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Adrian from Scott Sports shows us the Foil lineup for 2012. Scott believes aero road bikes are here to stay and is making available a Foil for a wide range of costs to make sure everyone can get on one.
For 2012, Fizik is introducing a new line of saddles, Kurve. The Kurve line puts a premium on comfort, with tunability via a soft or hard tensioner at the nose of the saddle. Continuing with their Spine Concept, three distinct models will be available. Depending on your flexibilty, you may fall into one of three categories. The most flexible of riders will ride their Snake saddle, someone with less flexibility will ride a medium or what they call their Chameleon, and the most rigid of riders, the Bull.
All three variations of the Kurve use a lightly padded cover over what Fizik calls their Re:flex Base. Constructed from thermoplastic composite materials, the base will adapt to the bodies twist and turns. The base is also designed with only a single layer beneath more critical parts such as where your sit bones and perineal nerves make contact with the saddle. The forged 2014 aluminum rail, named the Mobius rail, is designed to hold the saddle at the very ends of the saddle, allowing the rails to act as a sping under compression, complementing the flex of the base.
The Ultremo ZX is Schwalbe’s high end light weight tire featuring a 127 TPI casing. A triple RaceStar rubber compound comprising of a fast rolling center compound, with softer shoulder compounds for better handling. HD Speed Guard, a high density woven puncture resistance protection layer only available from Schwalbe. And is available in over a dozen colors. Though Schwalbe recommends all black for the very best in performance grip and durability.
Schwalbe also offers the Ultremo ZLX for those looking for an even lighter tire. The ZLX offers zero puncture protection, and is considered a race day only tire. Weighing in at just 160 grams, it sheds 35 grams from a normal ZX tire. But if you’re looking for an all out competition race tire that will offer the fastest, least rolling resistance tire, the ZLX may be your ticket.
Kuat (koo-at) is introducing an interesting lock for 2012. Aptly named the Bottle Lock, the lock lives in a faux bottle. The cable lock is coiled up inside the bottle and is completely self contained. The bottom of the bottle unscrews to reveal a small compartment, where the key lives, or possible anything else you might want to hide in a secret compartment on your bicycle. The Bottle lock sits in any bottle cage and can be moved from bike to bike easily. It’ll go on sale sometime in November for the MSRP of $34.99.
Kuat will be offering a new version of their popular NV rack for 2012, the NV Core. It’ll be a stripped down, CORE, version of the NV. It’ll still retain many of the key features that make it an NV, but lacks the Trail Doc rack mounted repair stand and will not come with the integrated cable lock. MSRP is just $439.
The lights category has been on a tear in recent years, with the advances in LED technology and battery life, higher lumen output in smaller packages are becoming more accesible to everyone. Light & Motion debuted their new Urban 500 at Interbike this month, an all in one system weighing in at just 113 grams. It sits above the Urban 180 and 300 in their commuter line. It’s said to deliver more lumens per gram than anything in it’s class. The use of a tool-less mounting system for bar or helmet is also a feature high on our list.
Separating Light & Motion’s commuter line from other competing options in the commuter class, are the amber side emitters. With amber side emitters, cyclist have a full 180 degrees of visibility to traffic. According to Light & Motion’s extensive traffic study, 70% of accidents occur at the intersections, so we’ll take all the visibility we can have.
Trek Bicycle and international poster phenomenon ARTCRANK have unveiled a new aesthetic for Trek’s popular District line. The Trek District ARTCRANK Edition combines Trek’s top commuter bike with graphics created by ARTCRANK Lead Designer Rob Angermuller. Hand painted and assembled by hand at Trek’s Waterloo, WI manufacturing facility, the limited production project, was an opportunity for both Trek and ARTCRANK to take their love for bikes and art in a new direction.
Genuine Innovations has a wide variety of CO2 cartridges, most popular for their 16 gram non-threaded and threaded cartridges, they just announced a new size to the lineup, the Fat20. Sure, you could get your road tire 700×23 up to 9 bars with just a 16 gram cartridge, but what if you flatted both front and rear? The Fat20 can get you back on the road with about 78psi per tire from just one cartridge.
The 2012 Proflate Elite CO2 tire inflator has been tweaked to work with more cartridge sizes, it now can utilized 12 gram threaded, 16 gram threaded and non, as well as the new Fat20 and 25 gram threaded. The new Proflate Elite is loaded with features including their EZ Connect and built in weather nozzle cover. It’s as simple as dropping a cartridge into the cup, attach the head, press onto valve stem, pull the trigger and you’ll be able able to control the inflation. With the bigger cartridges, you’ll have to screw the cartridge in place as they won’t fit into the cut. The whole operation can be done with one hand.
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on some relatively affordable aftermarket forged chainrings, your wait is up. Praxis Works aftermarket forged chainrings are now available at your local bike shops. For those of you who can’t wait, Praxis Works just turned the switch on for their own online direct to consumer website as well.
You can buy direct at their online store here
Available sets are:
Compact road rings (50/34) in
solid black, black/silver, or orange/silver for $160.
Standard road double rings (52/39) in
classic solid black, clover solid black, and clover black/silver for $170.
Retail packaged and ready to ship to consumers, Praxis Works forged chainrings
For 2012, DZR shoes will be introducing at least two new models, the Minna and a yet to be named performance shoe (line) that will include vegan options. Billy from DZR shows some of the new shoes off in the video above.
Photos after the jump.
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Mark from Giro shows us the 2012 Aeon road helmet. Imagine a helmet that gives you an advantage every time the road climbs or the heat turns up. Until now, you couldn’t get the benefits of lighter weight and better ventilation in a single helmet. But the new Aeon weighs only 222g in a CPSC approved size Medium. Yet it also provides cooling power equivalent to the most ventilated helmet ever made, the Ionos™. Plus it offers the luxurious feel of Roc Loc® 5, and an innovative thermoformed Roll Cage reinforcement. If you’re looking for the best balance of weight, ventilation and comfort, this is the new standard.
