PARK CITY, Utah (BRAIN) — Editor meetings with bike brands continued on Day 2 of PressCamp, which concludes Thursday.
After the work was done Wednesday, many PressCamp attendees rode over the mountain to a cookout at the home (and backyard pump track and jump line) of pro rider Eric Porter. Porter and others put on a low-key high-altitude show for the gathering, as shown on the right.
Look for full coverage in the July 15 print issue of Bicycle Retailer. In the meantime, some product highlights from our meetings Wednesday:
Ridley
"We put the SL on a diet," Ridley product manager Bert Kenens said of the new Ridley Fenix SLX Disc (below), with a frameset 300 grams lighter than the previous Fenix SL Disc endurance road bike. The 850-gram frame (in size medium) is made from a higher-grade carbon fiber to reduce weight. That weight also compares pretty favorably with Ridley's lightweight race platform, the Helium SLX, which weighs 750 grams. Ridley uses its diamond-shaped tube design on the toptube and downtube of the Fenix SLX Disc, adding extra material at the tubes' angles to protect the frame from damage on impact.
The build features Campagnolo's new Potenza Disc group, as well as a new version of Ridley's Forza house-brand wheels. The carbon rims are machine made in Germany by braiding carbon rather than overlapping pieces of prepreg, reducing the amount of material used and cutting weight. With DT Swiss 350 hubs and Sapim X-ray spokes, the wheels are 100 percent European designed, sourced and built, Kenens said. The Fenix SLX Disc is set for release this fall.
Five Ten
The upcoming District urban commuter shoe (shown below), in versions for flat or clipless pedals, is designed to deliver performance on the bike while still being functional arriving at the office. The sole is made from Five Ten's proprietary Marathon non-marking rubber, and the recessed cleat space means cleats won't click and clack when walking through the workplace. Other features include a polyurethane-coated leather upper for water resistance, breathable mesh tongue and reflective heel. "It's trail-tested too" for mountain bike use, Five Ten's Rick Reed said. The District will retail for $90 for the flat-pedal version, $100 for clipless.
At Outdoor PressCamp, running concurrently with Bike PressCamp at Deer Valley, Five Ten is also showing its Maltese Falcon Women's mountain bike shoe (MSRP $130), which launched at retail this week, and a new version of its Freerider Kids youth flat-pedal shoe featuring the Marathon rubber sole so little ones won't scuff up the floors at home, and simple-to-use Velcro closures rather than laces. It's set to arrive in stores in about two months at an MSRP of $70.
Thule
The DoubleTrack Pro (shown below) is Thule's lowest-priced platform hitch rack to date. It weighs just 35 pounds — 20 pounds lighter than Thule's T2 Pro XT premium hitch rack — making it ideal for recreational riders who take the rack on and off throughout the year, said Kevin McCormack, marketing manager for Thule. It also folds up easily for compact storage in the garage. Cushioned, pivoting bike frame clamps secure a wide variety of bikes, from full-suspension mountain rigs to step-through bikes, and the trays accommodate tire sizes up to 5-inch-wide fat bike tires. "The nice thing about this rack is we were able to borrow key features from some of our more premium racks," McCormack said. Those features include the folding mechanism from the T2, and cradles borrowed from the Easy Fold e-bike-specific rack with compression rubber to prevent frame damage. The DoubleTrack Pro retails for $349.
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Many PressCamp attendees rode over the mountain to a cookout at the home (and pump track) of pro rider Eric Porter on Wednesday.
