This past weekend, Philly Bike Expo moved to their new date early in the year to bring brands small and large to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia. The show has a history of spotlighting many small builders and brands, along side industry mainstays, advocacy groups, and artisans, along with hosting many seminars on topics like frame building, bike fitting, cycling during pregnancy and travel. Kids also had their own section to ride and test their skills.
As it is my local show, I always enjoy the short drive to the city and meeting up with friends from the industry and checking out what is new. We’ll have a few more articles following in the next week or so as we get our coverage together for the event.
Saris
The big news for the Wisconsin brand is a new rack for people that are looking for something simple, yet elegant for their larger SUV’s. The brand has many options to choose from, including the MHS modular system that we recently reviewed, but Saris wanted an option for people that are just looking for a rack.
The Edge is a new two tray, 2″ hitch rack. That’s it, no add-ons, no swapping trays, just a 2″ mount. While the MHS has a more modular look to it, the Edge has the trays mounted directly into the side of the center beam to give it one piece appearance. The opposite direction trays use a Shepard’s hook mount for the front wheel that can either be down when not in use, or raised up to a specific point where it stops in its upright position. The hook can be pulled out to extend it, but will return back to starting position to apply constant pressure on the tire, even if it deflates during travel. The rear wheel straps into a chock that can be moved forwards or backwards to fit the bike’s wheelbase. The wheel can be mounted on top of the chock to raise the bike up or behind it to lower it to help alleviate any contact with a second bike mounted.
The New Edge bike rack. 
In a departure from other Saris racks, the Edge uses a knob on the stinger to tighten the rack up. 
The Edge uses a Shepard’s hook design to hold your wheel in place. It stops at the proper upright position. 
The hook automatically retracts in case you lose air pressure in the tire. 
The blocks allow you to strap the tire down in front or on trop of the block to avoid interference between bars and saddles 
The Edge will be available as two trays only, and 2″ hitch only. 
Saris also had the MHS on hand for those looking for customization.
We’ll have more info on the new rack coming in a full article soon, along with some new products coming soon. As for trainers, with the recent price drop across the entire line, demand has picked up significantly. Nothing new coming quite yet as they catch up, but we’ll report more as we get it.
Schwalbe
New tires and a slick new valve system were the highlights of the Schwalbe booth. We also had a chance to check out their new branding, which is very subtle compared to past offerings.
Later last year, Schwalbe updated their gravel line, launching the G-One R Pro series. Three tread patterns are available, the RS semi-slick, R all-rounder, and new RX, which features a more aggressive, larger boom-a-rang pattern down the center to offer grip on more extreme conditions, while also shedding mud well. Each model is offered in 35-50mm in 5mm increments, and feature the Super Race carcass and new Addix Race compound and a wider V-Guard layer for more protection. All tires are offered in transparent or black sidewalls in 40 and 45mm.
On the Mountain side, they recently launched a new radial casing, which changes the angle at which they cut the casing material. This makes it more flexible, giving the tire a 30% larger contact patch. This is important, as it will allow riders to increase tire pressure without losing grip, so they can run without tire inserts. At a 7psi increase in pressure, you’ll get a 10% larger contact patch compared to regular casings.
Schwalbe also had their Clik Valves on display. If you think about it, Valves haven’t changed much in the last 75 years. Schrader was the original from 1844, then came Dunlop in 1888, and finally the Presta in 1911 that most cyclists use today. Schwalbe’s new valve is actually a retro fit with inserts available for all three valves. You simply unscrew the valve insert, and screw in the new Clik Valve. It is a simple positive connection, just press it on and pull it off, and doesn’t require the pump head to clamp down on the stem. The new design looses a minimal amount of air, about 0.1 psi when you disconnect the head, and the easy on and off means you won’t damage the valve stem. You can still use regular pump heads with the valve stem (except Lezyne), but the system works best with the adapter. Tubeless valves are available in 40, 60, and 80mm starting at $30, with replacement cores at $12.99. You can also buy a kits that comes with a set of cores and either a pump head adapter that fits in any Schrader pump and can be taken with you, or a pump head conversion that replaces the pump head on your home pump, for $19.99 and $16.99 respectively.
Luma
Luma is a new brand entering the titanium segment. Created by long time industry vet Rob Vander Veur, he wanted to create bikes that offer some trick features in a performance bike that is fun to ride. The name comes from his kids names, Lukas and Max.
