Sea Otter Classic

SOC15: Spot Brand developing unique leaf spring-and-pivot full suspension mountain bike

It’s becoming more and more rare to find a truly new suspension design these days, but small city and commuter bike company Spot Brand seems…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 21, 2015

Fat Chance Yo Eddy frames revised to boost tire clearance, improve cable routing

When they made their debut appearance at NAHBS this spring, the new 2015 Fat Chance Yo Eddy looked good, using a True Temper steel frame…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 21, 2015

SOC15: DT Swiss reboots Mon Chasseral road wheels in carbon, 27.5+ rims & carbon OPM Race fork closeup

The Mon Chasseral was DT Swiss’ first real complete road wheel, which was all alloy at its inception in 2005. Now, the name is back,…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 21, 2015

SOC15: Fox upgrades 32, 34 and 36 forks with FIT4 damper; RC2 shock damper cutaway & more 2016 suspension!

The transition to the 2016 Fox Racing Shox mountain bike suspension fork lineup all started with the 2015 36’s switch to a new air spring.…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 21, 2015

SOC15: Airborne Plus Sized Takes Flight with New Griffin 27+

There is no denying that plus sized tires were a big thing at Sea Otter this year. Whether you look at them as an addition…

Written by Zach Overholt April 20, 2015

SOC15: 9point8 Drops First Infinitely Adjustable Mechanical Dropper Post

Most riders that have ridden with a dropper post will agree – they can have a profound impact on the way you ride. Unfortunately, they…

Written by Zach Overholt April 20, 2015

SOC15: Project321 lets you add Lefty Supermax to more bikes (with Plus-sized tires!), shows new colors

Project321, which is known almost as much for their unofficial anodization of third party components like Thomson stems and Cannondale’s lightweight cranks, has added a…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 20, 2015

SOC15: Specialized launches Fuse, Ruze 27.5+, new Rumor 650 trail bike, Command Post & more!

The new Specialized Fuse (men’s) and Ruze (women’s) trail hardtails are built from ground up for their 27.5+ (6fatty) wheels and tires, tailoring the geometry…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 20, 2015

SOC15: GU Bites into New Big Apple and Sea Salt Chocolate Roctane Flavors

If you didn’t catch our last story on GU Energy Gel, the latest news out of Berkeley, CA is that the famous gel has gone…

Written by Zach Overholt April 20, 2015

SOC15: Gravity Goes off the Grid for new Enduro / All Mountain Line

Nine years ago when Gravity was started as an offshoot of FSA, Enduro wasn’t even really a “thing.” After starting with the original 777 bar,…

Written by Zach Overholt April 20, 2015

SOC15: 4iiii add-on crankarm power meter gets even smaller, includes factory install

After debuting at Interbike last fall, 4iiii’s crank arm based power meter has become smaller, using a new casing to give it a lower profile…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 20, 2015

SOC15: Schwalbe Joins In on Plus Sized Fun with Fat Nobby Nic and Rocket Ron Tires

Up to this point, the options for plus sized tires have been pretty limited. Sea Otter has been the launch pad for a significant…

Written by Zach Overholt April 19, 2015

SOC15: Wheels Mfg adds BSA-to-BB386EVO and BBright bottom bracket conversions

Wheels Manufacturing’s latest bottom bracket conversions give you two more options for using modern cranksets on various frames. The new BB30 Outboard Threaded unit lets…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 19, 2015

SOC15: Chris King adds thru-axle rear road hubs & singlespeed hubs

Chris King has a new thru axle rear R45D hub to join the R45D front thru axle we spotted at NAHBS. The front will only…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 19, 2015

SOC15: Parlee Cycles builds all-new Z-Zero XD cyclocross bike, teases new parts

Building on their top level, full custom road bike, the new Parlee Z-Zero XD disc brake cyclocross bike brings a few changes to the frame…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 19, 2015

SOC15: Hutchinson could take cyclocross tires wider for gravel, plus changes to road tires coming

According to some of the folks at Hutchinson, the Piranha 2 cyclocross tire is fairly popular here in the States, but HQ in France (home…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 19, 2015

SOC15: Garmin makes power meter pedals easier to install w/ Vector 2.0

Garmin’s Vector 2 power meter pedal system has received a slight update to make it a bit more durable and a little easier to install.…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 18, 2015

SOC15: ENVE raises the bar for DH, widens XC and trail handlebars, plus new Garmin mount integration

After seeing Greg Minnaar and Syndicate riders using spacers under their direct mount stems, sometimes up to 50mm of additional stack, ENVE’s engineers started thinking.…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 18, 2015

SOC15: Oakley looking up with new Radar EV cycling sunglasses

Following the oversized debut of the (debut of the oversized?) Jawbreaker sunglasses designed with Mark Cavendish, the new Oakley Radar EV take the extended view…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 18, 2015

Trek Gorges on Fatter Tires with All New Mid Fat Stache and New 26×5″ and 27.5×4″ Wheeled Farley Fat Bikes

After all the buzz around wider boost hubs leading up to Sea Otter, we weren’t surprised to see a new bike from Trek to take…

Written by Zach Overholt April 18, 2015

SOC15: All-new Felt FX TeXtreme Cyclocross bikes get lighter, stiffer & hotter – plus updated Compulsion mountain bikes

After a couple years of iterative updates to their FX carbon cyclocross bikes, Felt has wiped the drawing board clean and created all-new, disc…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 18, 2015

SOC15: Vittoria shows prototype tubeless & tubular mountain bike tires

Vittoria had a few prototypes sitting on team bikes at their booth, right out in front of the new Jafaki, Barzo and Peyote treads they…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 18, 2015

Friday RoundUp – Bicycle Bits & Pieces

Kids Empowering the next generation of female mountain bike shredders – While walking the grounds today at the 25th Annual Sea Otter Classic in Monterey,…

Written by Scott Vines April 17, 2015

SOC15: Norco testing prototype Revolver full suspension 29er XC race bike

For the pro men’s XC race at Sea Otter this year, Norco’s team riders will have the choice of the existing Revolver hardtail 29er or…

Written by Tyler Benedict April 17, 2015

SOC15: e*thirteen extended range cassette handles XD Driver differently, plus new cranks & more!

e*thirteen had a plethora of prototypes on hand, only showing off things that are at least a few months out. The most interesting was this…