The wonders of UK rail transport meant that we didn’t have all that long at The Bike Show. Fortunately, Friday seemed to be pretty quiet so we could cruise around fairly easily. We’ve no idea what Saturday and Sunday were like, but we dare say the Bikemagic membership will reveal all…

Anyway, here’s a fairly random selection of things that caught our eyes:

The 4X course was longer and appeared a little more flowing than last year. And there was no monumental jump at the bottom of the start ramp. Racing was tight, and there were BMX races too. The BMX guys were also strutting their not-inconsiderable stuff on the street course and in the half-pipe, as well as on the flatland course. There were two separate trials arenas, one for the pros and one for the have-a-goes. Oh, and a test track for all and sundry to play on, hidden away in a quiet corner behind some seating…

Spurning the 1.5in steerer movement, Marzocchi have launched a six inch travel, single crown fork in 1-1/8in by simply equipping it with a steel steerer that’s so thick-walled at the bottom it’s almost rod. Stanchions are also steel, with a Ti nitride coating for extra slipperiness and blackitude. Marzocchi’s newest DH fork, the 888, has also made it to these shores. Only just, though – the one on Tracy Moseley’s new bike constitutes half of the total number currently in the UK. It’s got eight inches of travel, nitrided stanchions, a big axle and that’s about all you can tell about it really.

New Mountain Cycle importers Wind Wave very nearly have stock of the monococque marvels – here’s the all-new Shockwave 9point5 fully built up and looking really rather fine… Wind Wave were also showing a new range of Club Roost full suss frames that look pretty well sorted and at very reasonable prices.

 
Sheffield’s Edge Bikes had been burning the midnight oil to get their new bikes together for the show. This Blade DH was almost there, lacking only a chain. Looks pretty well sorted, and they’ve got freeride and XC variants too.

Despite sounding vaguely Spanish, Boreas are actually Danish. The company is headed up by an ex-Principia designer, so it’s little surprise that their range of road bikes leans towards the oversized aluminium. They’re not the lightest out there (claimed weight for the Ignis is 1.4kg) but the huge downtubes and cunning profiling should make them pleasingly stiff. We particularly like the barrel-shaped headtube complete with integrated cable guides. Oh, OK then, holes.

A little curio from Basta, this handlebar has six flashing LEDs built into it. Tragically they don’t scroll from left to right in a KITT style, but you can have half of them steady and the other half flashing, if you like. And there’re a couple more in the ends too.

USE have been busy over the last few months. As well as the SUB fork, they’ve managed to come up with a whole new range of bars and stems. The carbon bars are available in conventional and oversized diameters, with the oversized bar featuring variable cross-section and aluminium inserts at the control clamps and ends so you can put bar ends on and look slightly daft. The stem has a unique concealed steerer clamp designed to apply even pressure to fragile carbon steerers. It’s got a closed top – headset adjustment is accomplished by USE’s amusingly-named Ring-O-Star threaded doofer. They’ve also got carbon road bars and carbon suspension seatposts.

Yeti had all sorts of lovely shininess on display, but our attention was grabbed by this retro speed-biking weapon. Built for setting records on speed-skiing slopes, it sports studded tyres and a truly preposterous chainring…

Airborne had managed to leave most of their seatposts and saddles in the Netherlands, but the bikes looked good regardless – this is the new aluminium Liberator. They were also showing the Torch, a road bike built from seamless 6Al/4V titanium tubing.

Tucked away on the On-One stand (itself tucked away on the Tony Wilkinson stand) was this Welsh-themed saddle, just the job should you be, well, Welsh. They also had a new lightweight singlespeed hubset and some kites.

As we mentioned, there didn’t seem to be all that many people about on Friday. Were the other two days busier? What did you think about the show? Over to you…