No 374 - Friedrichshafen 2014 - Pt 2

The Outdoors Station - A podcast by Bob Cartwright

This second podcast from the three part series recorded at the recent Outdoor Show in July 2014 at Friedrichshafen in Germany starts to look in more detail at some innovation and development which I'm sure will be of interest to many fans of the outdoors. Vargo Outdoors are a US brand which have become well known for their sleek and simple designs of products using primarily Titanium. Which is lightweight, durable, hypoallergenic and a material which will never wear out. In this interview we touch on 3 new products, a super sleek Titanium Hip Flask, Titanium Running Spikes and the re-introduction of an external (Titanium) frame based rucksack system. Well worth a look. The Five Fingers barefoot shoe based product has taken the outdoors world by storm. First in the US and now working it's way into the UK market as more and more people try and like this groovy shoe which comes in funky colours and has many applications. The latest product to gain attention of everyone at the show was the Furoshiki concept shoe. A clever injection of rubber compound into material which basically creates an stretchy, wrap around foot sole. You need to see it to understand! Although it isn't a cycling based show, it was good to see a handful of brands there with products supporting this enthusiast. Quality luggage was the order of the day, as there is obviously need to a waterproof but more business like storage system for business commuters. Ortlieb were displaying a new more vibrant colour range of their traditional 'classic' products along with a new 'commuter' selection which looked like they would really hit the spot in this market. Don't forget all these items can be seen in more detail on the The Outdoors Station website or on our YouTube Channel. http://youtu.be/t-jY6xedoFk