This week we’re picking through some of the last things that jumped out at us at Eurobike. Today we get a truly random round up of tools, tires, and components that cover a range from exciting and new to just good to know. While each of these piqued our interest they didn’t quite warrant individual write-ups.
We’ll start with a pair of nice tool sets from Wera, which get distributed with Syntace. The 30€ 9-piece rainbow Hex-Plus wrenches have a fluted head, almost shaped kind of like a Torx that claims to offer better bit with less chance of rounding bolts, plus a ball-end on the other side. The 35€ Bit-Check kit is a small 6″ drop-forged ratcheting driver and 9-piece bit set that should make quick work of regular bolt tightening. It includes a some standard Phillips bits, a T15, T20 & T25, plus 4 & 5 mm hexes, but can use any other standard 1/4″ bits as well.
There’s plenty more from Challenge, Innova, Ambrosio, Tufo, Strider, Joystick, SKS, Shutter Precision, and Jagwire after the break. So read on for some more eye catchers…
Challenge was showing mostly updates and new sizes, but no new tread designs. The Gravel Grinder widens their popular Chicane tread to 38mm and puts it on a low cost Race level vulcanized clincher casing for the gravel road segment. The all around road Forte grows to a 25mm width in clincher as well. For cross tires, Challenge was showing the four casing levels that they offer in Race, Plus, Pro, and Team Edition that satisfy every market level from entry OEM to pro teams.
Somewhere deep in one of the setups of a small brand, we spotted this Innova tread. Its IA-2214A name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the 26×4″ fat bike tire surely gets one of the more entertaining tread designs. I’m not sure what I would think to find this things foot prints in the mud or snow?
Ambrosio was showing a new semi-custom program that covers many of their complete wheelsets to offer a bit of color accents for matching graphics. They were also showing one of their first aluminum 470g tubulars from 1940 which looked like it had seen better days.
Czech tire maker Tufo has widened up their most recent line of clinchers with 25mm Calibras and Calibra Pluses. We saw the 23s last year at the show along with their cross offerings, and have had a chance to gets some kms in road riding their lightweight version.
The kids bikes from Strider are of the simple push bike sort, to start off those new riders, but their $35 strap-on ski set was what caught our eye. It is designed for their bikes exclusively and just straps to the wheel and fork, but should fit any 12″ tire bike to turn your kid into a sliding, balancing terror.
The Binary saddle is another eye catcher from Joystick. Behind the graphics is a thinly padded, light saddle designed for enduro riding. It gets a real, perforated leather cover, a pressure relief channel down the middle to come in at 235g. A ti-railed LT version is also available that drops to 190g.
SKS broadens out to offer a new fat-specific set of strap on fenders. The Fatboards come as a pair, seatpost mounted in the rear and velcro strapped to the downtube up front.
For wide road tires, the Raceblade will get a new Pro XL version that adds coverage for 25-32mm road tires. The easy on-and-off fenders for bikes without eyelets gets a new, improved mounting system with simple reusable straps that should be more secure. New extra long versions with longer mudflaps will also be available for up to 25mm tires.
Last from SKS is a new fat bike specific pump, with a steel barrel and plastic base. The new Big Wheel puts out just 24psi/1.6bar max on a large dial that should make it easier to dial in those low pressures. As with all of the new SKS gear, it should be available from January 2016.
The dynamo hub specialists at Shutter Precision had some new thru-axle compatible dynamos at the show to show that hub generators can work with modern trail bikes too. We saw this same PD-8X on the Ghost Ro-Amr adventure bike outside at the Demo Day, but inside they were showing that it is available in both 6-bolt and centerlock variants.
Finally, Jagwire was showing off a new vented disc brake rotor to go up against Shimano’s Freeza. The new rotors offer riveted-on aluminum cooling fins to help dissipate heat away from the braking surface (and caliper.) Available in both 160 and 180mm sizes and only in 6-bolt, they will likely bring better cooling to all of those wheels out there that don’t use centerlock and therefore can’t take advantage of the Freeza tech. We’ll try to get ahold of a set this winter/spring to see how they handle road, cross, and mountain descents.
Stay tuned for Eurobike roundups of both bikes and clothing this week.
