INTERBIKE 2008 PHOTO FEATURE

Our own Ricky Adam made it out to Vegas this year, and we put him to work in the products department. Here, without further adieu, is Ricky’s first batch of product photos, along with in-depth explanations on what exactly you’re looking at. Check out issue 67 for more from Vegas ‘08, available in a few weeks....

Click a thumbnail for large image and description.

T-1’S NEW RUBEN FRAME
The long awaited revision of the T-1 Ruben frame. According to Joe Rich, Ruben is a little miffed at not being able to ride the frame yet (because it was on display at the show) but rest assured, the frame is in transit to Spain as we speak. So we’ll soon see Ruben Alcantara on one of T-1’s first Taiwan-constructed frames, of which, T-1 has pulled out all the stops on. Features include an integrated seat clamp, removable brake mounts, custom Ruben stickers (top tube or down tube versions), revised dropouts, slimmed down seat and chain stays, Spanish B/B and a weight of 5 pounds.

STOLEN
New from Stolen Bikes for ‘09 is an updated version of the Sinner complete bike. The Sinner is an affordable, street-ready complete featuring a full 100% cr-mo frame, fork and bars, Stolen grips, cranks, stem and Pivotal seat combo, Odyssey tires, four pegs, a 25-9 gearing and, as mentioned before, a price that won’t break your bank account. In fact, Stolen’s completes are a steal for the price. I told you my jokes were bad…

ST. MARTIN
St. Martin is the flatland division of France’s Superstar, and they’ve consistently pushed the bar when it comes to progressive flatland frames and components. New to the line for ‘09 (so new that I don’t know much and can’t find any info) are slotted alloy flatland pegs in both smooth and knurled versions and a new alloy front hub with lateral cut-outs for weight savings on the hub surface. The hubs also feature a female bolt-on system and in case you’re not a flat guy, Superstar has a similar hub that’s slightly more street tough.

SNAFU
A long, long time ago, I used to watch this video called the GT Demo Tape, which was hosted by a guy named McGoo, who acted as the GT team manager throughout the ‘80s. Through thick, thin and that weird one-legged fork phase, McGoo has been a staple in the BMX industry, helping to organize comps, writing columns in magazines and for the past ten years, steering Snafu’s component direction. New for ‘09 are Snafu’s infamous Concave pedals (in new colors), Snafu’s J-Bar alloy post (in new colors and sizes for both track and mountain bikes) and new colors for Snafu’s infamous Mobeus detangler, which has by and large the industry standard for detanglers these days. Tried and trusted components from a guy who’s seen it all in the BMX industry and still knows how to have a laugh at the end of the day…

ODYSSEY
Purple rain, purple rain… Pretty simple here. Odyssey have a new colorway dubbed Purple Rain. Included in the new Prince-influenced range are Odyssey’s Director Forks and Lumberjack bars. It is, quite simply, an easy way to deck your bike out while paying homage to a pop music legend from Minneapolis. I’ll go out on a limb here and guess the next Odyssey colorway. Raspberry beret? Sorry guys, I never said my jokes were good…

NICE/FBM
Nice Brand is FBM’s semi-new component brand that was introduced last year in Vegas, and Nice has stepped it up for the upcoming year. New to the line is a drivetrain side hub guard (lower left), two Pivotal seat versions (one in hemp), Jenkem frontload and topload stems, Miso grips, seat clamp and Rising Sun sprocket. Nice components are available as after market components or on FBM’s extensive line of complete bikes, which are in stores now. Oh yeah, almost forgot the FBM hub guards, which can be found on the bikes of many a big name BMX pro. Good stuff, as always, from FBM and Nice.

MADERA
This is your good ole tried and trued Madera cassette hub, hand-painted by select members of the Madera team. And you guessed it right; these babies are gonna be super limited. But if you’re a Madera fan and appreciate one-off products, then Madera has you covered. And in case you didn’t know, Madera hubs are made in the USA by Profile Racing, so these things are built to last.

KINK BADGER BARS
KC Badger might’ve been the only BMXer on hand with white pants at Interbike, but I won’t hold that against him. KC’s bars from Kink have been in production for the past few years, and these are the updated version two. Features include a smaller 19mm crossbar, 11 butted cr-mo, improved heat-treating, 12 degrees of back sweep, 1 degree of up sweep, an 8” rise, a 27” width and a weight of just 23.1 oz. Plus, you get chrome!

G-SPORT
The Ratchet hub. G-Sport spares no time or expenses when it comes to product development, and this is their latest release. Don’t call it a cassette hub though. The Ratchet is a solid one-piece driver, with oversize ratchet rings and pawls built around a 20mm G-Sport axle. The hub comes RHD and LHD ready out of the box, and the steel axle version comes with a lifetime warranty. Aside from that, the Ratchet is lightweight (1lb 3.9oz.), strong and Aaron Ross approved…

2-HIP GROOVETECH SYSTEM
2-Hip’s new Groovetech system insure that your bars will not move, ever again. Accordingly, the Groovetech system utilizes a splined system (similar to splined cranks) which holds your bars in place on the stem, and your stem in place on the forks. 2-Hip has been working on this system for the past 18 months, and after going through the patent process, Ron W. and the 2-Hip crew plan on licensing the system to other companies for use. It might look a little different from everything else out there, but then again, we all thought 25t sprockets looked weird ten years ago....

FEDERAL
An updated Hamilton frame from Federal Bikes. This particular ‘09 Hamilton features a heat-treated front triangle, double butted top tube, down tube and seat stays, top tube sizes of 20” and 20.5”, a 13.75” rear end, Mid B/B, removable brake mounts and guides, plus colors of black and black/red. I should also mention that there’s two versions of the Hamilton. The heat-treated front triangle version is lighter (20.5” - 4lb 11oz), but carries a slightly higher price tag, while the non heat-treated version is slightly heavier (20.5” -4lb 13oz) but more affordable.

BELOE CRANDALL PARTY SHOES
A new slip-on vulcanized shoe from Beloe Footwear and FBM’s Steve Crandall. The Crandall Party Shoes feature Beloe’s pedal-friendly outsole, exclusive artwork from Crandall and the ability to run out of gas on the way back to Ithaca (that last part isn’t necessarily true.) Also on hand from Beloe were Nathan Williams new shoe The Verve, which is a mid-top design, and available in either leather or suede with either a vulcanized or a cup outsole.