Our Pick of the Litter
Weird (some but not all) Bikes of Sea Otter
Sea Otter is one of the best places to see interesting bikes. There are pro riders, consumers dying for you to ask them about their vintage ride, and of course manufacturers showing off special models and their freshest creations. Here's a collection that we managed to track down and get some shots of.
The first bike was a collaboration between Sycip Designs, Shimano and Enve. Built for Trans-Cascadia to handle massive distances of trail clearing. Enve wheels with the protective rim strip were supplied to keep builders from flatting and Jeremy Sycip designed and built custom racks to hold everything a builder needs.
E-bikes are now unavoidable at Sea Otter. There are races especially for e-bikes, special expos and of course many companies jumping into the fray. Pivot and Kona are the latest. This one (there were three actually) was special. With an extra battery pack and mounts for a power saw and fuel, it's a trail builder's dream. Who wouldn't want builders to spend less time travelling and more time building?
Alchemy bikes started out making everything in house. And when I say everything I'm talking about frames in titanium aluminum and carbon. The company has a paint shop capable of just about anything as well so when it came time to make a splash with Cody Kelley riding the brand new Arktos 29er on the EWS circuit, subtlety was out of the question. Cody doesn't even need a passport to leave or enter the country. He just shows the border guards his bike and they wave him through.
Cody's bike is dialled but his hat game has nothing on the lady behind him. She looks a little like she's seen a ghost as well. Likely just admiration for the stars and stripes.
The Arktos 29 produces 140mm of rear travel and is designed around a 160mm fork to tip you back with a 66º head angle. The numbers aren't cutting edge but they are solid.
If you are looking at these photos and thinking this bike doesn't look like a 29er, you are half right.
A closer look will reveal that this is no enduro set-up. Cody was racing the dual slalom which explains the close ratio cluster as well as the look of the bike. To get a little lower through the gates, Cody decided to roll on 27.5 hoops. Custom painted Enve M7 hoops that is. His fork was also lowered to 130mm of travel.
Alchemy has the ability to produce the Arktos 29er in house, and this time last year you could get a domestic or overseas version of the 27.5 bike with a premium paid on the homegrown frame. This year it appears Alchemy is focussing on Asian production, allowing for an entry price of $5200 - without custom paint that is.
Aside from the frame, brakes and drivetrain, this bike would make Trump proud. Hubs by Chris King, rims, bar and stem by Enve, (although the company is now owned by Amer sports based in Finland) suspension by Fox, post by Crankbrothers (merged with the Italian based Selle Royal Group in 2008). But it's pretty damned American all the same!
Here are the numbers without messing with things to ride dual slalom! Notice the Super Boost Plus rear end.
At interbike last year I couldn't get anyone to show me a diagram of how Alchemy's sine suspension system works, but there is now have a mock up in video form that will give you an idea of what's going on. The bike's designer is David Earle who has worked at Santa Cruz (early in the VPP days), Specialized and Bontrager. As head of the Sotto Group design firm Early developed Yet's Switch suspension system which has now become the Switch Infinity, so it's no surprise there are similarities between the bikes.
For more on the Arktos 29 click here.
Yes - that is Danny MacAskill's custom Santa Cruz trials bike, but that's not Danny. Santa Cruz's newest hire is Tyler Maine, formerly of Pinkbike. Tyler will be taking over for Seb Kemp at Santa Cruz Canada while Seb climbs the corporate ladder.
This is the bike Richie Rude isn't racing - his SB 6. Yeti is sold out of the SB 5.5 so they decided not to bring even one to put on display. Could there be a version on the horizon with a little more than the current 135mm of travel, and a few more tweaks?
Last year we held a contest for the ugliest e-bike. We had a bottle of Crown Royal to give as a prize but we drank after deciding it would have been too mean to deliver it to the... victor. This year there was no point in holding the comp because this fat bike DH sled had the category locked up. Check the custom crowned DVO Emerald DH fork to handle all that power. This was a throttled e-bike rather than a purely boosted power delivery.
On the subject of e-bikes, Specialized had this motorcross wannabe concept bike out front of their booth. The bike is a concept that Robert Egger created and he really wanted to utilize the Levo technology in a bike that resembled a motorbike (Egger is a big moto fan). It's safe to say he succeeded, even going as far as adjusting wheel and tire size to represent the differences seen on an MX bike.
Kurt Voreis is now sponsored by Niner, but he too wanted to get in on the Dual Slalom fun so he committed blasphemy by mounting some tweeter wheels.
If you are Kurt Voreis you never know when you might want to bust out a tailwhip on your Niner.
Reduce travel and wheel size and you are off to...
This custom painted patina on this Santa Cruz Nomad - in the derelict style of Icon 4X4 owner Jonathan Ward- was one of the coolest finishes I saw at Sea Otter.
What happens when you get patina on your patina?
Sadly this is undoubtedly a one off. It was on display at the SRAM booth.
For anyone looking to get into downhill on a budget, the Mongoose Booter may be the bike for you. At 2,500 USD, the Booter is hard to beat and will come fitted with what you see here, except it will feature the new 2019 Boxxer RC
Mongoose's Booter features the tried and true Horst Link suspension design.
There weren't many brand new bikes at Sea Otter this year but the bloom of weird machines kept it interesting. We do have some new bikes to tell you about so stay tuned.
Comments
Cr4w
5 years, 8 months ago
Just so I'm clear. A throttled e-bike is an electric motorcycle? I thought the pedelec/assist was what made it an e-bike.
Reply
trumpstinyhands
5 years, 8 months ago
Yeah, it's just one of these but electric rather than gas, plus a load of marketing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puch_Maxi
Reply
Endur-Bro
5 years, 8 months ago
Now I need to know what the difference between an e-KTM and throttled e-bicycle is.
Reply
yahs
5 years, 8 months ago
Cool an electric dirtbike at a bicycle event.
Reply
Cam McRae
5 years, 8 months ago
Can we just call it an abomination and be done with it?
Reply
Cr4w
5 years, 8 months ago
I'm pretty sure the Arktos 29 is their first overseas-produced frame.
Reply
Cam McRae
5 years, 8 months ago
Pretty sure? You could get the 27 in either Asian or US layup. At least that's what Joel Smith who does their marketing, told me at Interbike last year.
https://nsmb.com/articles/alchemy-arktos-custom/
Reply
[user profile deleted]
5 years, 8 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Vik Banerjee
5 years, 8 months ago
A citizen's job is to work and consume...well and breed. How else will we mine this planet to the core and [hopefully] move onto a new one so we can repeat the process?
Reply
Cam McRae
5 years, 8 months ago
That is one of the categories of humans at Sea Otter when you are part of the circus. It distinguishes them from people in the industry, for better or worse. But I understand your cynicism and I don't disagree with it.
Reply
Please log in to leave a comment.