Interbike shifting outdoor
This year's Interbike will be different from former editions in one notable way: There's never been a more clear divergence between how the bigger bike companies do business versus the smaller brands. Specifically, it's about timing.
For the bigger brands—Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, Schwinn—as well as many mid-sized brands of particular note to triathletes, like Felt and Cervelo, the calendar reads differently than it used to. Interbike is no longer an order writing show for them. It's not a find-a-dealer show. These brands have their dealers, and have already extracted their orders. Indeed, China is fast building the bikes to fill these orders as retailers are boarding planes and heading for Vegas.
For these brands, the Interbike show is less relevant than it has been in times past. More precisely, that part of the exhibit inside the Sands Convention center is less relevant to them.
For these brands, July, or even June, would be a more convenient month for Interbike. But don't look for America's bike show to change its spot on the calendar, because the majors wouldn't come during those months either, unless the grand tours decide to vacate their spots on the calendar (furthermore, the retailers wouldn't come in late Spring, because that's prime selling season).
This doesn't mean the big brands aren't coming to Vegas, rather that the fight has been taken outside. Felt and Cannondale have significant presences at Outdoor Demo this year, but neither has an exhibit inside the hall. While Cannondale has 200 bikes at Outdoor Demo, the entire Cycling Sports Group, which includes GT, Schwinn, Mongoose and Cannondale, will have only a 30'x30' booth to share at Interbike. To put this in perspective, my booth just prior to leaving the manufacturing milieu was twice this size, for Quintana Roo and Merlin.
Cervelo has no booth indoor or outdoor. They'll have folks in town, and I'll be attending a Cervelo party, along with the Slowtwitch backbone (Herbert and Rappstar).
Trek, likewise, will be at Outdoor demo with a large fleet, as will Giant (see our current Outdoor Demo photo galleries on the front page), but neither will have a booth in the exhibit hall (though Giant will be participating in Interbike's Fashion Show).
Specialized bucks the trend, with a 200 bikes at Outdoor demo and a booth inside the hall. Scott is inside also, as well as a Look Cycles. Orbea will be in its traditional exhibit hall booth.
The smaller brands, however, are still jockeying for floor space, and/or they've been working on their new designs right up 'til showtime.
The lack of the flagship brands and their anchor booths doesn't mean the show is without intrigue. Most of what interests me is what hangs on the frame, since I don't physically touch the frame itself when I ride. The aerobar companies, component makers, saddle brands, and the rubber that meets the road, will all be on display. In fact, "contact point companies" might be the theme and the force at Interbike, at least as regards what triathletes are interested in.
Think about every place you touch something. That's what I'll be looking for. So, armrests, extension ends, brake levers, saddles, cycling shoes, socks, pursuit bars, the spatial relationships between them all, helmets, apparel, wetsuits, how they contour, whether they're soft, this makes a bike (and everything else) comfortable or not.
I expect manufacturers have given thought to these things, and, why not? This is Vegas. If it's got curves in the right places, and is soft to the touch, is there a more appropriate city in which to display it?