The line is starting with three different models, the Meridian gravel bike, En Fuego MTB, and the Starparty adventure bike. All of the bikes share some similar features, like a T47 bottom bracket, UDH derailleur hanger, the option to run semi or completely internal routing with ported and polished tube junctions to protect the housings from getting cut, and a trap door feature at the bottom bracket that routes the cables and hoses under the bottom bracket, keeping it away from rubbing on the crank spindle. Branding is kept simple, with anodized logos on the down tube and top tube, and an engraved head tube badge. All frames are available through a growing dealer network, or you can build your own dream bike right on their site using a wide array of groupsets and components.
The Meridian uses more traditional geometry that is not quite race, but uses a lower stack height compared to the Starparty. It can take up to 50mm tires, and still has mounts for racks and fenders, along with a top tube and lower downtube mounts.
The Starparty is the adventure bike in the line. It’s geometry was designed to work with up to 60mm of travel on the front end, with more stack and a slacker geometry. It’s not quite a mountain bike, but built to be rowdier than the Meridian. With 50mm of tire clearance, you can build it up as a flat bar, riser bar, drop bar and can run a dropper. It has all of the rack, fender, and storage mounts as the Meridian. The show bike had a slick MRP fork, that has mounts for light loads on the fork.
The En Fuego, is the hard tail mountain bike. It can handle a day on the trails, or multiple day trips with bags strapped on. It has a 67 degree headtube and can take up to 130mm of suspension on the front end. With generous clearance, it can fit up to 29×2.6″ tires.
The Starparty is a bike made to take on just about anything. 
T47 bottom brackets on all Luma frames, along with ported and polished tube junctions to avoid damaging hoses/cable housings/wires. 
A slick trap door allows access to routing cables under the bottom bracket to avoid rubbing on the crank spindle. 
Machined drop outs with a UDH derailleur hanger and 160mm brake mounts 
The En Fuego hardtail mountain bike.
Luma also had some slick seat posts to show as well. The full titanium posts are available in 27.2 and 31.6mm diameters with 0mm or 15mm setbacks. The welded head uses a captured clamp system that is spring loaded to push the cramps outward when loosened to make it easy to swap saddles, but not lose the small parts.
HandleStash
HandleStash is a new brand for us. The Colorado brand started with a cup holder that actually works for a bike. Adam Saplin, the company founder, was looking for something that would hold his coffee on morning cruises that wouldn’t leave him with his morning brew splashed all over his bike and leaving a dripping trail along the path. After two years of development, he launched his first shock absorbing cup holder. The design features a rubber clamp and support ring that helps to absorb some of the vibrations while also being able to clamp in multiple places. The flexible design helps to smooth things out over bumps. You’re not going to use it on a downhill run, but for bike paths and casual commutes to work, its got you covered.
From there, they decided to branch out and add some additional products. The Stem Bag was created to carry larger bottles, like Nalgene, Hydroflask, Yeti, etc, and is insulated to help keep them cool for up to seven hours. Two D-rings let you take it with you by adding a shoulder strap, which is sold separately. They also offer two handlebar bags, the smaller Snack Bag, which offers 1.5L of storage and a diagonal zipper for easy access, and the 2L Big Mouth Burrito bag that uses a easy to open U-shaped zipper opening and includes webbing to daisy chain items onto your bag. There’s also a small side pocket and a larger webbing strip on the other to strap something into. Like the Stem Bag, two D-rings also let you attach a shoulder strap to make it a cross body bag off the bike.
HandleStash manufactures all of their products in Colorado, using mostly American made parts, including their packaging.
Heckling Editor, Image Taker, Crash Test Dummy, and Beard Master at Bikeworldnews.com
~Veggie Powered Athlete~
Location – Lancaster, PA
Current Testing Rigs – 2024 Van Dessel Arch65, 2019 Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, 2018 Van Dessel Motivus Maximus LTD, 2016 Van Dessel Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 2015 Bianchi Sempre Pro, 1978 Trek TX900
Dream Bike – I’ll tell you when they make it
Discipline – Cyclocross, gravel, road and duathlons (ride/run)
Favorite Rides – Quiet country roads of Amish Country, some of the best roads around.
Food of Choice – Sweet potato roll
Beer of Choice – Unibroue Grand Reserve 17, aged four years
Bourbon of Choice – Widow Jane 10 Year