Makes you think...

This just came accross my desk:

Newly formed Sandler Capital portfolio company Enthusiast Media LLC said Wednesday, Sept. 27, it is picking up the remaining titles in Primedia Inc.'s crafts unit for $132 million.

Makes you wonder if Primedia is trying to raise some funds to buy Time's Ski & Skiing titles.

BMC's new Time Machine... 

...and the price tag. 

Giro - quite possibly the first brand to talk about "lifestyle" in a serious way on the Interbike show floor... 

Mr. DeRossa with his latest "Idol" creation 

Giant's new 6.7" trail bike. Travel is definately getting longer this year - and the bikes are actually designed to be pedalled 

Azonic seems to be taking a page from Volcom's playbook 

Sugoi's Paul Done

Interbike Day 3 - An interview with Tag Kleiner

Interbike ODD Day 2

Day two was pretty much like day one. Except there were three times more retailers; there were no mountain bikes available (even Cannondale was looking empty); and it was HOT... So I rode some road bikes.

I also watched a guy break both of the chainstays on a $5,000 demo freeride bike...

Scott USA's booth was slammed in the morning - and then all of the bikes disappeared. I think the only company who brought enough bikes was Cannondale - and they must have had hundreds.... 

Felt's new TT and Tri bike - razor thin 

The ODD Tent city - bikes as far as the eye can see... 

Marin's new ride - I didn't get a chance to demo it, but the new tube-set certainly looks cool. The new design doesn't seem to have lowered the bottom bracket at all, a beef I've always had with Marins... 

Interbike Day 1

Here's a few photos from day 1 - more to come shortly



It was busy for day 1 - the trails were packed, a few of the booths were packed and overall the folks I spoke with were happy with the turn-out. It's funny though - the first two "retailers" I talked to were friends of retailers just tagging along for a week in Vegas riding cool bikes. Makes me wonder how many of those there are.


Santa Cruz had a waiting line all day and their bikes were tough to get a hold of. Amazing feat for a brand with around a dozen models.


This is INTENSE's new SOCOM bike - it's something like a downhill bike on a diet. Intense took their world cup downhill frame and shaved off three pounds so you can actually pedal the thing uphill (a very small hill). With 8 inches of travel and INTENSE's downhill geometry, once you get some speed, it rides like an INTENSE.


Here's Kona's booth and their new HEI HEI Supreme. Kona may not be known as an XC brand, but this bike is fun and fast! I rode it for over an hour in the hills of bootleg canyon and I only had one complaint - the tires. Nonetheless, it was the best bike of the day.


This one needs a caption - According to Craig Calfee, everything on this bike is what it looks like.

If it looks like aluminum, it's aluminum.

If it looks like bamboo, it's bamboo.

If it looks like the handlebars are made out of a pair of bull's horns, they are...

Roadless Rule...

Federal Judge Reinstates Roadless Rule...

From this week's issue of The B.O.S.S. Report

Several U.S. state governments and environmental groups were successful in a direct legal challenge to the current administration’s repeal of the Roadless Rule. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled that the Bush Administration did not conduct a satisfactory environmental analysis before making changes that allowed states to decide how to manage individual national forests. The Roadless Rule originally protected 58 million acres of roadless forests in 39 states.
According to the Court, the administration is enjoined from taking any further action contrary to the Roadless Rule without undertaking environmental analysis consistent with judge Laporte’s judicial opinion. In addition, the court found that the Bush Administration failed to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.

A comment from Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond Equipment & land preservation activist

“The recent court decision upholding the Roadless Rule, though most gratifying is but a short-term win in the ping-ponging decisions of differing courts. Though BD’s sympathies lie with preserving the majority of Roadless areas as Roadless, we also recognize that a “one size fits all” national decision is destined for years of further litigation and risk to those areas in greatest need of real protection. There has got to be a better way to resolve this that makes the land the winner and does not suck up '$millions' in legal fees...”

So how does this impact the bike and snowsports market... We'll see.

Lance Camisasca - Interbike show director on this year's changes

Interbike's Legendary Parties...

“Probably the largest change going into 2006 is rather than throwing parties… we decided to put our resources, our time, and our energy into this media center,”... “Being in Las Vegas with a very tight schedule where a lot of our customers are taking their own initiatives and throwing their own fundraisers or parties or whatever it may be, we began to realize we were getting in the way sometimes.”

- Lance Camisasca, Interbike Show Director

Also, word on the street is that there will be no SRAM girls this year...

Podcast with Zap

Zap Espinoza, Trek's brand manager on their decision to return to Interbike:

We're Rolling

Well, we finally got our first blog up and running for The B.O.S.S. Report, and for our inaugural project we will be tackling the largest bicycle trade show in North America, Interbike. It should be an interesting event this year - Doping scandals rocking the road market, ski resorts feeding the downhill market, petroleum and carbon fiber prices rising... Tons of issues impacting the business and only three days to cover them all. Oh, yeah, did I mention that Trek will be back at the outdoor demo after abandoning the show altogether last year.

So far we have appointments with:

• Chris King
  
• Sugoi
  
• Giant
  
• Kryptonite
  
• Giro
  
• Kona
  

...and about a dozen other companies. We'll also be podcasting interviews live from the event and posting photos of all of the best gear. Stay tuned...