The day after winning the dual slalom, Jill Kintner took the top spot in the pro women's downhill to cap off a successful weekend of racing. The Sea Otter course doesn't exactly qualify as a true DH track, which is why most riders opt for shorter travel set ups. Jill won aboard her carbon Norco Range that's decked out with the latest suspension from FOX, a Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes, and Industry 9 wheels.
The paint was barely dry on Brook 'Bulldog' Macdonald's Bell Full 9 helmet that he'll be wearing when World Cup downhill action resumes at Fort William, Scotland.
Several athletes, including Brian Lopes, were aboard a prototype clipless pedal from HT this week. The clip-in mechanism looks similar to that of the
X1, but with a more low profile platform, and two adjustable pins at the front of the pedal.
What kid doesn't love monster trucks? That's the thinking behind the junior version of Trek's Farley fat bike, which uses 24" wheels to fit smaller riders, and includes niceties like an aluminum frame, disc brakes, and a 1x9 drivetrain.
Cedric Gracia is part owner of Production Privee, the Andorran company best known for their steel hardtails, and he was on hand with Marc Caselllana of Prestige MTB. Prestige recently announced they will be the US distributor for the brand, making it easier for Americans to get their hands on bikes like the 27.5" Shan Diamond shown above.
Onza has a new rubber called GRP40 that they'll first be using on their wire bead DH tires, with plans to make it an option on their folding bead tires in the near future. It's a soft, slow rebounding 40 duromoter compound that's meant to be super sticky on for extra grip in wet conditions.
Lezyne announced their new line of
GPS computers at the Taipei Cycle Show, and had the full line on hand at Sea Otter. The Mini is the smallest unit, weighing only 30 grams with a claimed 10 hour run time. In addition to recording GPS data, the computer can display time, distance, speed, and elevation. MSRP: $139.99 USD.
Crank Brothers has a few limited edition colors of their m19 and m10 multitools tools for riders looking to add a splash of color to their pack.
27.5+ hardtails were the big story as this year's Sea Otter, but a few companies had full suspension models out as well, including the 110mm Cascade Peak from Fezarri.
The simple elegance of Abbey Tools stainless steel chain whip ($45) and Crombie cassette tool ($50) caught my eye, but it was the titanium hammer that really made me drool. I know, no one really
needs a $185 ti hammer, but as soon as I picked it up I was smitten. It's only 265 grams, but has enough heft that it'd be perfect for tapping in bearings or other bike related jobs. Based in Bend, Oregon, all of Abbey Tools' products are made in the United States.
Who's ready for some serious hucking? The first stop of the Fest Series kicks off in Santa Cruz, California, and the big guns are starting to roll into town, including Nico Vink with his custom Hope brake levers.
Nico's Scott Gambler probably racks up more air miles in a season than most riders accumulate in a lifetime.
Bike Magazine's Sh*tbike has led a hard and grueling life, including being lit on fire and launched from a catapult, but somehow it seems to always show up at Sea Otter. This year it was trying to fit in with all the plus size weirdness, but it looks like there may have been some compatibility issues...
Be sure to check out all of our Sea Otter Classic images in this gallery.
Making a hammer out of Ti does *not* make it a "travel" hammer."
Hammer function = mass. A 285g steel hammer would be identical in packing mass & performance.
A fool is easily parted with his money...
This is german quality for the next 1k years.
No one with a clue will dispute that professional-grade tools cost more than the consumer-grade stuff, quality materials & precision machining cost more.
There is a reason, however, why they use rust-prone TOOL-STEEL for pro-grade tools, and not stainless or Ti: even Abbey's stainless cassette lockring tool will wear faster than my tool-steel version.
Simple materials-science.
Show me something interesting please...
I come here for the goods, not mediocre crap that's been anno'd red...
Along with the 29ers the fatties are changing my trails. The sharp corners are now all blown out, the lips of trails that had been fine for years are now being pummeled. What was once a rock-fest is now a smoothed out trail. I'm not really complaining, I'm just noticing that the fatties are having a huge effect on trail width and trail character. (And the guy on the fatty is always breathing the hardest, just sayin')
i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz226/ViperPilot2/P1000791.jpg
Cool, I'm not so upset that I didn't go this year.
"Hi, do you have any 26" tires left for sale?"
"No, they all sold out by the first day!"
$300 hammer paid for by lunch time