g'day,

just back from the bike show......1st impressions...mmmm....carbon!....seems everone is on the carbon bandwagon these days....saw the new Look 486's the 585, (colour coded seat posts!) the new Mavic Cosmics....the only set of 'Keo' titanuim pedals in the country. Look made my missus cry when I realised the new HSC5 fork is only available in the 05 colours...so If i want to upgrade the fork, the only way it'll match the bike is If I buy an 05 frame as well!! ....its a hard job but somebodies gotta do it!.......saw the Cervelo R2.5...quite nice, but the 'lugged' look doesn't really do it for me.....hands up all who reckon the new forks on the PInarello's are the ugliest thing in cycling!...nice frames though....Ok Hitchy's review time

Best looking thing in Carbon (excluding the 486) Leggera (can't remember the model name)...absolutely superb...natural carbon...full record carbon...zipp 404's ....no change outta $10k though.

Biggest Stand:...the Lance mob...more bikes, more carbon...looks like the 5200 & 5900 etc have morphed into compact frames called 5.5 & 5.9's.....The madone now has various guises as well....in case you missed it....some bloke called Lance's picture was plastered everywhere...what are they gunna do when he retires?

Interesting Stands: Shimano, have the Ultegra 10 out now...doesn't appear to many cosmetic changes to the U9 from years gone by.

Giant: some interesting changes to the TCR range (more later)
Pearl Izumi: special mention cos they sold me 3 pairs of socks for $30 (RRP $75)

OK...bikes for Badsac to look out for: Orbea have an interesting new carbon frame called an 'Onix'......centaur, Ksyriums $4.7 RRP but will deal...very nice. The guy tells me its made in Taiwan to compete price wise with Giant & to give Trek the *****s..worth a look

Scott C1 team.....$3.7 K with 105....ksyriums.....very very smick looking frame

Giant had something called a TCR 'Euro'...centaur & Ksyriums for around the same price. Guy tells me the lateral stiffness has improved markedly over the 04 frames & the 'twitchiness' in the front end has been resolved....looks very nice

Avanti had some nice looking carbon/ alu melds...priced under $4K, depending what gruppo you wanted...

notable absentees from this years show: Bianchi, colnago, Scapin, & anything in steel (not a smelly super prodigy in sight!)...all up...no real 'wallet opening',mouth dropping new equipment or deals....but very nice anyway thank you very much!.....Now...how do i prize $5K from 'she who must be obeyed ' for a new 486 frame?

Hitchy