FRANKFURT, Germany (BRAIN) — Day 2 (July 4) at Eurobike did not include fireworks, but pretzels, wiener schnitzel and potato salad were an acceptable substitute for hot dogs, apple pie and, well, potato salad. We gathered some more product and business news tidbits as we celebrated the holiday in our own, independent, way. Here are a few things we turned up.
The War on Presta, Part 1: It seems the industry is Just Fed Up with those darned old Presta valves. Several brands, including Reserve, WTB, e13 and others, offer "high flow" alternative valve stems, and we've found at least three new ones (so far) being launched at Eurobike. Tire maker Schwalbe is getting behind the Clik Valve, which promises increased air flow for seating tires, resistance to clogging, and a more solid connection to pump heads (it clicks! or Cliks).
Unlike other Presta alternatives fighting the War, the Clik Valve replaces the Presta core in a regular inner tube or tubeless valve stem — it's not a replacement for the whole stem. It's also relatively cheap: a pair of cores with a pump head adapter will retail for $9.99; two cores without the adapter will retail for $9.99, making it affordable to change over a garage full of family bikes. The downside is that an adapter is needed for pumps, pressure gauges or CO2 inflators. Schwalbe is planning to make tubes with the cores eventually and is already working with SKS on compatible pumps.
Schwalbe will be selling the Clik Valve in the dealer market globally while a company founded by the design’s inventor will be selling a nearly identical product, called First Clik, through Amazon at the same price.
Need more? Our colleagues at Pinkbike took a look at the product in more detail.
The War on Presta, Part 2: Stan’s also is showing a new Presta alternative at Eurobike, promising high-volume/low-clogging excellence, among other features. The Stan’s Exo-Core tubeless valve stems work with standard pumps and gauges and are compatible with tire inserts and modern rim shapes. Two stems will retail for $55. A YouTube video explains how it works better than I can. Stan’s also launched a line of “Biobased” bike care products at Eurobike, including a bike wash, wet lube, dry lube, grease, degreaser, suspension oil and ForkBoost, which lubricates and cleans suspension fork seals. And Stan’s is showing its upgraded high-volume tire sealant injector, first shown at Sea Otter in April.
The War on Presta, Part 3: Muc-Off’s Presta challenger, the Big Bore, wins on color and function options, plus it has a cunning little lever that opens and closes a ball valve. When the ball valve is open, the stem is unobstructed because there is no core, allowing up to 264% more airflow than Presta for tire seating and sealant installation. Introduced at Sea Otter this year, it now comes in three versions: The Lite version works with Presta pumps and Presta-drilled rims. The Hybrid version works with Schrader pumps and Presta-drilled rims, and the new Ludicrous version works with Schrader pumps and rims. They retail for about $45 per pair and come in three stem lengths and six anodized color options.
Feedback Sports has expanded its repair stand line with the Pro E Lift, a motorized electric stand that can raise bikes weighing up to 110 pounds to a maximum height of 76 1/4 inches. Naturally, the stand uses Feedback's Speed Ratchet clamp jaw and Spinner Knob. The clamp's lowest heigh puts the clamp at 34-inches off the ground so bikes can be easily rolled onto the clamp. Feedback says the $1,200 stand is intended for consumer use because it's lightweight (55 pounds) with a compact footprint. It has two wheels so it can be rolled out of the way when someone insists on parking a car or truck in the garage workshop. But, the Feedback folks said, there's no reason it can't be used in a professional setting especially if a shop needs a motorized stand that doesn't need to be bolted to the floor. Garage mechanics who are also garage band members will recognize the stand's height-adjusting buttons on the base arm: They are electric guitar foot pedal switches. 
Parlee Cycles emerged from bankruptcy last year with a new owner, John Harrison, who appears to be investing heavily in the Massachusetts carbon bike brand. The brand is back at Eurobike with hopes of expanding its dealer base in Europe. And in a surprise move, Parlee now has two new carbon frame models manufactured in Western Europe. Parlee's practice for years has been to manufacture its custom frames in Massachusetts and to import stock frame size models from Asia. But Harrison said that sourcing from Europe has several advantages, including:
- the finish quality is much nicer, allowing Parlee to offer a raw, unpainted finish on its imported frame models for the first time. The brand has always offered that finish on its custom frames.
- The uncertainty around the U.S. trade war with China makes it desirable to move production out of that country (ironically, Parlee is one of the brands that successfully petitioned the U.S. Trade Representative to exclude Chinese-made carbon frames from the 25% Section 301 tariffs).
- Finally, manufacturing in Europe will create some shipping and tariff savings as the brand grows its European sales.
Parlee showed its first European-made frame, the Ouray all-road model, at Sea Otter this year. It planned to launch a second model, the Taos gravel bike, in Frankfurt on Wednesday, but the airline lost the bike for a couple of days. "It's hard to launch a bike without a bike," Parlee's Tom Rodi said. So for Wednesday and early Thursday, the brand put a "Wanted" poster where the Taos should have been. The bike showed up on the Fourth of July.
Want to know more? Our colleagues at Velo assessed the Taos' merits and features.
Finally, for today, we were impressed with the packaging, marketing and breadth of Dynamic's cyclist-care product line. One European distributor described Dynamic as "Muc-Off but for the road." The brand offers about 100 SKUs, including lubes, grease and cleaners for bikes, and sunscreen, laundry detergent and shoe deodorizer for the cyclist. "We don't just look at the bike, we look at the user journey of cyclists," explained Jurgen Pietjouw, the head of marketing for the Dutch brand. The Dynamic brand dates to the 1980s, and was once owned by the Tacx trainer company, which was acquired by Garmin. Dynamic's current CEO, Rob Fleu, who was Tacx's head of sales and marketing, bought the brand from Garmin in 2020 and has grown it considerably. Dynamic supplies and sponsors three of the largest road teams in the world: RedBull Bora Hansgrohe, Alpecin Deceuninck and Visma-Lease a Bike. Dynamic currently has no U.S. distribution; Pietjouw said it's focused on serving its growing European sales for now.
