9 for ‘09: Holiday Gift Ideas from Interbike

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Want bling? Go to Las Vegas. Want bike bling? Go to Vegas during Interbike. This annual five-day bicycle trade show hosts 800 vendors and more than 1,100 cycling-related brands, all vying for the attention of 23,000 attendees and 500 journalists.

From small-town bike shop owners to Wall Street suits to legends like Armstrong (who jetted in from a New York City meeting with President Clinton), LeMond and Merckx, Interbike is an annual deal-making soiree for everyone who is anyone in the bike industry. And this year, as Wall Street melted down out east, things were booming in the halls of Vegas' Sands Convention Center. Thanks to increasing gas prices and a growing interest in cycling for transportation and fitness, buyer attendance was up 21 percent from 2007. All the vendors I spoke to were exuberantly exhausted by all the business they were doing.

In September I spent two days sorting through those thousand-strong brands, looking for holiday gift ideas for Competitor readers. From 39 cent bike bells destined for the shelves of Wal-Mart to jewel-like $18,000 Italian road bikes destined for the garages of America's upper-crustiest roadies, there is a gift idea for every taste and budget at Interbike. My methodology was strict and precise: wander around and note the stuff that jumped out as particularly practical, innovative, or just plain cool, and select items in a wide range of prices. The prices shown here are the manufacturers' suggested retail prices and all products are available in bike shops or through the listed Web sites.  

11-Speed Campagnolo Super Record Gruppo

$3,600 - www.campagnolo.com

I remember when my roadie friends grumbled about the advent of the seven-speed derailleur. "Who needs that many gears?" the curmudgeons grumped. But as far as my knees are concerned, you can never have too many gearing options, and now Campagnolo has introduced an 11-speed Super Record component group that's redesigned for more precise shifting, longer life, and lighter weight. You can use the 11-speed gear cluster on your existing 10-speed hubs. As with all things in Campy's top-of-the-line Super Record brand, the design and finish on this carbon fiber, titanium and ceramic-bearing gruppo is aesthetically perfect - Italian design of fetishistic wonder. The component group is backed by a four-year warranty, too; strip a shifter gear three years out, and Campy takes care of it. 

Pedros Vice Whip

$70 - www.pedrosonline.com

Removing a gear cluster from your rear wheel used to start with an awkward tool called a chain whip and end with a curse and a quarter-inch of your knuckle left on the teeth of your cog set. Those days are gone with this marvelous vice-grip-like tool that clamps down on a sprocket and allows you to immobilize your freewheel without reaching for the chain whip. Why didn't someone think of this sooner? 

Felt AR Team

$9,500 - www.feltracing.com

The gift for the person who's been insanely good all year. Felt's carbon fiber AR road bikes debuted at the 2008 Tour de France and came about at the request of the Garmin-Chipotle pro team, which wanted to enjoy the aerodynamic benefits of Felt's time trial bikes on their road bikes. The result is a wind-cheating machine that Felt spokesman Bryan Melton told me was originally conceived from plastic molds and clay in the San Diego wind tunnel and is now the world's fastest UCI-legal road bike. According to Felt, the AR saves 58-75 seconds of riding per hour when compared to a round-tube bike in identical wind conditions. The AR Team is the same bike Garmin-Chipotle's riders use, and it retails for $9,500 with Dura Ace components and Zipp 404 carbon fiber tubular wheels. A $7,500 AR1 with Shimano's new electronic Dura-Ace gruppo will be available in 2009. A non-team issue AR2 with Dura-Ace components is also available for $6,300.  

Mavic Wintech HR Cycle Computer

$209 - www.mavic.com

Good design simplifies. And that's why I like the Mavic Wintech; it takes an existing bike component, the quick-release lever, and merges it with the magnetic pickup for a speedometer. No more wires, no more zip ties, no more plastic growths sticking out from your forks. The wireless computer tracks heart rate, speed, distance, time and cadence (with an optional cadence unit).  

SRAM S60 Wheel Set

$1,300 - www.sram.com

While it used to be the case that wheel lightness was the holy grail of improved bike performance, wind tunnel testing has shown that deep-dish carbon wheels deliver speed improvement through aerodynamics that often trumps the improvement delivered by lighter, but non-aero low-profile wheels. That's why you now see most pro riders in the Tour de France riding deep-dish wheels, even in hilly stages. This year SRAM entered the wheel market by rolling out this gorgeous, sturdy, and totally aero set of carbon fiber wheels that deliver Tour-level performance at an affordable price. Weighing 1,750 grams for a pair of clinchers with a 60-milimeter rim depth, SRAM program manager John Paul McCarthy told me the S60s were designed by engineers from SRAM-owned Zipp, and are tough enough to ride day in and day out as both training and racing wheels. Their white, red and black graphics also make them look wicked cool on the bike.  

Café:ine Coffee

$11.49 - www.cyclingcoffeecafe.com

Café:ine Coffee Café sells eight blends of whole bean coffee. The espresso that flows from these beans is rich and savory. I know because it kept me moving during my days tramping the Interbike trade show floor. A percentage of sales goes to Rock Racing's Professional Cyclist Catastrophic Rider Relief Fund, a non-profit devoted to helping injured cyclists and increasing public awareness of cycling issues. And since good coffee is as integral to cycling as air is to a tire, it's a can't-miss gift for cyclists on your list.  

Prologo Choice DEA Women's Saddle

$149 - www.prologotouch.com

If your honey rides, get her one of these saddles and you'll be a hero. The same saddle brand ridden by pro teams Milram, CSC, Rabobank, and AG2R, the DEA is designed specifically for female anatomy. But what makes these 236-gram racing saddles stand out is that fact that you can pop off the saddle's top and switch to one of five color patterns depending on your sartorial or seasonal mood. Kind of like putting a new skin on your iPod, only it's your bike seat instead. There is also an optional hard-sided $40 seat bag pod that clips on to the saddle and, unlike a saddle bag, won't flop around or rub against your leg. 

A Dog in a Hat by Joe Parkin

$21.95 - www.velopress.com

In the 1980s American cyclist Joe Parkin took Bob Roll's advice and moved to Belgium to have a go at pro bike racing. A Dog in a Hat is Parkin's page-turner memoir of his time making it in the toughest bike racing country on earth. Drugs, betrayals, subterfuge, breathtakingly blatant bribes, hellish weather - it's all here in a wonderfully readable tale of suffering and survival in the pro ranks as a dog in a hat; the Belgian figure of speech for something that's as out of place as an American in the tradition-bound ranks of Belgian cycling.

Moots Gristle Mountain Bike

$3,550 - www.moots.com

When you telephone Moots' bicycles headquarters in the Colorado ski town of Steamboat Springs, you might well speak to the very person who built your bike. In fact, when I stopped by the Moots booth to check out the Moots Gristle mountain bike, I spoke to Moots frame builders Mark Rasmussen and Brad Bingham (shown left and right in photo). Like all Moots bikes, the Gristle 96er (so called because it has a 29-inch front wheel and 26-inch rear) is hand-built from titanium in Steamboat Springs. The dual-sized wheels make it a head-turner, and according to Bingham the larger front wheel makes the bike "really fun and stable for cross-country riding" while the small rear wheel gives the bike quick acceleration and punch. The titanium bikes are exquisitely built, and Moots' reputation as one of the finest boutique bike builders in the world is deservedly earned. You can order these frames in standard stock sizes or have one custom built to your specifications.

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