Cycle Show 2010: bits and bobs roundup from Topeak, 3T, Rolf Prima, Carradice, Fizik and more

After Thursday's rush round with the camera to shoot the shiniest things we could find, we dug a little deeper and actually asked some of the chaps on the stands to show us their wares. There's always lots to see at the Cycle Show and some of the good stuff is either hidden away or just very small and hard to spot. Anyway, here's some of the bits that we particularly liked

Topeak Ratchet Rocket

Why – WHY – had no-one made this before. It's a tiny ratchet set that easily fits in the palm of your hand and it has a thumbscrew on the ratchet too. So you can fit a bottle cage bolt, for example, just by thumbing the bolt round till it's tight then giving it a couple of cranks on the ratchet. Genius. We absolutely definitely want one.

Topeak Race rocket and BBB Hoseroad

We're lumping these two together for obvious reasons. Pumps had hoses, then someone decided that they didn't need hoses, then someone realised that they're actually a lot more useful with hoses. We're not quite back where we started because today's hoses are captive so you don't lose them, and are adaptable for different valves. These two look like capable road pumps.

BBB Ovalintegrate pump

This pump from BBB is super slimline and designed to wrap around the tube of your bike so that it doesn't spoil those beautiful lines.

Bike Bag wrapping

Bought a bike for your son/wife/mistress for Christmas but can't be bothered to wrap it? Help is at hand: just buy one of these natty bags and drop it over the top of the bike. Job's a good'un. Works best if you have a bike stand though...

London Fixed Gear stand

If you're going to the show then it's worth checking out the LFGSS stand for their incredible and very painstaking photo montage on the rear wall, which we could have stared at all day.

Bicygnals light up helmets

To be fair, not just Bicycgnals; there were plenty of other helmet manufacturers at the show demonstrating helmets with all round visibility, most by dint of a light-transmitting cable runnning from an LED at the rear. We liked these ones because they lookes a bit like spacecraft.

Bicygnals Twin lights

These are fun: a set of fairly bright town lights that have a magnet base and slot into a housing on your bars/seatpost so they're super easy to get on and off. They clip together too, so if you're walking you get a torch with a white light to the fore and red light at the back. Natty.

3T Palladio seatpost

If you thought your seatpost was complicated then you obviously haven't seen the new Palladio from 3T, that uses two concentric toothed rings to fix your saddle firmly in place. Looks like it'll be a bit of a faff to set up first time around but after that you should be well set.

3T Sphinx LTD track bars

Worthy of mention because they're the biggest bars we think we've ever seen, they're about a foot and a half from front to rear. Really. They offer sprint and earo positions and were developed with the help of Cameron Meyer. They're UCI legal too, unbelievably.

Fizik Versus and Donna

Fizik say they won't do a saddle with a hole in it cause it ain't right. Bike riders say they want a Fizik with a hole in it. What's a company to do? The compromise is the Versus, which has a central groove.

Fizik have also developed a Donna Women's version of the Arione. Girls get the groove, it seems.

Carradice Kelbrook + new Bagman

The Kelbrook is a nice looking new satchel from Carradice, with a laptop sleeve and room for a box file inside. It also has a waist strap to keep it steady on the bike.

Carradice also had a neat new mount for the Bagman system on show. There's a plastic mount that attaches to the bag via two sturdy zip ties (they tighten on the inside so you don't notice them on the outside of the bag) and the Bagman has two sprung bolts to hold the mount. The Bagman is also available in Titanium now, presumably for reasons of taste and longevity rather than those of weight.

Demon Frameworks wooden bars

They had them last year, but this year they're oversized, and 'production' versions will have an alloy tube centre section to keep the health and safety bean counters happy. The metal end sections are customisable. They look jolly lovely.

Chris King wheels

We've tested Chris King's R45 road hub and it's great. Now they're testing the water with some built wheelsets, starting with an Envy deep section carbon rim and a DT Swiss alloy clincher, which will weigh in at about 1550g and cost less than £600, which for quality of the hubs sounds like a good deal.

Rolf Prima wheels

Rolf Prima have some new hoops too, most notable the 85mm TT carbon tubular, which manages to get by with just 10 spokes on the front and 12 at the rear. They've also launched a nice-looking 58mm cyclocross tubular. Like many wheelmakers Rolf are moving to selling their wheels as single units so you can mix and match your front and rear rims.

New Metal Tech Knight Rider seatpost

With a series of LEDs down the back that do the whole Knight rider pulsy thing. If they can make it play the theme tune too we're definitely interested...

Topeak plastic bottle cages

Now hipsters can carry a bottle too! Presumably it'll be a bottle of some expensive imported beer though, let's hope the Topeak cage can cope with the weight!