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Eurobike 2013 Day 0 randoms - Giant, Surly, Minoura, Continental, Bont, Vaude

A few pics from a quick stroll round the halls

From the tiniest widget-maker to the biggest bike maker in the world, everyone descends on Friedrichshafen, on the shore of Germany’s Lake Konstanz, at the end of August, for the annual Eurobike show. It's set-up day, so we dodged and weaved among the forklifts and chippies to snap a few things that caught our our eyes before the show gets properly started.

Canyon's prototype town bike


You asked us to be on the lookout for practical bikes, so here’s Canyon’s prototype townie, with toothed-belt drive, hub dynamo, built-in lights, hydraulic disc brakes, mudguards and comfortable carbon seatpost.

There’s even a built-in lock, though Canyon envisages the lock cable staying put (that’s it in the background, dangling from the pole) while the lock goes with the bike.

Want to see more? Here's a gallery of official pics, courtesy of Canyon product guy Sebastian Wegele who tells us that he sees the Urban Concept bike as being like a VW compared to the 'Formula One' road racing bikes we ride at the weekends. You put up with it being a shade slower because it's a lot more practical.

Giant TCX Advanced crosser


Arguably the most advanced drop-bar bikes at the show aren’t pure road bikes, which are still somewhat hamstrung by UCI rules, but cyclo-cross bikes. Giant’s TCX Advanced carbon-fiber cyclo-crosser uses SRAM’s hydraulic road discs - no surprise, they’re everywhere - and combines them with Giant’s vast expertise in making carbon fiber frames under its own marque and many others.

Giant’s clearly paid a lot of attention to vertical flex in the back end of the TCX Advanced. If the carbon lay-up is right, the dropped seatstays will get a you a bit of flex, and the seatpost is shaped so it’ll also flex a little. That should amount to better rear wheel traction for racers and better comfort for those of us whose competitive days are but a fond memory.

Up front it’s a different story. Giant’s Overdrive 2 headset has a 1.5in lower bearing and a 1.25in upper. Between the bigger steerer and increased head tube size it all adds up to a stiffer front end that’s more likely to go where you point it.


Slotted into the oversize head tube is a fork that’s unique as far as we know; instead of a 9mm quick-release axle, it takes a 15mm through-axle hub. Again, that should make for a better-tracking front end.

Cinelli Hobo


The return of the touring bike, part 98 - Cinelli’s Hobo.

Blackburn bounces back


Part of the mighty Bell Sport group, Blackburn’s had a quiet couple of years, but the brand’s back with a bang this year. A quick snoop round the stand turned up this rather nifty front light that adjusts its output according to the conditions, and a range of panniers.


Given how long Blackburn has been making pannier racks - at least 30 years - it’s slightly amazing that it’s taken this long for Blackburn panniers to emerge, but they’re here and we’ll take a closer look sometime over the next couple days.

Kryptonite carries it off

Kryptonite is another company that's branching out into obvious-but-useful territory. Having filled almost every lock niche imaginable, Kryptonite’s brains trust has turned its attention to the problem of lugging the darn things around.

Rather than the  clips and clamps other lock manufacturers have tried, which are great if your bike has a spot for them, and useless if not Kryptonite suggests you carry your lock in one of its range of frame bags, or its tidy plastic tube.

Surley's not straggling


Want an old-fashioned tourer in up-to-date guise? The Surly Straggler is billed as a disc-braked cyclo-cross bike, but sure looks like a tourer to use.

Surly has made it as versatile as possible with dropouts that will take hub or derailleur gears and lots of eyelets and mounts for racks and mudguards.

Bont's cheapest shoes ever - and colours



Bont has two new developments: a £99 road shoe, the Riot, and a custom colour program for the Vaypor and Vaypor Plus shoes that offers you the choice of 14 colours on any part of the shoes, so you can change the panels, piping, logos, even the stitching to express your own taste.

Continental updates GP4000s


Tyre companies seem to favour evolution over revolution so here’s Continental’s evolution of the popular GP4000s, the - drum roll - GP4000s II. You can have the 23mm version on eight different colours and there’s a 28mm version that sounds perfect for go-faster long-range road trips.

