More pork than you can poke a ruddy large stick at and the gear you will be drooling over in 2011 can only mean one thing. The return of Europe’s biggest bike show, Eurobike. Getting his bike porn fix was Matt Baird…
The first thing that hits you about Eurobike, apart from how hard it is to get a room in this town - it‘s been like Trains, Planes and Automobiles minus John Candy and any pillow incidents, is the scale of the place. Aircraft hanger after aircraft hanger packed to the gills with bike bits fill the exhibition park. It’s true kid in a sweet shop stuff. Apart from if you’re a hack with only a day to spare. So here’s our whistle stop tour of Eurobike 2010, starting with bikes…
With Alberto Contador set to pack in the crowds at the Specialized stand on Wednesday and Thursday, what better place to start than the Tour de France carbon bikes that’ll be lining T1 come the start of next season?
Although its chain stay probably garnered more column inches than its carbon know-how, Contador and his arch nemesis/BFF Andy Schleck took first and second in the general classifications at the Tour riding the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3 (the steed also came out on top in the time-trials too). The bike features alloy dropouts, a carbon fibre bottom bracket and tubes built with internal stiffening rods and a tapered front end. Watch out for a limited edition paint job celebrating Specialized’s yellow jersey gobbling 2010, a year all marketing men must surely dream of.
Staying with all things carbon, also on view was Scott’s F01 road bike. Ridden by the fastest man on wheels, Mark Cavendish (a man so fast he caused an outbreak of laughter on the Champs Elysees in July, click), the teardrop frame of the F01 was developed with aero wizards and previous 220 interviewees Drag2Zero and, claim Scott, offers a 20-30% reduction compared with a standard tube. Also catching our beady eye was the Cervelo R5 frame (previously known as Project California) as ridden by the God of Thunder, Thor Hushovd. Improvements for 2011 include a newly tapered front end and a frame weight under 700g.
Back later with more from the bike show behemoth…