2009 Interbike goes down in the books.

It was no secret that 2009 was a season that had retailers biting their nails. With that dark cloud leading up to Interbike, it was going to be anybodies guess as to how busy the booth would be.

Keeping the stress levels low this trip, I flew out of HIA. Traveling at the crack of dawn has it advantages; obviously an early arrival for those inclined to help set up the booth and second, a magnificent view above the clouds.


Sun up courtesy of United Airlines. I can see from where the color of our bikes has originated. If you separate the tangerine and yellow and you can detect a hue of celeste'.


Most of the booth construction was done prior to my arrival, so I lent my cleaning skills to wiping the bikes and primping here and there. The bike in the back ground is a show concept bike-- Pista Classica. Bianchi fans alike were freaking out over this bike.


After the booth was assembled and all the bikes were where they needed to be, we had 3 extra bikes. They needed to go back into the box truck for storage so that meant riding them a few blocks to their new home. I'm on a Iseo and honestly this is the most time I'd ever spent riding this model. Seriously, it's a fun bike, manual-ing small loading ramps and bunny hopping speed bumps...hmmm, maybe a new 'family' bike that I'll add to my fleet. Now if we only made a fixed gear version without v-brakes...


The final booth, stocked and ready to roll. For the second year in a row I was surrounded by the finest mountain bikes which are made in the USA- IBIS and Intense. Looks like it'll be a good week.

The crowds rolled in and overall Wednesday and Thursday were really strong days for showing the line. It seems the LBS are looking for retail solace with a brand like Bianchi.

Photo courtesy of TRAFIK (Timothy Jieh and Ace)

Tim and Ace from TRAFIK stopped by the booth. Ace had his micro 2004 Pista Concept. I love how the photo above came out. The 2010 Super Pista frameset and the 2004 PC. Thanks for the props guys! Be sure to check out 'To Live & Ride in LA'. It's should drop sometime next month.

The general opinion of the 2010 bikes is, Wow! New models like the 928 SL IASM, Infinito Ultegra, Super Pista, Vigorelli, Dolomiti Athena, Via Brera/Condotti all took top mentions. In fact, at the beginning of the show I joked about our Gran Fondo and Urban categories as they flanked the same isle. My thoughts were, daily, the carpet would be worn out more than any other row. Sure enough; the end of Wednesday and Thursday the carpeting was pill'd up way more than the other rows.

Besides our steel road bikes being the benchmark of the industry, we've made changes to the Via Nirone bicycles by upgrading their cranks to Shimano from FSA and Prowheel (excluding the VN Tiagra). Who wouldn't want better shifting, especially on the front.

I'll do some individual reports on key bikes and outstanding comparisons as the winter approaches.

Ciao!
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Will Mahler

2010 Bianchi Super Pista

Well folks, here it is finally. The 2010 Bianchi Super Pista frameset.


As some of you may remember the 2009.5 version was an Italian mid-year release on a new frame and a new frame design based off the tubeset shape of the 2009 B4P 1885. We've now gone back to the roots of the Pista Concept frame, gave it a stronger rear end, made it nonchalant but classy with seat tube and downtube graphics from the 1930s era Bianchi. You have to see it to believe it, oozes sex appeal.

Limited numbers again so get them while they're available!

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Will Mahler

Justin Raynes Pro level SOK SRAM

This guy is a pro-racer after my own heart.


Justin is an employee of Bikes Unlimited of Williamsburg, VA. After years on the race circuit with a Bianchi Oetzi, this year he added a 29er to his quiver of race bikes. A tool for every trade, a bike for every type of course.


The bike is roughly 50% stock, here is Justin's take on his race-ready 29er and a bit regarding his carbon hardtail Oetzi:

Here are a few pics of the bike and my setup. Hope you like the looks of the bike, what I like most is my gearing on my crank, I got TA specialty rings, and Blackspire. The 22-34-44 is too much to push on most MTB trail. Running those combos makes it feel a lot more like my carbon Oetzi. I got it weighing around 22.5 lbs depending on my tires and wheels. My Oetzi weighs 21 lbs, so I’ve got the 29er pretty light.

FRAME: 17.5 2009 Sok
FORK: Rock shox reba race, remote lockout
WHEELS: Mavic crossmax 29er(mainly for training and little races), SET #2-- American classic hubs, DT revolution spokes, aluminum nipples, No-tubes 355 rims(hand built by myself, only for racing)
CRANKS: Shimano XTR crank(picture shows a triple, I run a 2x9 setup with either, 28-40t or 26-38t depending on the climbing; this saves weight and the gearing works a lot better with the bigger wheels).
CASSETTE: SRAM 991 12-34
CHAIN: SRAM 991 hollow pin
FRT DER: sram X9
RR DER: sram xo
SHIFTERS: SRAM XO twist shifters
BRAKES: Magura Marta SL red
ROTORS: Magura SL
STEM: Truvativ team
HANDLEBAR: Truvativ Noir World Cup carbon
SEATPOST: Thompson setback
SADDLE: Selle Italia SLR Gel flow
GRIPS: ESI chunky
TIRES: Hutchinson Python, No-tubes Raven, Kenda Karmas & Smallblock eight (all run tubeless with Stan’s Sealant)
PEDALS: Time carbon/ti
OTHER ADDITIONS: Ti rotor bolts, red aluminum bottle and brake bolts, Elite cages(usually run one cage)

The Nokon cables are a classy touch for the twist shifters. That makes 2 of us that would choose twist shifters for a race machine.


There's no denying that Shimano's XTR crank is among the stiffest on the trail. There's no denying that Justin's wife's tat on her foot had to hurt like hell, ouch!

Thanks for the support Justin and best of legs in 2010!

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Will Mahler