The Sea Otter Classic 2024: Day 1’s Coolest Stuff
Apr 19, 2024
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Walking around the expo can feel like visiting Santa’s workshop.
Monterey’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca serves as the annual meeting place of the tribes for the bike obsessed thanks to the Sea Otter Classic. While the event started as a bike race, and while racing is still the reason for the event, the expo now dwarfs everything else that takes place over the weekend. With hundreds of companies displaying bikes, e-bikes, apparel, accessories and more, you can wander the aisles for four days and still not see everything.
Because the Sea Otter Classic is the place many brands go to launch new products, it’s common to see special edition products, such as this Mondraker Neat Ultimate painted in the Gulf team colors. This is a special edition of their lightweight all-mountain eMTB.
The Mondraker Neat uses TQ’s lightweight, 300W mid-drive hub motor. Powering the motor is a 360Wh internal battery. One of the interesting aspects of Mondraker’s eMTBs is their Zero Suspension System. Both ends of the shock attach to suspension links, so that the shock effectively floats between the two links. It’s reported to make the Virtual Pivot Point suspension design pedal efficiently.
So how lightweight is it? How about 39.5 lbs.?
This is the Smith Triad MIPS Aleck Crash Sensor Helmet. Say that three times fast. The Triad model is aimed at people riding on the road and commuting. It uses Koroyd technology—those soda-straw-looking plastic tubes you can see—along with a MIPS liner to offer excepectional protection should you fall. It also includes a crash detection sensor.
The Aleck Crash Detection Sensor is integrated into Vapor Fit System dial and you can see the charging port on the side. The crash sensor connects to your phone via Bluetooth. Should you fall, it will automatically contact whoever you’ve set as your emergency contact. It also has the ability to communicate to anyone who has this system who is nearby in the event that help may not arrive all that quickly.
It comes in four sizes and while it is made in a number of colors, only this black/topo colorway has the Aleck Crash Sensor. It goes for just $210.
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Pearl Izumi showed off the Canyon Tech Snap Short Sleeve shirt. It’s cut from Pearl Izumi’s Pro Transfer Mesh, which is a super-lightweight material that breathes well on hot days and will transport moisture away from your skin faster than most Tech Ts. We love the print and the fact that this is a short-sleeve shirt that has a color and snaps. We can walk into a tap room or coffee shop at the end of a ride and not look funny.
Giant showed off their Trance X Advanced E+ Elite eMTB. This is creme-de-la-creme stuff. The Trance uses Giant’s Syncdrive Pro magnesium motor, which they co-developed with Yamaha. This is a 150mm-travel front, 140mm-travel rear, full-suspension eMTB built with a mullet (29-in. front wheel and 27.5-in. rear wheel) setup.
The drivetrain is SRAM’s XX Eagle Transmission, which features a 10-52t, 12-speed cassette. That’s a 520 percent gear range. It uses SRAM’s Code 4-piston hydraulic disc brakes, with a 200mm rotor front and a 180mm rotor rear. The blue dragonfly finish is slightly iridescent. All this for $13,000.
German manufacturer Canyon showed off a number of e-bikes. This was our first chance to see their gravel e-bike, the Grizzl:ON. This is the Grizzl:ON CF 7, which uses a Bosch Performance Line Sprint motor powered by an internal Bosch CompactTube 400, a 400Wh battery, which considering the 250W motor and big wheels should give the Grizzl:ON terrific range. And it will be more comfortable than most gravel e-bikes thanks to the RockShox Rudy fork which offers 40mm of travel.
It’s spec’d with an 11-speed Shimano Deore drivetrain with an 11-42t cassette; that’s an almost 400 percent gear range—perfect for hilly days. Shimano hydraulic brakes are paired with 180mm rotors, which means that if someone wants to do some loaded touring or bikepacking, it will have enough power to stop even when loaded.
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