With the near death of Interbike, the Sea Otter Classic has become the pinnacle of the bicycle industry ‘show & tell’ in these United States of America. In addition to every kind of bike racing known to mankind, the Sea Otter presents an exposition area that features every cool bicycle company that you’ve ever read about and even the giant sized, bicycle companies show up with their latest gear. I guess there are a few exceptions, to how I’ve elevated the Sea Otter Classic, for instance, the QBP bicycle brands were absent, but as you’ll see, Q sent at least, one of their brands to Sea Otter. With Interbike on life support and the mega-bike-corporations preferring to hold private, ‘dealer only’ shows, the Sea Otter Classic has become an important event for consumers to learn about what’s going on in the bike industry.
We’ve been reporting on the approaching wave of e-bikes and there was evidence of the bicycle industry’s intentions to bring pedal assisted e-bikes to a bike shop near you. All the major players have jumped into the e-bike game and I learned some new bike industry nomenclature from the folks at Raleigh E-bikes. If you ride a bike that is not an e-bike, it’s an acoustic bike. I’m really into acoustic biking, but today’s report does include a smattering of bikes with batteries.
This year’s Sea Otter also featured a healthy dose of Plus bikes and the new ‘tweener’ 2.6″ almost plus bikes, tires and wheels. We’re scheduling a slew of plus bike tests over the next few months and there are some really exciting products that’ll be gracing our pages over the summer.
So here’s what caught my eye, on day one, of this year’s Sea Otter Classic!
Manitou officially released their new Pro and Comp Mastodon fat-bike fork. The fork has HUGE tire clearance and also has excellent low temperature performance designed into the product from day one.
The Mastodon mounted on a Foes Racing Mutz
The new Manitou Mastodon on a Mukluk
The Ortlieb folks had this Hideryckx Plus Bike in their booth.
Maxxis Plus Bike Tires on a Commencal e-bike dually
Stan’s No Tubes had this awesome Plus Trike in their booth.
Stans has your plus bike wheel needs covered.
Raleigh created a completely new e-bike division of their company. These were the cats that coined the ‘Acoustic Bike’ term.
Lake has a new Winter cycling boot that features a BOA closure and 400 grams of thinsulate insulation.
Cannondale didn’t wait on the sidelines (like they did with fat-bikes). E-Plus Dually
This was the most interesting thing in the Kenda Booth
Fatback’s new Corvus in a new Thule fat-bike compatible roof rack tray.
The Fatback booth where I learned that they have some really cool things in the works.
The Spank Spike – Best Product Name
Reynolds Elite Carbon Wheels – FBC Tested and Approved
If you ride platform pedals, you should try a pair of 5 ten stealth rubber shoes. They’ll up your game.
Breadwinner Cycles Plus Bike
Tim from Terrene/Advocate talking to Neil from Cyclemonkey. Neil is holding a Zeroed Bikes Carbon Dual Suspension Pinon gearbox bike.
Cyclemonkey partnered with Venatana on this Pinon Plus bike that we should be testing very soon.
Terrene Tires has a new plus bike tire.
Retrotec Pus Bike
QBP’s newish tire brand Teravail had 3 plus tires along with their gravel bike tires. It looks like the folks that run 45NRTH are now in charge of Teravail, which should bode well for them.
Otso/Wolftooth continue to innovate with their cage extender storage rack and new strapless frame bags that they worked with Revelate Designs to develope for the Otso Voytek.
Wolftooth also has a nice tool wrap to help keep your bike tools handy on the bench and allows you to take your tools to a race or road trip. We’ll be doing some tool testing this summer to look for the ultimate travel tool kit.
WTB’s impressive plus bike tire line-up.
The Framed Montana D/S Fatty
As soon as the Montana is available, we’ll have one to test and review.
Vee Tire introduced the Flow Snap in 27.5 and 29 in the new ‘tweener 2.6″ width that may fit on your traditional 29r frame/fork.
Flow Snap Tread Pattern
Vee’s Fat Tire Lineup
RST is offering their Renegade fat-Bike Fork. This year’s forks will all have black silders like the fork on the right.
The folks at Jagwire had this blinged out BFD in their booth.
Felt Plus Bike Dually
Spot Mayhem Carbon Plus Bike Dually
Norco Plus Bike Hardtail
Rock Shox Fat & Plus Forks
Jamis – Steel is Real in a plus bike that we’ll be testing very soon.
Jamis Fat and Aluminum Plus rigs
The Park Tool trailer is kinda dreamy.
I’ll close day one with a shot of this hydro-dipped Surly Krampus.
More to come….
Do you know if the framed dual ku will fit a 37.5×3.8 tire in the rear triangle?
Correction to my post above. Dual suspension an shoul read will it fit a 27.5x 3.8
no way
That Vee white fat tire rocks! Need to score a pair. Did you get a chance for a test ride on that Mastodon???
The red bike stand base behind the trike causes an optical illusion. It makes it look like the trike frame wraps around the far wheel.
“It looks like the folks that run 45NRTH are now in charge of Trevail, which should bode well for them.” Like missed production estimates, products that are not ready for primetime and false promises. Yes 45Nrth that is what I want.
The bright yellow Norco is NOT a Sasquatch but a Full carbon 2018 Ithaqua.
I thought the Ithaqua was just a legend. How do you tell one mythical character from another mythical character?