Garmin was showing there soon to be released Edge 500. The Edge 500 has a lot of interesting features, it has a flatter body and the graphics look improved? It is more like the Edge 305, since it doesn’t have on screen mapping capability, but it doesn’t have the 305′s Virtual Partner nor a couple of other course features, which I never used on my Edge 305 anyway. It does have some additional features for heart rate, a power meter, and a temperature gauge!
Hope had the new eternity seatpost on display. The naming was due to the extremely long time it took to get it to market. The clamp system looks to be very nice to adjustment, and it should have the good engineering that always comes from the Hope factory.
Maxxis only had the Ardent 29×2.4 as a new tire, which yours truly was involved with as a prototype tester. The new 29×2.4 has reinforced sidewall protection, good traction, and rolls and accelerates quite nicely. The extra girth of the tires are a welcome addition, especially in the big 29er tires.
Nothing really new at Continental tires, except they changed the name of the Rubber Queen to the Trail King. Why? Who knows, the bike industry is not exactly the most politically correct group of people? I really like the tires, and much preferred the old name, Rubber Queens forever!
I’ve been wondering for a long time why the Edge doesn’t show temp and barometric pressure. Seems they would be nice to know out there and I think the device captures them anyway to calculate altitude?