Interbike show

Interbike's celebrity sightings

Jittery Joe's teammates Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

A special photo Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

The day began early for Interbike autograph seekers with the legendary Eddy Merckx stopping traffic at his own booth. Levi Leipheimer made quite a few rounds today, stopping by the Specialized, First Endurance and Ritchey booths and signing more than a few autographs at each one. Ritchey also featured former Canadian champion Gord Fraser, USPRO champ Chris Wherry, U.S. worlds team member John Lieswyn and Aussie mountain biker Niki Gudex. Nearby, Floyd Landis' presence caused a line to snake around the CycleOps display as he greeted fans. Fast Freddie Rodriguez was signing posters and bags of his coffee at the Ridley display.

Crank Brothers held a swank party at one of the poshest night spots in Vegas Wednesday - the Palms Ghost Bar, some 300 hundred feet above the ground with a window in the floor looking all the way down. Phil Liggett and Bob Roll were on hand to introduce the evening, as was Egg Beater sprinter Fred Rodriguez. Jittery Joe's riders Geoff Kabush and Tim Johnson were also spotted, but taking it easy with the upcoming cyclocross season right around the corner.

Look keeps carbon legacy strong

The man behind the carbon Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

Carbon lugging Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

One of cycling's major proponents and developers of carbon fibre framesets and components is French company, Look. The company's managing director, Thierry Fournier, gave Cyclingnews a personal tour of the company's continued foray into carbon designs. Fournier is most proud of the expanded line-up of carbon in the framesets and pedals, offering a greater variety of price options to consumers.

"Last year was the launch of the new Keo pedal and new frame - the 585 which is a really light, carbon lugged system," Fournier explained. "What we did this year was to expound these systems over a more complete range. We expanded the Keo and we now have four members in the Keo family. So we now have an entry level price up to the Keo titanium."

Look's signature line-up of framesets launch riders like Thor Hushovd to sprint victories, as Fournier explains: "The frames are the same thing, because we now have a 565 to make a very well balanced range. It's a brother of the 585 - a little heavier and the bottom bracket is constructed of aluminum - but only a 250 gram difference."

Fournier was also eager to show the latest version of its carbon seatpost, called the Ergopost, which while very light, offers a unique feature - one bolt to provide multiple seat angles and 20mm of setback range. This is the same as effectively altering a frame's seat angle by up to two degrees or more.

Earlier versions of the Ergopost used a three-hole pattern to achieve this huge range of adjustment. The new design, according to Fournier, provides almost the same range of adjustment as the Ergopost 2, but without the need to remove the seat-clamp bolt.

In the earlier version, with the seatclamp bolt in the first hole (closest to 'bars), the post offered about the same amount of setback as a regular seatpost. Moving the bolt also moves the cradle that supports the rails of the saddle, and the middle hole is some 10mm back, and the third (furthest from the 'bars) yet another 10mm, so there was some 20mm of fore-aft adjustment offered. This is still provided in the new model, but without the need to remove the bolt - it can be loosened and slid back without removal.

Orbea revamps online and TT machine

Orbea's latest offering Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

The Orbea Obru Photo ©: Mark Zalewski

Orbea-USA is offering customers and dealers a handy new tool in selecting just which Orbea is right for them. Their newly developed online interactive bike builder will show you all of the component and accessory options for your chosen frameset - after you choose which colour, of course. The site goes down to the smallest detail, even showing you what the difference between a 110mm and 120mm stem would look like on your dream Orca. Customers can get a print out with the finished picture and detailed specs to bring into their dealer for pricing, or to give to send to Santa via the North Pole.

Orbea's new carbon time trial and multi-sport bike, the Obru, was also on display, sporting a very different looking seat tube design and fairing-style fork.