A few months ago, I found out I’d be attending Summer PressCamp for Element.ly. More stories will be rolling out from us shortly, but for now, here’s 10 items (in no particular order) we saw there that we’re very excited about.
1. Fabric
The Fabric line is uber cool from a tech nerd point of view. Exotic materials, clean aesthetics and obvious think out of the box approach to product designs. It’s like going to an Apple event except no product is locked inside a case with a line just to check it out. The ALM saddle made in collaboration with Airbus (yes, that Airbus) is downright badass and not to mention beautiful. But that’s not it … Their cageless water bottle system is a nice departure from what we know as far as water bottle cages goes. Can’t wait to give it a whirl.
2. That Ridley prototype all-road bike
It’s pretty darn sweet … more on that soon.
3. Focus Raven MAX
At just under 20lbs for a medium SRAM XX1/ RockShox RS-1 build, the Focus Raven MAX’s angular look might be a turnoff to some but the bike is an unmistakably efficient cross country racing machine straight out of the box.
4. Wahoo SNAP stationary trainer
We know the original Wahoo trainer Kickr trainer kicks ass in terms of simulating road feel and performance. But it’s heavy and heavy on the wallet too. Here comes the Wahoo SNAP trainer. Priced at a bit less painful $800, the SNAP might just be what you get if you put the Kickr and your typical stationary trainer together. I love how easy it is with our iOS devices in terms of setting resistance down to a watt for precision training (or turning it into a nice fun torture device on wheels). That said, I do wish it came with a built in battery or had a battery pack option to make race day warm up easier (you could run it with a power inverter in your car) but the SNAP is a wonderful option for home training.
5. Tava aero helmet from Kali Protectives
Everyone seems to be making aero helmets these days along with having claims and charts saying they are the fastest. What makes Kali’s new offering different is that it’s designed for both high and low-speed impacts. Sitting between your head and the helmets are what they call the BumperFit2.0 layer to absorb the slow speed impacts. Speaking of the helmet itself, the in-molding is different than your standard straight EPS foam in that it is co-molded with separate density foam called Composite Fusion Squared to further protect the head. Aside from the safety features, what’s even more interesting is that Kali points out although their helmet is not the fastest in straight headwind (when was the last time you went on a ride with nothing but perfectly straight headwind?), the Tava is more aero than competitors in other angles (read: it’s faster in crosswinds).
6. AlpineStars F-lite gloves
I really dig its thin, perforated pad-less palm and nice stretchable upper. AlpineStars‘ F-lite is your ticket if you’re into lightweight gloves and don’t mind not having hard knuckle protection. Oh and plenty of colors to match your outfit for the day.
7. Camelbak
This Camelbak is not your ordinary lumbar pack. Roomy enough to fit a 1.5L reservoir with still plenty left for tools. It’s flip open gear compartment will neatly hold your essentials (and then some) for rides where bigger hydration packs are an overkill. Lumbar hydration pack also keep the center of gravity closer to the ground. I rode the pre-production version and while it initially took me a bit to adjust to the location of the hydration hose, I also didn’t have a giant heat absorber on my pack. The pack is also designed with the idea of having the hydration pack hug your body so there is less of that weird wobbly rocking feeling associated with typical hydration packs.
8. Pivot’s 429 Trail
A 29er race trail bike with a bit more travel, slacker geometry, plus Boost spacing front and rear compared to the popular 429 SL. This bike climbs and rips man. The 116mm rear travel doesn’t seem a lot on paper, but it felt like there was a lot more travel than that. Perfect if you can only afford one mountain bike (read: a lot of us) to do it all.
9. Stan’s Avion road disc wheels
Stan’s novel new Neo Hub series is a nice touch in addition to the Avion rim that’s wider (at 28mm) to compliment the new wider tire trend as well as to handle both high pressure on the road and lower pressures for gravel/cross application. Oh and sapimspoke/nipple in both pro and their fancier (and lighter) Team configuration. Sounds like a good option in the increasingly crowded pre-build wheel market.
10. Speedgoat
… And the ever-elusive sighting of the Speedgoat full suspension bike. While Speedgoat didn’t actually participate at PressCamp, we got a look at this ride and were quite intrigued.