This last week I attended the 2022 Sea Otter Classic, which was a boat-load of fun, BTW. While I was wandering the event getting the scoop on all of the new shiny bike bits that we all love so much, I started noticing a plethora of older, kick-ass personal bikes being rolled around among all of the new, expensive fancy ones. The bikes were all so different. Some were old mountain bikes being re-purposed, some were kinda neo-retro and a few were bikes with frames made by small boutique frame builders. I also documented a few brand new bikes with great, outa-the-norm builds. All of them are outstanding in their own right…really, every last one of ’em.
With the sight of each one of these older bikes, I was hit with a healthy dose of nostalgia, thinking “wow, I remember that bike” or “hey, my buddy had one of those”. It was fun to see, and it felt good to look back at a simpler time in the industry.
So, I decided that if I felt this way when I saw them, then maybe some of you would too…so I attempted to document them. I really wanted to try and focus on the unique bits and parts they used on the bikes as opposed to just the bike itself.
So, here ya go…enjoy these beautifully personal builds!
Classic Ritchey P-21
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Nice Ol’ Raleigh Grand Prix
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Sweet ol’ Nukeproof
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One Beautiful Moots
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State Bicycles “Klunker”
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A Well Kept Kelly Cross Bike
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Utilitarian Ritchy Dressed in Neo-Retro
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Tall Bikes Save Lives
English Cycles All Road Wonder Bike
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Classic Specialized “S” Works
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This old Trek Toured a lot of Asia
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A Nice Black Mountain Cycles with Alt. Bars
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Voodoo Cycles Single Speed
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Late ’80’s Marin Palasades
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Well, that’s it. I hoped you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did hunting the bikes down and snapping them!
Keep an eye out for more coverage of the 2022 Sea Otter Classic right here on your favorite website!