The Cycle Show London 2010

November 27th, 2010

It might not be Eurobike, and it definitely wasn’t Interbike, but the Cycle Show at Earls Court, London is a great show worth going to. Factory Jackson went down to check out the latest and greatest in bikes and gear on offer in 2011. Highlights of the show were the new Troy Lee Designs D3 helmets, the Phoenix DH bike by Pivot and Sam Hill’s world championships winning Specialized. The Vans BMX team were there too and as usual never failed to impress. This is the last time the Cycle Show will be at Earls Court and will be at the NEC in Birmingham. Lets just hope the parking is cheaper in Birmingham.

Hed wheels had this sweet camper at the show as their booth!

Transition Bikes

Transition Bikes are rapidly becoming the next big thing, and why not we say. There a great company producing attractive bikes that ride as good as they look. For 2011 the big news is the TR250, a scaled down version of their popular TR450 downhill bike. How many of us like the angles on our DH bike, but don’t really ride trails that warrant the travel? Well, here’s your answer. If it rides anything like it looks this is going to be one fast bike!

Designed around a single crown fork this bike is aimed at the park rider, what that means to someone in the UK is debatable but we see this bike ideally at home on the vast majority of UK DH tracks which although challenging and technical don’t really require 200mm plus of travel. Like its big brother it has an adjustable head angle and bottom bracket height. Another neat addition has been to add adjustable travel from 160 to 180mm; you can even adjust the wheelbase too. Were looking forward to getting our hands on one of these soon for a test down our local track.

The TR450, which was new on the scene last year, received a great reception from the public and remains mostly unchanged for 2011 apart from a little weight shaved off and some new graphics and paint options. The Double was also a head turner for us. With its snappy angles and geometry this bikes falls into the slopestyle/ 4X stable but we feels it’s a bike with versatility written all over it! The Covert remains unchanged for 2011 receiving some new paint and graphics, but we’ve got to say how much we liked the blue option offered during 2010.

Transition’s awesome new TR250 (yellow) and the Covert (orange)

The TR250 in detail, check the colour!

Transition’s go anywhere AM machine, the Covert in orange.

Transition’s pump ‘n’ jump Double in the ‘brushed’ finish.

Transition’s ever popular TR450 in the new orange colour way.

New TR450 new graphics package get our vote!

Santa Cruz

There was unfortunately a no show from the guys at Santa Cruz UK, but thankfully Josh Bryceland’s bike has been doing the dealer rounds and made its way to the show. Pretty much a tie with Sam Hill’s bike for best looking bike at the show. This thing screams ‘Factory’ with its Syndicate team colours, Edge wheels, Burgtec pedals and matching Sram livery. The new carbon V10 should be available as your reading this and in a limited number, Santa Cruz have finally decided to let joe public on the highly sought after tam Syndicate colours. The other colour Santa Cruz are offering look pretty sick too, with a plain carbon offering and a gloss white with silver graphics, there is one to suite. Once we get some images we’ll fire them at you!

Josh Bryceland’s 2010 Santa Cruz Syndicate DH bike

The V10 Carbon is certainly a head turner!

Factory as you like, check the package!

Is this the best looking Syndicate bike to date?

Edge wheels, Burgtec pedals and lots of carbon.

Pivot Cycles

New to the UK for 2011 is the formidable DW equipped bikes from Pivot Cycles. The Phoenix DH bike was like a beacon at the show, and like moths at a light we were all over it. Making its first appearance last year in the capable hands of Mitch Delfs and Kyle Strait, we immediately paid attention to something, which looked a lot like a certain ‘rich in race pedigree DW bike’ still popular today. But unlike the Sunday, this looks refined, improved, updated and not to mention a work of art. Check the pictures, no doubt a hot contender for must have 2011 DH frame! Also at the Pivot booth was the Firebird, sporting just under seven inches of rear travel and boasting all the correct numbers to get you up and scare you down, this is a real go anywhere and take no prisoners bike.

New for 2011, and new to the UK, the Phoenix by Pivot.

Nice!

Attention to detail!

Gorgeous!

That’s one serious linkage and swingarm!

You’re looking at one fast bike we reckon!

The Firebird is a bike to get you to the fun without needing an uplift!

DMR

The DMR booth had two new frames on show, the race specific Omen and the new slopestyle orientated Bolt. The Omen is built around the need for speed and is a purpose built steel 4X race frame. Built from dependable 4130 chromoly, this is a frame that will hold up to everything that can be thrown at it. Over their popular dirt and park frames the Omen has revised geometry including shorter stays and a longer top tube, helping this out the gate like butter off a hot knife. The Omen also sports the new Swopout dropout system which allows you to run either a Maxle through-axel or a regular QR. All these new features have no doubt been honed in with the help of their 4X pinner Duncan Ferris

A totally new direction for DMR, in more ways than one, is the new Bolt frame, although still a prototype this has got people talking. The frame is sprung from single pivot design centring on a concentric bottom bracket, offering the flexibility of running the Bolt in a singlespeed configuration. The large pivot around the BB also allows for some serious bearings there to take all the beatings and failed whips you could ever throw at it. With 125mm of rear travel through an X-Fusion shock, a 4130 Chromoly frame with the Swopout dropout system, this is going to be a bike that lasts longer and still performs bail after bail. There is no confirmed price or release date, but we do know the Bolt frame will retail for under a grand.

