The 2011 Taipei Cycle Show - Day 2/3 Recap (part 2)!

Not so many major brands participating at the Taipei Cycle Show. For instance, you won't find brands like Specialized or Santa Cruz here, and some other major brands showing here are just distributors representing their brand. But still, there was a lot to be seen at the show.

If you think the name KTM is only associated with hardcore off-road motorcycles, prove yourself wrong: the Austrian company already making bicycles since 1964. Jump to the 21st century and you'll see same sharp design lines commonly found on their motorcycle (and car) counterparts, as shown on this Aphex downhill bike.

Also interesting are their 26" dual suspension trail bike and their 29er bike, with tight tire clearance as the result of short chainstays.

SLX direct-mount front derailer spotted. Strange, I didn't find them on their manufacturer's booth.
Look at that cable routing. 

You can also see KTM's time trial and Di2-equipped road bike, with less sharp design lines.

Lapierre, with their big-drop hitter Froggy, trail-muncher Zesty and their cross-country sled X-Control. Not much difference from last year's edition.

Focus shown up with a different approach to four-bar link rear suspension design, featuring rear suspension installed on the top of the toptube. Their road bike lineup is also nothing to be missed out.

I've shown you some of Giant's offering on my earlier post. Of course I still save some of the best for last, like this TCR Advanced specially built in limited number to celebrate Taiwan's 100th anniversary and Trinity, their TT monster.

While we're at it, here's another TT bikes to be astonished at.

Kestrel, the brand pictured above, shared booth with Fuji. Looks like they have same distributor for Taiwanese market. Here's a few offering from Fuji, along with a carbon fiber cyclocross bike.

You can't discuss time trial bikes without mentioning Look. Check out also their details, such as carbon front derailer mount and bottom bracket shell.

 

Ridley is a bicycle manufacturer from Belgium, which is infamous for serving up the harshest cycling conditions such as rain, cobbled non-category climbs, snow and ice. No wonder they made such wonderful cyclocross frames as shown here.

They also made beautiful road frames with intricate details, as shown by pierced headtube shown here.

No more cable-scratched headtube. Brilliant.

Machined replaceable dropouts. Neat.

Speaking of machined metal here's what I found on Da Bomb's booth: heavily-machined bottom bracket cluster on their flagship downhill frame, the Tsar Bomba.

New on their arsenal, the Castle Bravo 29. Yes, with 700c sized rims.

With all the hype surrounding the recent launch of Trek Leopard team, I rushed to Trek's booth... only to find these. Apparently only their Taiwanese distributor appeared on the show...

The Speed Concept 9, in stock factory livery.

You can't say "Trek" without mentioning "Lance" these days.

Some wild graphic over there.

...but I guess I just have to try harder. Here's what's waiting just around their booth corner.

Speaking of Lance, here's what's shown on Giro's booth: Ionos helmets, with Lance Armstrong Collection graphic design. And I'm still lusting for a plain white one to replace my trusty 4-years old helmet...

Then we move along to KHS' booth. They offer a lot of bicycle lineup, including classic geometry all-steel Club 2000 road bike, the 650c-wheeled Manhattan, everybody's favorite Flite 100 (now in different livery), the mud-loving CX 100, to their latest big drop muncher DH 300 (ahem!)...

A dedicated downhill freak with trained eye will recognize this frame, somewhere. Teehee.

...to KHS' attempt at the latest hype in mountain biking, 650b wheels. Also known as 27,5" wheels, the diameter of 650b wheel is claimed to be in the middle between 26" and 29", providing better rolling and tracking just like the 29" wheels, but with less weight just like the 26" counterparts.

Look closer. Reeeeeally closer. The writing on the wall said "27.5 x 2.10".

Next is the name behind the original FSR/Horst Link suspension setup, Nicolai (quick history flash: Specialized purchased the FSR patents from AMP Research, and Karl Nicolai worked at AMP in the early 1990's when AMP founder Horst Leitner, was developing what became the FSR design). The German company is consistently one of the most innovative in the world, churning out a gaggle of forward-looking design, as shown in the double-toptubed, dual crown fork equipped, belt driven bike over here.

Whoa, Nelly.

But if you're looking for something more mainstream, here's another look of their offerings.

To end this second part of my day 2/3 recap, here's a bikepark/slopestyle frame from FireEye, the Match. With adjustable rear dropout and built-in derailer hanger, you can built it as a singlespeed with shorter fork for pure park/dirt ramp sessions, or change into a longer travel fork and a 9 speed drive system, for all-day trail fun.

Do you think this report only ends in the second part? NO. We're not having fun yet, so stay tuned!