The closest thing I’ve got to the MEATengines Sea Otter content you haven’t been asking for…
I’ve never been to the Sea Otter event. Show? Gathering? Actually, it turns out the organizers call it a ‘festival.’ Like other bicycle gear nerds, I certainly check out all the photos that are published, looking to see what, if anything, is fresh or unique.
Depending on one’s bent, every year seems to be a little bit of a mini evolution or a minor extinction event. Mountain bicycles become ever more optimized but there are fewer interesting varietals of them. Not to always be that Plus-tire fellow, but there is now a pile of Forbidden Druids & Dreadnaughts from various brands – from handmade steel one-offs to large-margin competitors – and no updated Trek Staches or Surly Krampuses to speak of.
There’s simply less of the interesting other at the Otter? Bikes are broadly amazing at going fast up, over and down all types of terrain, but at the cost of some level of necessary weirdness n’est ce pas?
(Cover Photo: Hardtail.Life)
A lot of brands seem to have released early this year whether it’s the G3 Project 321 hubs, in the photo above, hitting production, or Wolf Tooth releasing a fresh flat pedal, which is not in the photo above, that sports an interesting shape. Fox with their gold suspension that doesn’t look nearly as awesome as this retro-silver colour they were floating in 2016. Every brand has a France-’24 XC tire with a race-and-replace sidewall. Öhlins has coil kits. Race Face just released a Shimano XTR middle-chainring from 2006.
[Well, I guess technically Race Face just released a Shimano XT middle-chainring from 2006, since the XTR one had titanium teeth rather than steel.]
That doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface of the multiple daily product releases we’ve been seeing. Apparently often product that’s been waiting months or even years to see the trail. First because of a shortage of manufacturing and shipping capabilities and then because a massive overstock at every level of the industry that needed clearing.
I actually didn’t pop in to be all negative, it’s just that I think we could all do a reminder that creativity doesn’t just come down to anodized colour options. There are plenty of unique niches to fill.
If I had a magic wand the one option that every bike major bike brand would have added this year is reasonably priced frame-only options. What’s reasonably priced? I suppose that depends on the brand, material, engineering, country of manufacture and all that so it’d be pretty hard to nail down. What’s unreasonably priced? That’s a lot easier, if a brand is selling a frame & shock for practically the same price as a complete rig with the same frameset that’s not cool.
Brands should be stoked to sell frames. It gets riders’ unique takes on their bikes out into the world, it’s free marketing (better than, riders pay for the frame still), and it’s a vote of confidence that someone wants to buy your platform and build their dream bike on it. And you can’t buy the stoke of a rider with a unique-to-them machine.
But, regardless of a slightly better shock spec, if the current (aluminum) frame-only option is CAD$3400 and a complete bike, using the exact same (aluminum) frame, with a Shimano Deore HG+ build is CAD$4000, that’s bullshit. And yeah, that’s a real example.
So yeah, reasonably priced frame-only options from more companies – based on complete bike prices – for everything from kids’ bikes to commuters would thrill me and not just me. And yes, I know there are a few brands that are already ~ doing this, but the more the merrier and that’s especially true of the biggest brands that could in theory deliver the best frame-only values.
And that’s the See Autre for ’24.
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