More images from the 2016 Giant Bike product launch.

 Giant Demo is Aug 23rd. 

Ahhh, Colorado. Home of the
inspiration for The Shining.
Go see Room 237 on Netflix now. 

Too early for people to ride sweet new bikes? Huh... 

You're looking at it, but what exactly is a Giselle? Though it's good looking, it's not Tom Brady's wife, and it isn't this:

This is a Grant's Gazelle.

It confused me too, but looking into it a little further, that bike is not, in fact, a new Giant model per se. It is the new Giant Trance 27.5 1. Seen here 

Giant  names each individual demo bike they have to keep track of them, apparently. And it makes for a very quick process of getting the right demo bike for you. Yes, they paid people to sit around and come up with a fleet of names rather than just numbering them all. Then they printed that name in a stylized font on the top tube of the new bikes they were launching that no one was familiar with. Those people then took pictures of the bikes to apparently confuse people like me who are then searching for what a Giant Giselle is. No, I don't know why they would try to do that to us, but what I do know is that 27.5 wheels, in this 5.5" package, is a nice do-it-all, yes-I-live-in-Boise-but-I-also-travel-with-my-bike machine. The colors work as well, we think, and you can ride one on Aug 23rd when the demo fleet makes it's way to Boise's Camelsback Park. We hope to see you there. 

 

We went to Colorado to ride the 2016 stuff. A very initial smattering

"I promise I wasn't the guy who started the poop fire." 

2016 Giant products are rolling out and the Giant demo truck is slated to be here in Boise Aug. 23rd (more info on that is coming soon, keep checking here and on our events page). We recently went to Colorado to sample the line. Here are some initial pics with more to come. 

The fleet's ready, with the LIV brand
representin' for the ladies. 

 The owner just had surgery and could only ride commuter bikes. Then they gave him these glasses. Wha wha wha whaaaa

We like to get to the events early, obviously. 

Getting to the top of Vail Pass on a decidedly city-oriented Momentum bike is impressive, however.
If only he could've gone down on that sweet lookin' trail  

The very capable Momentum Street

But have you seen these? They look fun. Yeah, they're not the most "core" fatbike out there, but you no longer have to invest $1500 to get into the movement. Coming soon. 

It is Colorado, after all. Hotel's gotta cover its bases. 

The Unreal movie premiere last Saturday was no joke.

If you remember the movie production group that went by The Collective, they were pretty awesome. Anthill has now taken the reigns (no pun intended...equine forces are involved here). 

They rode on glaciers, they rode in Hawaii...they rode down a mountain with a bunch of stampeding horses?? This is not a proper movie review by any means, more of just a "hey, if you didn't catch Unreal at The Egyptian in Boise the other night, you should try to see it by some other means"-type of write-up.

Gone is the "Crusty Deamons of Dirt" style of hand-held filming of some guys launching off cliffs put to death metal. All these guys have style, some of them have tricks (most are executed on natural terrain), and most of the footage, beginning with a stunning Brett Rheeder opening, is of them going fast. I don't do backflips, so I identify more with watching people go much faster than I can.

Also when you're watching: Brandon Semenuk starts driving his pickup to the top of a mountain. At that point, pay attention. One. Continuous. Shot.

Let's talk about the new Ibis Ripley

The 29", 120mm travel, Ibis Ripley is heralded as one of the best performers in the Ibis line and is the most appropriate Ibis for most people's riding style in Idaho. Newsflash: they just announced they're making it better.

Here's the lowdown: the new Ripley will be offered in two geometry options, one being the tried and true version with identical numbers to the current one, the other will be the LS version that will be "L"onger and "S"lacker. That translates to a half inch longer top tube and an almost 2 degree slacker headtube.

The other differences are welcome but more subtle. The rear end will be offered in either a 148mm version (Sram) or a 142mm (Shimano) version, the seattube came down by about a half inch so you can get more drop out of your dropper post, there's more tire clearance, the eccentrics are beefed up, and (dear lord, thankfully) cable routing has been improved.

You can get them looking very close to either of these:

And you can go here to check out more. Don't expect to see them until August or later, but we're working on getting them in ASAP.

