- For 6K, to get a bike like this, trainiacs? (whoosh)
Back in my younger days, I woulda done quite well there.
Today. (whoosh)
There aren't a lot of places in this world
that you can just walk around. (whoosh)
(bouncy acoustic guitar)
Morning, trainiacs.
So that right over there is the Las Vegas strip.
Back in my younger days, I woulda done quite well there.
Today, apparently things get happening past 9:00 PM,
so I don't know if I'm gonna see much of it.
And right over there
is what's called Red Rock Canyon.
And out there, today, it's a bike demo day.
So after I wash the arriving at 1:30 AM,
3:30 AM my time, off my face,
and drink a bucket of coffee,
and get my Instacart grocery order,
which we don't have in Winnipeg,
so this is a big novelty,
we're gonna go ride some bikes.
Let's go look at the hotel room.
It's like my house.
I've got a couch, I've got a desk,
I've got a kitchen that's bigger than the kitchen
in the first place I ever bought.
I have an ugly man-sleep bed.
And I have a bathroom with so much room for activities.
I am not paying for all this,
if the hotel thinks that I'm paying for a fancy room.
(bouncy guitar music)
Normally I'm opposed to wearing name tags, but
it's kinda cool.
Never been media.
(bouncy pop music)
So the plan for day one here was to find
a new company that was doing something kinda cool,
see if I could take it for a ride,
and I just got back from about an hour thirty
on a new bike that I've never tried.
This is the Pardus Gomera,
which is a Chinese bike brand manufacturer that,
what they've done for years is,
they've been like the company
that supplies to the company
that supplies to Specialized, Trek, Cervelo.
Like they've been a fulfillment company,
and what they're doing, is they're now
manufacturing their own bikes.
So, because they're cutting out so many steps,
they can make this bike,
fully integrated tri model with Ultegra,
that's what I ride on, on my road bike, for $5800.00.
That's like a nine, $10,000 spec bike.
So here, I'll show you some stuff that makes it
so absolutely high end.
So what you're getting here
is a hell of a lot of integration
that you'd normally get on $10,000 plus bikes.
Like, starting at the front,
you've got a fully integrated water bottle,
so you don't have to lift your head.
We've got integrated Bento Box here.
When it comes in behind the stem, like this,
it's basically invisible to the wind.
So you can put all your nutrition in there.
And then in addition to that,
we got a storage box in behind the saddle.
You've got the big, big, big space
in behind the headset and the stem here.
So that, in addition to that,
and the really deep fork,
like we're talking 3 1/2 inches there,
that's incredibly aerodynamic.
Creates a nice big windbreak,
instead of just a small little head that wraps around.
Same thing down here on the bottom bracket.
The more meat that you've got on the bottom bracket,
the more power transfer you're getting
from your pedals into the bike.
Now, one of the qualms that I often have
with these highly integrated bikes
is that they're hard to work on.
The brakes, they end up getting hidden
in behind the seat stays, or inside the fork.
In this case, it's fully accessible
from the outside with some Allen keys here.
And if you get right down here,
the brakes on the rear are accessible
just by flipping over the bike.
So it's not that tough to work on.
Only thing that is a little bit tough to work on,
on this model, apparently,
is that to adjust all the components
of the aero bars, and the headset, the stem,
you do have to take off this nutrition box.
But what they're working on right now
is creating a new stack system,
so that you've got easier ability
to raise the bars up and down,
and widen them, move them back and forth,
without nearly as much monkeying around.
They'll also integrate any ...
What's this called, what's this called,
what's this called, what's this called?
Component unit?
Computer unit?
For the electronic shifters inside this whole headset.
Yeah, so that there is the Pardus Gomera.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride
this specific model.
I rode one of their road bikes,
because this is a 56, I'm a 52.
But see, the historical knock on Chinese OEM,
Original Equipment Manufacturers,
is that they don't have the science, and the engineering,
that North American or European bike manufacturers have.
In this case, the road bike that I took,
it was basically identical
to the old Specialized Tarmac
that I used to ride on.
Felt just as stiff.
I took some real nasty corners
to test it out at high speeds.
Held that road just perfectly.
And my back didn't get sore at all
in, like, an hour and forty minutes
of some pretty steady climbing and wind, so ...
Not bad, Pardus, I'm impressed.
For 6K, to get a bike like this, trainiacs?
Not a bad starter bike, if you ask me.
(bouncy pop music)
(slower synth music) (birds chirping)
(bouncy pop music)
(door opens)
You know, trainiacs, there aren't a lot of places
in this world that you can just walk around
wearing Spandex and not have anyone
look at you funny.
Las Vegas is one of 'em.
A bike convention, another one.
You get a bike convention in Las Vegas?
Whoo.
By the way, Las Vegas is really dry. (tap runs)
Just two little mini water bottles
that entire day.
I coulda used forty.
Day one, success.