Product 2003

This, instead of staying in any of the casino hotels, where a trip across the casino floor on the way to the hotel elevator will, by itself, relieve you of four months of your life span (gambling and smoking seem to be paired activities).

While virtually no one selling at this show is out here joining us—you're just too darn busy when you're an exhibitor to enjoy yourself—there are a few intrepid buyers who've decided that life is too short to spend all your time immersed in the biz. Most notably is Cid Cardoso, Jr., of Inside Out Sports, with stores in the Mid-Atlantic states, who is actually finishing his 90-minute run through Red Rock before I will start my morning ride at 7:30. He'll be out riding with us tomorrow, probably with a FORUM regular, who is one of his right-hand men.

During the day, there is the show. For the first time in years, I see some intriguing and definite trends. Usually it's the same old thing, but for some reason I sense that there are some real power shifts biz-wise and thematic shifts market-wise.

First, the power shift. I remember when Shimano took the road market (which back then was the entire market) away from Campagnolo. It seemed inconceivable in the late '70s that Campy could lose its predominent spot. Yet five years later Shimano was safely in control of the component side of the biz, which meant de facto control of the industry.

In recent years, however, end users have decided that one part after another has been dropped off what has traditionally been considered a "gruppo." Like Chinese water torture, Shimano has had to endure the loss of its hegemony over seat posts, then chains, headsets, pedals, MTB brakesets, then MTB hubs, and most recently road hubs. This is the year, I suspect, that Shimano will lose cranks and bottom brackets.

It's not that it won't sell its excellent Hollowcranks and splined bottom brackets, it's that so many other companies are making great cranks, Shimano will simply fall prey to diminution by dilution. No less than Stronglight, Profile Design, Ritchey, FSA, and Truvativ are making top quality road cranks, and I've only named a third of those companies who deserve inclusion in the list. Why have all these companies suddenly gotten their products up to the level of worthy competitor? Three reasons.

First, there is just a confluence of companies which've gotten their offices in order. Traditional French crank-making powerhouse Stronglight almost went under several years back, and then went through a series of new owners, including SRAM Corporation's French subsidiary, until fellow French bike industry staple Zefal bought the factory and equipment, and not only gave the company needed financing but also became the U.S. distributor. Profile Design changed owners two years ago and has greatly upgraded its eenngineering and design capacity. And so on.

Second, Shimano made things easier for everybody. Cranks have traditionally been very hard to make, and specifically it is confoundingly hard to get the squarehole correct. Even if you machine it perfectly, the metal around the hole must be sufficiently hard to withstand warpage through repetitive use. When Shimano introduced splined bottom brackets and cranks, the whole process got easier.

Third, Shimano made a strategic blunder when it refused to license its spline patent. At this juncture I'll introduce to our readers one of the most influental personalities in the bike industry, though most of the industry doesn't know who he is, or considers him just one of many mid-level industry players. Mickey Kozuchek is president of Truvativ. He is one of the few—Syntace's Jo Klieber is another—to marry German sensibilities of style and attention to detail with Taiwan's ability to manufacture robustly and economically. Kozuchek bristled at Shimano's refusal to license its spline technology, and Truvativ engineered around Shimano's patent and came up with a spline protocol—ISIS—that has been adopted by all the other crank and bottom bracket companies. Shimano has since granted two licenses that I know of—to Profile Design and Ritchey—but it was too little too late. Shimano has now lost control of everything on the road group except shifters, derailleurs, and brake calipers—and the calipers are the next to go (in my view).

Make no mistake, Shimano has been a giant in the industry, and is still the most important and needed player in the biz. But it's not unlike the position television networks find themselves in. Truvativ is the USA network, and FSA is Fox. With 50, or 100, or 500 small "cable channels" adeptly nipping at Shimano's heels, it's tough to keep your market share.

The other obvious product trend, for triathletes, is that this is the year of the aero handlebar. Quite a few new players have jumped in, including Easton and Ritchey (already previewed), and they've produced very credible bars for their first time at it. To me, the most impressive bars are the brand new ones by Profile Design—not for sale yet—and the one-piece carbon bar by Hed.

The Hed/Oval saga will be covered under a separate article, suffice it to say that this new sexy bar was featured on a lot of bikes exhibited all around the show, in a wide variety of booths, and these bars all said "Oval" on Saturday night, before the show opened. By 9AM Sunday morning, when the show officially opened to retailers, the stickers on the bars all said "HED." That ought to be enough to whet the appetite, and the story will be told from start to finish at a later date.

The Hed bar is one-piece, with the exception of the stem, that is, you can place whatever stem you want on the bar. The brake levers are integrated into the bar, and the whole unit is light, stiff and strong. How aero it is I don't know, but it looks like it oughta be. With a sale price of between $400 and $500 Hed will sell a lot of these bars.

Profile Design really surprised me with a line up of bars that I didn't expect to see. I didn't know that they were coming, and I frankly was taken aback by a design and engineering competency that I didn't know Profile Design possessed. It's a set of modular pieces—road and pursuit bars each made of aluminum and carbon. Extensions made of carbon and aluminum, and brackets and armrests that will go on every piece. Or fit the existing Jammer extensions into the new brackets if you want.

At the heart of all this are wing-shaped "flats" or "tops" across both the road and pursuit bars, and the road bar will certainly be bought by road racers who like to rest their forearms on the tops. But the sex is in Profile Design's new brackets, which are in the corresponding female shape of the wing-shaped flats, and the extensions and armrests clamp cleanly and snugly to these brackets. You can move the brackets in and out across the flats, and the whole thing is very spare and lightweight. The armrests have a great feel to them, as do the ergonomic bends of the extensions. Profile Design ought to have struck gold with this design, with the caveat that—as always—you can't sell what you don't have. The acid test is what happens in production, between now and the end of the year, when the buying season starts.

Will all these fancy bars be produce-able in quantity? We'll see.

Easton also has a nice one-piece bar. It has two bars, but only one of which I like. the lesser expensive aluminum version doesn't have ergonomics I like. I didn't think the bar was comfortable. But the one-piece all-carbon bar was nice. The armrests lay almost flat against the base bar, and a nice, low position will be possible. It, like the bar from Hed, is made to accept any stem—good idea. Easton's bar will cost $500, but doesn't come with brake levers, so you have to add the cost of those. Easton promises its own lever, but it isn't ready for prime time yet.

Tomorrow I'll write about a reprise of the "seat shifter," but at about one-fifteenth the weight of the old one. And, from the same company, what might be the next revolution in pedals.