The new Vial frame let’s Germany’s AX-Lightness join the sub-800g club with Wilier, BH, Cervelo and Cannondale.

With carbon monocoque construction, the frame itself comes in at 745g.  The full frameset (including the tapered 3T Rigida Fork and Engage Revit seatpost) weighs in at 1203g by my calculation.  The asymmetrical rear stays, when coupled with the rectangular frame cross sections, promises for “direct and exact forward energy.”  The Vial frameset is scheduled for release in March of 2012.  Along with this blue and black paint job, AX-Lightness is also known for their crazy custom paint jobs at Eurobike.

More pictures of the Vial and some insane custom paint jobs from the big show in Germany after the break…

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For 2012, Zipp Speed Weaponry will offer a new Beyond Black finish (foreground) available on all Service Course SL parts, which gives them a stealthy laser etched logo rather than their standard white (background). They’ll include anodized dark gray Ti bolts, too. Same price as regular. The color scheme conveniently matches up with SRAM’s Red Black group so you can put together a totally murdered out ride without ever leaving the SRAM family.

Beyond colors, they have a new short-reach bar and several new and revised seat posts, right after the break…

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Occasionally, the showstopper for a booth isn’t the bikes or components, but a one-off afterthought like this. Acros’ booth had their hydraulic shifting system, which was shown in a couple additional anodized colors from what we saw at PressCamp, but the real eye candy was this carbon fiber chess board with headsets for pieces.

Jump on in for plenty more…

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Our collection of random sightings from Eurobike is dwindling. In this almost last collection, we’ve got the Pantani Project carbon road bike above along with some nice titanium rides from Rewel, plenty of odd city/commuter/transport bikes and other fun stuff…

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The new 2012 Look 920 seems to have a polarizing effect due to nothing more than the head tube/stem assembly, but there’s so much more going on with the bike.

There are two frame variants based on size, plus a carbon upgrade kit that gives it a 50g lighter full carbon rocker, carbon seat post and carbon fiber DT Swiss rear shock. The frames differ near the seat tube/top tube junction. The XS and Small sizes have straight tubes meeting as you’d expect. The Medium and Large sizes have a molded, shapely top tube that flows upward into the seat tube much more gracefully, accentuated by the matte paint/carbon finish.

UPDATED: Corrected info about the frame variations at the top/seat tube junction above and other additions throughout the post…

Suspension is set at 120mm front and rear using a fixed rear triangle with no pivot near the axle, instead relying on carbon fiber’s ability to flex and recover to keep maintenance and weight at a minimum.

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Seems my “miscellaneous” folder from Eurobike knows no bounds. Here, a collection of random bits that (mostly) quality as awesome.

Above, the Xcite carbon fiber fork from German:A with some rather interesting dropouts. This was sitting in CarbonTi’s booth as a showpiece for their chainrings and such, but it’s quite the work itself. Note the centreally placed brake arch over the wheel, then click on through to see more features and other goodies…

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We posted Swedish company A2J’s concept Frame R road bike back in August, then we had a chance to see one in THM’s booth at Eurobike.

While the concept boasted some custom Di2 shifting integrated into the bike as an option, the show model was decked out with a traditional mechanical shifting setup from Campagnolo with THM cranks. In person, it’s a darn good looking frame, but we couldn’t lift it or weigh it thanks to some big fat uncooperative zip ties. They’re sticking to their 850g maximum frame weight, and that figure includes the headset, seat clamp, front derailleur mount and rear hanger. More pics and details after the break…

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Much like we did with Wilier, we gave DeRosa’s booth a quick run through snapping furiously. Lots of very pretty bikes for road, time trial and triathlon and even track in carbon, steel, alloy and titanium. Click on past the break to do a virtual tour…

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SRM has a new Campagnolo power meter system for regular and compact cranksets with options for various crank lengths and chainrings.

System wide, their warranty is bumped up to three years for both the meters and the computer. They’ve improved the electronics, too, letting the crankset-based power meters run for 1,900-2,000 hours before having to change the battery. They supply free batteries within the warranty period, too, which is new. The computers have rechargeable batteries which are also covered under warranty. Photo of the computer after the break…

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Perhaps unknown to U.S. cyclists, Syntace has a bicycle brand on top of their component line.

Called Liteville, they’ve got an all new, adjustable travel model called the 601. Here’s what they say about it:

The new long travel do everything weapon: From everyday trail riding to Super D racing or steep, highly technical terrain, the 601 takes everything in its stride. The weight and efficiency of a trail bike, the control and comfort of a LT all-mountain bike, and the descending prowess of a DH bike.

Make the jump for more on that and an assortment of new components…

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Look Cycles is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Greg Lemond winning the Tour de France in 1986 with a limited edition bare carbon version of their 695. For those that like some color, there’s the new Premium Collection of handmade 695 framesets that receive special paint schemes to mirror the national flags of various countries.

The bikes are gorgeous, click on through to see them all…

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Eurobike is massive, and I was solo, so some brands that are (possibly) big and bad overseas simply got the walk-by-shooting. Here are some 2012 bikes from Carerra, Cipollini, Monty, PG Bikes and Silverback…enjoy!

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