Vaude puts a foot forward


We’ve not spotted Vaude’s line of mountain bike shoes before, but these look the business for commuting.

Minoura celebrates 80 years


We love these Minoura cone spanners and Allen keys more than we can begin to tell you, which probably just shows what a bunch of saddoes we really are. They will be part of a special edition toolkit to mark Minoura’s 80th anniversary and are made by Hiro knives, a legendary Japanese bladesmith who happens to be just down the road from Minoura.

There will be 100 toolkits made with the tigerwood handles you see here, and a ‘deluxe’ edition of 80 with something even more exotic. How much? If you have to ask...

Giant goes bling for Vos


We got a bit excited by how much we love the looks of the Giant Propel and took way too many pics of it even though it’s not new. Oops. Here’s the Marianne Vos edition of the Liv Enve.

Check out the gallery for a whole lot more.

For more pics from Eurobike, check out our Instagram feed.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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12 comments

Avatar
Rob Simmonds | 10 years ago
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I'd just like to point out that the last time I tested a Surly I really enjoyed it.

Just a hint...  3

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Benjamin Nickolls | 10 years ago
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Can you cover more canyon please!

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pepita1 | 10 years ago
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Definitely want to have FULL details on the Surly Straggler, please.  1 And any women's stuff is always appreciated.

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recipher | 10 years ago
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Not the first cross forks designed for a 15mm axle, these are available aftermarket:

http://whiskyparts.co/catalog/forks

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gw | 10 years ago
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I think those Bont Riots will be a big seller - still heat mouldable?

The TCX advance looks great, id like that, but more road orientated, compact c/s and guard mounts please!

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BBB | 10 years ago
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+1 on 28mm GP4000

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koko56 | 10 years ago
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Any note of availability on the GP4000s... II?

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mikroos | 10 years ago
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+1 on the 28's. The additional comfort and grip provided by wider road tyres is just amazing while the difference in rolling resistance is negligible. Now I'm only waiting for 25mm tyres in colours - they might become very popular once they appear!

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jackh | 10 years ago
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28mm GP4000? Finally! It's good to see that people are starting to accept the obvious advantages of larger road tyres, which is resulting in manufacturers making even high end tyres in the larger sizes. 25 or 28mm or perhaps a combination of both f/r are perfect for most people.

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PJ McNally replied to jackh | 10 years ago
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jackh wrote:

25 or 28mm or perhaps a combination of both f/r are perfect for most people.

Indeed - but which way round? IIRC i read an article advocating the wider tyre up front to help with cornering, with the narrower at the back. Where was it?

Oh - as always, it's Sheldon Brown -

http://sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html

"Mixing/Matching Tyres" section makes the case for both:

" Narrower Front, Wider Rear
If lightness is the primary goal, tyre width/weight is limited by the risk of pinch cut flats, a.k.a. "snake bites." Since there is more weight carried on the rear tyre, you can get away with a slightly narrower tyre in front than you can in back.

Wider Front, Narrower Rear
A wider front tyre makes sense in many applications, however, when handling and ride comfort are considered. A wider tyre will generally provide better cornering traction than a narrower one, assuming appropriate inflation pressure.
"

This is off topic, so I'll start a thread to ask people which way round they use.

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mikroos | 10 years ago
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Vaude cycling shoes are not that new actually. I have a pair of them and they are actually awesome. If anyone's interested, you may find my short review (and a few photos , too) here: http://www.kochamrowery.pl/2012/12/buty-spd-vaude-termatic-rc-sezon-moze... . Enjoy!

I also wonder what the GP4000 II will be like. Will they be faster than GP4000S or still a little bit slower? Seem promising!

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Ducci | 10 years ago
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' .....and a custom colour program for the Vaypor and Vaypor Plus shoes that offers you the choice of 14 colours on any part of the shoes, so you can change the panels, piping, logos, even the stitching to express your own taste.' Or lack of taste  4

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