Lots of shiny new things caught our eyes at Sea Otter Classic, but this roundup is full of the brightest, most colorful components, accessories, and kits from a wide range of brands.
Starting with Velo Saddles, they had a few ultra-bright new colors for their lightweight Angel Glide, Ride, and Rise+ saddles. It’s a printed pattern, with embossed texture on one side, all layered on top of a flexible shell with a center cutout.
Depending on the model, rail options include stainless steel, titanium, and carbon fiber. The Glide is the narrowest at 275×128 ($290, carbon rails only), followed by the Ride at 273×143 ($90-170, carbon, stainless, and ti options), then the Rise+ at 256×158 ($90-$130, stainless and ti options).
They’re light, coming in as low as 127g, and based on the Angel TT saddle we’ve been riding, also quite comfortable. Velo is the largest saddle manufacturer in the world, making almost every saddle you’ve ridden, and their own products seem to take full advantage of their in-house capabilities. Check them all out at VeloSaddles.us.
Versus 27.5″ mountain bike tires hit the trails
Launched last summer, Versus is a startup mountain bike tire brand that’s going direct to consumer. They started out with just three options – Black, or Black with Yellow Speckles, and folding bead Trail casing or wire bead Gravity casing. The only size was 29×2.4, and only with this all-mountain/enduro tread pattern. Now, they’ve added a teal blue speckled color option…
…and a 27.5×2.4 size to the mix. They’re available for pre-order now, with the Trail Casing shipping in October 2021, and the Gravity Casing following in December. They’re also offering a mullet mix, so you can get one 29er tire and one 27.5″ tire in the same box. Each set will run $130, sold only in pairs for the pre-order. The 29″ tires are available separately for $76.50 each, with free shipping on all orders inside the USA.
What’s interesting is they also offer “Shimmy Second Party Tires”, which are tires that came off the assembly line with a bit of a casing wobble. They’re discounted to just $40 per tire and don’t have their 30-day return policy, but could be just the ticket for park days that typically shred tires quickly anyway. Check it all out at VersusTires.com.
Supacaz Oil Slick flat pedals
The photo above doesn’t begin to do justice to the oil slick rainbow shimmer of Supacaz’s collection. Offered on their Orbitron (left), ePedal (center), and a mystery pedal with a larger footprint and chamfered edges to ease rockstrikes, they add some shimmer and glimmer to the bottom of your bike. Pair those with their shoes, gloves, bottle cage, and bar tape (which is amazing) for a bike and body that’ll be hard to miss. Full collection at Supacaz.com.
Outbound Detour gravel headlight
Outbound’s mountain bike lights have really burst on the scene recently, but their upcoming Detour gravel bike light takes a different approach to LED count and beam pattern. Where their MTB lights have a huge array of LEDs and full coverage spread of light, the Detour uses a flood/spot mix and hard cutoff to keep you from blinding oncoming traffic.
Like an automotive headline, the upper edge of light cuts a sharper line, making it easy for you to aim it so it’s below eye level of oncoming drivers (or riders). The one shown here is an early prototype, but the final form factor should be very similar. It’s an out-front mounting design with GoPro-style adapter, and it’s a much wider and lower profile design than their current Road Edition light, so we see this one being popular for any drop-bar rider.
They say it provides a wide “carpet” of light that makes it easy for you to see the road ahead, and for others to see you. Small side markers add a bit more visibility. It’ll get a claimed 2.8 hours of run time on adaptive mode, but you can connect an external battery pack via its USB-C charging port to extend the run time. ETA is TBA, but you can check out the rest of their lights at OutboundLighting.com.
Bar Fly adds more computer, GoPro mounts
With new, stronger designs that can hold your headlights, these new Bar Fly mounts let you add your own bright and shiny to the bike. The brand promises to make a mount for any bar and any bike, and these new options get them closer than ever.
Their Bar Fly 4 Mountain Bike mounts use a short, upright mount that can work over your stem, or out front, depending on your preference. They make a twist-on GoPro adapter, which is great if you wanna run your camera above your bar, but it takes the spot your computer would go in.
Now, they’re offering a new clamp mount design that adds an extension with three-prong GoPro-style slots. Use that to mount a camera or light in front of the bar while reserving the twist mount for your cycling computer. The other big difference is that the main clamp body is metal, not a composite, so it should be able to better handle the added weight, although the extension arm is the composite material used on their original MTB mount. Available soon, price TBA.
They’re also updating their stem faceplate mounts for Felt, Cervelo, Bontrager, and other stems that use a center slot for out-front computer mounts. The new Prime Direct 1 Mounts will have a larger flange on the inside (behind the stem’s faceplate), giving it a stronger connection to the stem.
This, plus a new rubbery grommet on the outside, make it strong enough to now add a light or GoPro underneath (the original Race Direct mounts couldn’t do this).
Out front, it switches to a dual head design, so you can choose from two positions for your computer mount – closer in for smaller head units, and further out for larger ones.
The new Bar Fly Flipper is made for 3T stems and has an adjustable angle and bend. Flip it up or down to set your computer higher or lower, or run it upside down to mount a light or action camera, then adjust the angle to your liking. Available soon at BarFlyBike.com.
Voler adds color to any season
Voler’s Black Label All Season bibshorts come in men’s and women’s versions and have a premium, textured fabric with high compression and their best chamois pad. And now, you can get them in six colors! Shown here are Oxblood, Gunmetal Blue, Black, and Olive, but they’ve also got Navy and Cobalt. MSRP is $165, but some colors are on sale as of this post going live.
Shown above are the men’s Cache bibshorts with side pockets and Wind Jacket. Underneath both mannequins are their new Merino LS Jersey, which comes in four colors.
On “her” are the Black Label bibshorts and what’s likely a new hot pink color for the Wind Jacket. Unlike many shells, Voler’s wind (and DWR water) resistant jacket gets three pockets on the back. It’s meant for light mists or as a layering agent, not an everything-proof shell since there are also mesh side panels to vent heat. Get it all at Voler.com.
