.

Exposure also introduced a $75 replacement 2.9 milliamp fuel cell, which is small enough to attach to a helmet and will add approximately an hour on full burn.

For commuters, Exposure also showed crowds its Trace and Tracer. These USB rechargeable units offer a three to 24-hour run time, dependant on output. The front Trace light emits 110 lumens and the rear Tracer, 75.

Hope

Know that Hope have made fat bike hubs since last year? Us neither, but with the dawn of the fat bike era in the UK and the popularity stateside the FatSno hubs were given a rare outing.

At present there’s a 191mm width hub for the wider frames out there and there will soon be a 170-177mm unit coming for the rear, as well as a 135mm hub, with optional 15mm axle conversion for the front.