DMR’s new race frame will only be snapping outta gates!

A big departure for DMR, but very promising!

The Bolt in detail

Specialized

Specialized were the only one of the big three (Trek and Giant are the other two) at the show, and didn’t hold back with the largest booth at the show, dwarfing everything around it. Obviously Specialized make everything bicycle related but what we were interested in was the all-new Demo and revised Pitch.
In centre stage, and quite rightly too, was the bike which was piloted to the top of the podium in the men’s elite field at the 2010 world champs in Mont Saint Anne.

Has Sam Hill ever had a crap looking bike? He’s either lucky or his team manager Sean Heimdal has taste in everything bling and factory. We thought there’d be a few out there interested in this beauties details so we snapped away, hope you like!

On to the production 2011 Demo 8 II. What you have is a totally new frame designed pretty much from the ground up with help from the Monster Energy team, available as complete bike and frame only option. The Demo has remained relatively unchanged for a few years now so it was due an overhaul if for anything, just to make it look better, which it most definitely does. 2010 saw the revised geometry package released on the Demo, which was a winner with its slack, low and flickable yet planted feel, thankfully the geometry remains unchanged with the new frame. Tweaks have included a revised shock mount, extra heel clearance on the stays, reduced the overall weight and generally made this into one serious race bred machine. Unfortunately Specialized UK will not be importing the more affordable Demo I or the short travel SX frame, available pretty much everywhere outside the UK, which we feel is a shame as they are definitely bikes with a market place in the UK. Specialized UK were not certain about the ‘Flo Yellow’ colour option on the Demo frame when we asked them at the show, the same colour that the factory team ran at Windham and at the worlds (check the photos of Sam’s bike). Well, that was then and Specialized UK are bring a limited run of these stunners to the UK in March, so go hassle your local dealer.

The Pitch has always been a favourite with us at Factory Jackson, but I wont say too much other than to check out the review we did earlier this month!

Sam Hill’s bike

Flo Yellow is what Specialized call it, and it’s definitely bright!

Black Box badness!

Specialized Storm Pro DH cut down by Jacy his mechanic

Just in case you forget whose bike you’re looking at!

More Black Box badness!

Another reminder, check the grips too!

Headtube detail and Renthal cockpit

The FSR linkage, if it aint broke!?

Neat cable routing

Attention to detail!

Who needs 10!?

When bikes get lower you need all the clearance you can get

New SDG Storm saddle

There to keep you where you need to be!

2011 Demo 8 II Complete

The most wanted bike of 2011?

The downhiller’s cross-country bike

Intense Cycles

Intense are well known for their monocoque aluminium beauties, and they didn’t let us down with the new all singing, all dancing M9 FRO. This bad boy screams factory race machine, designed with feedback from the CRC team and sporting all the usual colour options, MX style graphics and race pedigree you only get with a bike from Intense. The frame comes with a choice of two shocks, the Fox RC4 and Cane Creek Double Barrel, but also comes equipped with the Cane Creek Angleset as standard, which is a nice touch.

Also on display was the ever-popular 951 frame. Largely unchanged from the 2010 model, in terms of angles and geometry, but they have changed some of the monocoque sections and replaced them with hydro formed tubes to reduce the price in reflection of the new M9. Not bad in our eyes, the 951 is a real privateer favourite and making it more affordable will only see more Intense’s down your local track. Intense were also showing their redesigned 4X machine, with adjustable travel from 3.25 to 4”, making this ideal for many applications away from the race track. A great bike, having owned an old Tazer, I know how much fun these are!

Want to go fast downhill? Then look no further!

The all new M9 from Intense, a race machine if ever there was one.

Swingarm detail

The refinements to this ‘stable of the race scene’ are minimal.

Look at all those welds! Attention to detail and Intense go hand in hand.

Race tracks, pump tracks or off the beaten track, this looks fun!

Sram

Sram had a large prescience at the show with a large booth dripping in their latest gear from Rock Shox, Avid, Truvativ and of course Sram. The highlights for us were definitely the Reverb seatpost and Vivid Air shock.
We’ll have more from the mighty Sram at a later date.

Sram gravity goodness!

Troy Lee Designs

For 2011 Troy Lee Designs have expanded their D3 range of helmets from four carbon models to six carbon and four of the new composite models, which will retail in the UK for £500 and £400 respectively. This is a stacked range with colours and designs to suite everyone but, as with most designs that come out of TLD you’ll either love them or hate them. Our favourite was definitely the Pinstripe Carbon and Speed Wing Composite, but we’d still love to see a D3 Palmer and maybe some ones in plain flat or gloss colours, next year perhaps. Other items that turned our heads were the new Sprint Jersey and Shorts, they were light compared to other DH specific gear and offered some impressive design features to keep you nice and cool. They certainly stood out with their retro colours and style, which will undoubtedly gain them popularity on the racetrack and trails next year.