If you’re bummed about being shut out from Interbike every year, the folks at Western Spirit in Moab have just the thing for you: Outerbike. From September 30 through October 3 this year, regular Joes can saddle up and demo the latest mountain bikes from big manufacturers like Kona, Trek, Santa Cruz, and Yeti (just to name a few). Perhaps best of all, the event takes place in a true mountain bike mecca, Moab, UT.

Putting on a large scale consumer event like this is an ambitious project but it’s one we’d like to see succeed. Interbike has experimented with opening Outdoor Demo East to consumers and the Sea Otter Classic in California has become the de facto consumer mountain bike show over the years but Outerbike just may have some legs of its own. Who’s in for 2010?

Believe it or not there are things happening in the MTB world that have nothing to do with Interbike this week.

Chris Eatough is retiring. Yep, the man who won six straight 24 Hour Solo championships will call it quits after racing 24 Hours of Moab this month. Eatough has been a professional racer for 10 years and his retirement plans call for working for sponsor Trek doing product testing while offering coaching services on the side. The highly recommended movie 24 Solo features Eatough and his attempt at a 7th straight 24 Hour Solo title that takes place at the 1996 Olympic MTB course outside Atlanta. We’ll miss you Chris!

Trek working on Chicago Olympic bid. President Obama isn’t the only heavy hitter working to bring the Olympics to the Windy City in 2016 - Trek Bikes is doing a little lobbying and planning of its own. Chi-town’s Olympic plans call for cycling events to take place in and around Madison, WI including MTB events at the Tyrol Basin ski area which Trek officials helped scout for the committee. We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

10 day MTB stage race in the Himalaya. The Hercules Mountain Biking Himachal claims to be the third toughest mountain bike race in the world after Trans Alps and Trans Rockies but I’m not sure how official that claim is. Everything is tougher in a third world country where access to simple things like clean drinking water can be a challenge and the fact that only 12 of the 70 competitors are from outside India tells you something about the difficulty of this race.

The route is quite tough and passes through trails on lofty mountains and gurgling streams. The expedition will not only enable the participants to test their skill, strength and spirit but also enable them to enjoy the countryside beauty of the state.

Plus, any race that also bills itself as an “expedition” has gotta be a real challenge

Aside from the test rides Monday and Tuesday, there were a number of interesting things we learned at Outdoor Demo. Here are a few quick hits:

Trek 69er discontinued. If you’re a Trekkie you may have already heard the odd mashup between a 29er and 26er known as the “69er” is no more. I spoke to a Trek rep who said while the bike was “really popular” and sold well they had to drop it to make room in the product line. Sounds like marketing doublespeak to us but we’ll leave the final judgement up to you.

Salsa Big Mama: I actually demoed this bike on Monday and frankly I didn’t have much to say about it. It’s a 29er, it’s full suspension, and it rides like a pretty solid bike. Salsa bikes are typically a good choice for those who like to start with a frame and customize so check this one out if you’re into plush 29ers.

Power Bar Protein Plus Bites: element22 and I agreed that this energy/protein solution doesn’t taste terrible which is a pretty high complement. The bites look like donut holes and chew like a cross between a Clif Bar and a Powerbar.  I ate a whole package of chocolate peanut butter Protein Plus Bites for breakfast and felt fantastic.

Trends: obviously the 29er thing continues to gain momentum and this year we’re seeing more and more FS 29er rigs from virtually every manufacturer. Hardtails running standard size wheels have all but evaporated and the market for longer travel bikes seems to be exploding. Even companies like Scott, long known for sleek carbon XC mountain bikes seemed to be (exclusively?) pushing long travel DH bikes at the demo.

The carbon Trek Fuel EX 9.9 performs exactly as you would imagine it does: flawlessly. I had the chance to demo a shiny extra-large EX 9.9 today and here are the not so surprising conclusions I came to:

1. It’s lightweight. At around 26 pounds for a size XL stock model (minus the quick release seat post clamp) the Fuel EX 9.9 climbs like it’s on a t-bar up the mountain. Pedal bob is virtually non-existent and of all the full suspension XC bikes I rode today, the Fuel EX 9.9 rode closest to a hardtail going up.

2. Scandium wheels. Although it was tough to zero in on the performance of the wheels themselves, these babies are clearly lightweight and roll ultra true. Plus they look pretty sharp too

3. The Fuel EX 9.9 is a smooth ride, even at fast speeds over rocky terrain. With nearly 5 inches of rear travel this bike can take pretty much anything a serious cross country rider can throw at it and then some. I found myself picking lines not because I needed to avoid the hits - I just wanted to avoid flatting in the cactus! This bike transforms rocky, dusty trail into marshmallow.

4. It’s responsive and surprisingly stiff in the corners. Maybe it’s because I’m tuned to riding a 29er but the Fuel EX 9.9 felt super agile on tight sections. There was very little muddiness in handling despite having 120mm of travel up front and in back.

In the words of Ferris Bueller, “If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”

This week there are several large MTB recalls involving suspension forks and frames:

Trek is recalling 16,000 mountain bikes due to faulty suspension forks that can become misaligned leading to a loss of wheel control. No one has been injured yet but the recall affects 2009 Trek 7300, 7300WSD, and 7500 bikes. The suspension forks are marked “Bontrager SPA” and are manufactured by a Taiwanese company called JD Components.

Cannondale is handling a similar recall, though far fewer bikes are affected (just 1,500). The recall includes the 2008 Cannondale Adventure 2, Adventure 3, Adventure 2 Feminine and Adventure 3 Feminine which also use the JD suspension forks (these forks are labeled “cannondale AT35 adventure trail”).

Finally, Norco is recalling 36,000 2007 Team DH, 2008 Team DH, Aline Park, Aline, Atomik, Shore 1,2,3, and 2009 Atomik (without gussets) MTB frames due to an issue that may cause the frame to crack and separate. One rider fractured a collar bone after a fall due to a cracked frame. And these ain’t cheap frames either - most of these bikes sold for between $2,000 and $7,000.

In all three cases manufacturing was completed in Taiwan which may raise some eyebrows within the industry. It’s also interesting to note that Cannondale and Trek are using the same manufacturer for suspension forks on their low end mountain bikes leaving very little differentiation (other than marketing) between manufacturers.

Google Street View of Trek’s Waterloo, WI facility.

In February 300 workers at Trek’s Waterloo, WI road and mountain bike assembly plant were forced to work one week on, one week off without pay to help the company cut costs according to a human resources manager. There are 900 employees at the Waterloo plant and in March a “smaller number” of workers continued to work one week on, one week off. Side note: did you know Trek offers tours of their Wisconsin factories? Check this out.

Anyway, getting back to last week’s discussion about MTB price trends, this seems to be another indication that demand for bikes is slowing just a bit (after all, total employment at Trek was reduced just 5% as a “proactive” measure). Lower demand means even better deals at the bike shops. Maybe bike shops will start offering mountain bike two-for-one deals like some car dealers are doing - I’ll take one XC and one DH bike please