The bike industry will converge on Las Vegas next week for the annual Interbike trade show, where brands from around the world will roll out their 2012 product lines for stores and distributors in the U.S. We got a preview of several product highlights this summer at an industry retreat in Utah and tried them out on roads and trails above Park City. Here are a few of our favorites.

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The power-meter category is exploding this year. These devices measure a rider’s direct power output in real time, measured in watts. For training purposes and for gauging effort in races, power is vastly superior to heart rate as a measure of effort, as it’s not affected by temperature, diet, stress, and other factors that can tweak your pulse.

PowerTap, one of the dominant players in this category, has completely revamped its system for 2012. The heart of the setup is still the sensor integrated into the rear hub. But that new hub, called the G3, is about 20 percent lighter than the current top-end PowerTap hub and also much easier to service. All of the key electronics are housed in a cap that unscrews from the hub body.

The G3 hubs will start at $1,199 and will also be offered in complete high-end wheel sets starting at $2,999. Entry-level PowerTap hubs and wheel sets will be $799 and $999, respectively.