Tucked away in the nooks and crannies of the Sands Convention Centre, Interbike plays host to plenty of intriguing inventions. Some of them are from big companies, some from garage tinkerers…

Pic: BikeBiz

Falling firmly into the former camp is GT. This is the business end (which is actually in the middle, but we won’t quibble) of the new I-Drive. It’s said to behave in the same way as the old I-Drive, but instead of the eccentric bottom bracket, the new version has a swinging BB shell driven by a new ‘dogbone’ link. All the bearings are the same as the ones used in the integrated headset.

Pic: BikeBiz

Maverick’s bonkers lightweight twin crown XC fork has been seen in prototype form before, but this is the near-production version. It cropped up on a few bikes as well as Maverick’s own. The fork has a welded lower crown and is switchable on the fly between 4 and 6 inches of travel. Yes, it is an XC fork, really…

Pic: Andy Armstrong

Crank Brothers had a new super lightweight version of their already lightweight Egg Beater pedals. The Triple Ti version is almost entirely titanium. Nice packaging, too.

Pic: BikeBiz

As tradition dictates, USE were showing their anti-dive SUB fork which will apparently be available Real Soon Now. They also launched a few new bits, including new carbon fibre MTB and road bars. This is the splendidly-named Ring-O-Star headset adjustment gizmo. It lives under your stem and allows headset adjustment by turning one of the alloy rings. Remember the Zero Spaceman? Like that.

Pic: Andy Armstrong

In the garage category we have the Wick Werks linear derailleur. Trundling derailleur cages up and down rods instead of using parallelogram linkages is an idea that pops up occasionally. This one looks pretty tidy and apparently worked well on the stand. The makers say it needs some more development before being allowed out into the wild.

Pic: BikeBiz

And finally we have a helmet with built-in speakers. Quite a simple idea, really. The speakers are moulded into the foam of the helmet, and there’s a jack socket round the back that you plug your personal music device of choice into. Certainly a far better idea than wearing headphones, although passers-by may not agree.