Crankzone

While walking between appointments at Interbike, element22 and I spotted a large, well-lit booth with carbon fiber mountain bikes, all decked out with high end components. The name, Triace, wasn’t familiar so we stopped to investigate. We were told Triace, out of Bentonville, AR, just launched this year with five well-equipped hardtail mountain bikes (four [...]

For 2011 POC has expanded its protective equipment and apparel line-up, adding a few extra colors plus cool new gear for the trail rider. Last year was hugely successful for POC and it looks like 2011 will be another great year. The new Trabec helmet, a mix between a DJ and XC helmet, headlined the [...]

I’ve always been a fan of the Garmin Edge series of GPS devices for mountain biking but to be honest the color screen units (605 and 705) always seemed overpriced for the feature set. This year the company is planning to release the Garmin Edge 800 and at an MSRP of $449 (sans basemaps) it [...]

iXS is a brand that has been around in Europe for a long time. How long? Since 1906 (!) when they started out as a bike and motorcycle repair shop. In 2001 the iXS Sport division came into being and along the way iXS picked up management for not one but four major European mountain [...]

What’s really in a name? Well, get up close to a Morewood and you’ll know understand. I think most of you will agree, these bikes look pretty damn hot. Morewood bikes are no-nonsense machines from South Africa that were well thought out before being thrashed around, and then thought over again before going into production. [...]

Every year I’m excited to visit the Camelbak booth because it seems like there’s always something new and this year was no exception. The Camelbak hydration system has been around for more than 20 years but it’s been a while since the venerable blue bladder has seen a major update. Camelbak’s newest bladder, the Antidote, [...]

USA Cycling and the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) have re-vamped their joint Trail Tune-Up Grants Program. This year a single, larger grant has been awarded to the group displaying the highest need and most initiative to complete trail improvement projects. The Mountain Bike Association of Arizona (MBAA), in conjunction with the Flagstaff Biking Organization [...]

Hi everyone. Well one of the first stops for me this year at Interbike was a visit with a friend of mine Lance Tuller, the Importer of Spank / iXS / and Morewood bikes. This year Spank went and spent a ton of time developing and improving an already impressive line-up of components. Basically the [...]

While element22 and I haven’t had a ton of time to wander around the show so far, we have come across a few strange and interesting products like: Scented bar grips. Spank’s Tugg Job Grips come in scented fruit flavors like apple, orange, and grape (pictured). We’re told the scent, which you can smell from [...]

Here’s a quick one for the GPS geeks like me out there. For 2011 Timex is introducing its first GPS-enabled Ironman watch, the Global Trainer, and it’s chock full of features. Beyond the typical GPS functions you’d expect – speed, time, distance, elevation – the Timex Global Trainer is ANT+ compatible with dozens of third [...]