I walked the floors of Interbike for the last 3 days. I met with our suppliers, the folks behind brands like Ortlieb, Revelate, Thule, and Weehoo. After some catching up and business talk I captured video of their latest products some of which I will be sharing here after some editing.
The culture shifts of Intebike from year-to-year is something that always gets me thinking. Examining the current state of this intense microcosm of cycling personality and comparing it to years pasts gives me my bearing on how cycling culture is evolving.
The urban bike culture movement (aka hipsters on fixies) seemed to have a surprisingly diminished presence. The most notable factoid to support that was the absence of Chrome Bags who in years past had a massive booth full of hipster magnetism. I have no idea why they were not there though in Googling “Chrome not at Interbike 2015” discovered some hard to interpret references to them in connection to #sockgate.
Perhaps replacing the Urban Bike Culture movement, the BMX scene seemed surprisingly strong this year. In my wanderings I took a turn down an aisle that put me in the middle of the type of partying typically reserved for late night. Those kids were definitely enjoying their Interbike experience.
Having mentioned #sockgate, have a look into it if you haven’t heard of it already. As the inappropriately sexist sock gifting incident has already been incredibly well covered, all I will venture to say is that even if the incident itself reveals some of the backwater places that our cycling culture still resides in, the response demonstrates that change is afoot.
With regards to interesting new products, this wasn’t a banner year. That said, there are always incremental changes and a few oddities to capture the imagination. Here is a sampling of what captured mine.
Cleary Children’s Bicycles
Inflatable Car Trunk Rack – It Fits Into That Bag on the Cargo Rack
Bikepacking Saddle Bag by Restrap
COBI Smart Biking – Integrating your Smart Phone with your Bicycle
Lite Lok
Patches!