As for current in-store Ibis news, we have two HD3's now in stock. One is the Medium 917 color scheme with an XT Werx kit, the other is a Large Black with an XT kit (with a Pike fork). In addition, we just got in a black, size Medium Ripley (current model year) with an X01 kit. Come by and check 'em out...anytime...we have air conditioning.

Oh, and we will be getting an HD3 in for DEMO next week. Just one for now. Size Large. Black with a Pike fork and an X01 build. If you're interested in taking it out on the local trails, call to reserve (336-3854). Again, not available until the weekend of 7/11!!

All for now, enjoy the weekend.

Roots Rated is coming to Boise

This is still a ways off, but put it on your calendar. We're working with Roots Rated to get all the best info on what to do outdoors in the Boise area into an easily accessible format. So far so good, with more to come, and they're good blokes to boot. See what they're all about here, and we hope to see you Saturday, Aug. 1 for...wait for it...wait for it...beer! You buy a pint glass, you get it filled with frothy goodness, and the money goes to a good, local cause. More info to come.

Pannier Guy...on the topic of why no one likes you.

Sing us a happy song, Pannier Man. No? Typical.

With "touring" actually in the name Idaho Mountain Touring, you can bet we stock ourselves some panniers. We'd better...and to be honest we want to. Touring is cool, and we support it. Commuting is cool and we support it. Essentially, riding your bike is awesome no matter how you slice it, and if you need to haul some stuff along then panniers are a great way to go about it.

Here's the thing, though. I've worked in my fair share of shops, and just about every time Pannier Guy comes through the door, the worker bees flee or groan or both. The scenario is as such: Pannier Guy comes in and asks if we have any panniers. Some unlucky soul escorts him to our wall. Never mind what the wall happens to look like, just assume for our purposes it's the most mind-blowing-ly awesome pannier display ever. Salesperson starts asking questions on the way.

"So, are you looking to commute, or are you going on a trip?" Don't uhhh [with relative indifference]. "Do you already have a rack?" Guuhh. [condescendingly, somehow] "How much gear do you need to carry?" Puhhh [meaning: I've stopped listening to you] "What bike is it going on? How weather resistant are we gonna need these things? Do you need them to be super-easy to remove?..."

Pannier Guy, looking at the Wonka Pannier Factory-land in front of him: "Well, do you have anything else? This isn't much of a selection."

"If you're looking for something else, we'd be happy to order it for you. Or we can both go over to the computer and see what other options are out there."

I'm coming for ALL your panniers! Just.. not those ones.

Pannier Guy: No...that's ok

"Were you looking for a specific brand?" ....as Pannier Guy mumbles and looks down on his way out the door. End of scene, homies. Fin. I'll turn it into a Pannier Guy hate-screenplay if you want more some other time.

As a salesperson, though, that type of an interaction leaves one very frustrated (that's OK, it's why we get paid), and I'm sure Pannier Guy isn't too stoked either. Yet I see it over and over again. 

Our actual pannier area.

Here's how I'd like to help. First, that's a best-case pannier salesperson I depicted. It doesn't always go like that, but if it does here's what you, Pannier Guy, can do on your end: at least try to know what you want. You don't have to educate yourself, we're here for that, but ask yourself what your needs are. Try to answer some of those questions above. When you do, you might see that what you want actually is right in front of you, or at least we can get it. But we need some sort of direction, which means you need some sort of an idea of what you want to do with these things. 

On our sales floor right to-the now. 

Another point: you can get a great rack, and then add Arkel or Ortlieb panniers. You'll have a setup that will outlast your bike, but it's gonna cost you. As with anything, be prepared to fork over for the nice stuff and don't act completely thunderstruck by the notion that it might be over a hundred bucks. 

If your frequency of use, or budget, is less than herculean, that's fine, systems like Trek's Transport setup, or Topeak's, are nice, come with an unconditional guarantee, and have panniers and trunk bags that install/remove in seconds. Convenient, and they'll last at least a few years. 

So just take a breath; have a Coke and a smile, Pannier Guy. Your long road awaits, and Uncle IMT's just here to help.  

Ibis Bike Demo Announcement - June 2 (can keep bikes overnight to return by noon on the 3rd)

More info here (but give them a few days to post it. Trust us, it's happening)