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It's time to draw the curtain on our coverage from Sea Otter – and we're going out with a bang This competition is now closed By George Scott Published: May 4, 2023 at 4:11 pm If you thought the tech

It's time to draw the curtain on our coverage from Sea Otter – and we're going out with a bang

This competition is now closed

By George Scott

Published: May 4, 2023 at 4:11 pm

If you thought the tech well at Sea Otter 2023 had run dry, you were wrong, because here we are with our final round-up from the Californian show.

And it’s a corker, if we do say so ourselves, with some of the finest bike jewellery we spotted during our time in the States, a bunch of new products, throwback tech, quirky gadgets and more.

So strap yourselves in for our highlights from 5DEV, Vittoria, TRP, Turner, Boyd, Hayes, Cane Creek, Maxxis, Fox and more.

5DEV’s stand stopped a lot of people in their tracks at Sea Otter, owing to the heavily machined cranks, chainrings, stems and pedals on show.

5DEV is a bike components brand born out of 5th Axis, a CNC machining company making complex parts for a wide range of industries.

The co-founders of 5th Axis have been riding bikes for years – since head tube angles were 71 degrees, they say – and are now combining that passion with the machining expertise of 5th Axis.

Anyway, 5DEV’s new titanium cranks caught our eye initially at Sea Otter, thanks to their wild lattice design – and the fact they’re made from titanium, of course.

The cranks on display were prototype versions, but they’ll be going into production soon. They’re cut from a solid block of titanium and the machining here is seriously impressive.

Of course, it’s all entirely unnecessary, but if you’re looking for some bike jewellery for your ride, then you’ve got it here.

The cranks weigh 530g, including the spindle, or 600g with 5DEV’s new titanium chainring. Both use an eight-bolt direct-mount design, compatible with SRAM’s latest T-Type Transmission drivetrains. SRAM switched to eight-bolt to offer compatibility with Quarq power meters.

We’re not sure about the pricing for the cranks at the moment.

The chainrings are available in 30t and 32t sizes, in a raw finish, bronze, purple or teal. If you’re paying for titanium chainrings, then you’ve got to choose the raw finish, haven’t you? Yours for $199.99.

5DEV also offers a heavily machined titanium stem, with a 40mm option now available alongside the 32mm and 48mm versions. The stems fit 35mm bars, or 31.8mm bars with a shim (provided). Again, there are four finishes to choose from.

The 5DEV Titanium Stem costs $399.99.

The 48mm stem was fitted to a Specialized Diverge STR gravel bike at Sea Otter. That’s short, as far as gravel stems are concerned, so 5DEV is also working on 70mm, 80mm and 90mm options.

Finally, before we move on, 5DEV also works with aluminium. The road/gravel crank pictured is aluminium, as are the brand’s mountain bike pedals.

The $189.99 All Around Pedal has pins on the outside of the pedal, for riders who want to make quick foot adjustments.

The $249.99 Trail/Enduro pedal has additional pins in the middle of the pedal, as well as machined indents on the arms of the pedal body, for extra grip.

Vittoria used Sea Otter to launch a new tyre liner, the Air-Liner Light, designed for cross-country, downcountry and trail riding, according to the Italian brand.

Vittoria already has the Air-Liner MTB in its range, so the Air-Liner Light comes in – yep, you guessed it – and a lightweight option. And it is impressively light – a claimed 50g.

Two-time Olympic XC champion and five-time world champion, Julien Absalon, has been testing this for Vittoria, which gives you an idea of the type of riding the Air-Liner Light is aimed at.

Whereas the existing Air-Liner MTB has a figure of 8 shape, flipped on its side, the Air-Liner Light has a diamond profile. This, Vittoria says, is designed to improve the stability of the tyre, particularly given the lightweight tyre casings this insert is most likely to be paired with.

This, in turn, is said to improve puncture protection and the suspension characteristics of the liner. “The unique foam of the Air-Liner Light provides a ‘limitless travel’ feeling to the tyre compression which increases comfort, grip, and speed,” according to Vittoria.

Vittoria says the Air-Liner Light is designed to fit 29×2.1in to 29×2.4in tyres, on wheels with a rim width of 25-30mm.

While we’re talking tyre inserts, CushCore launched the Trail insert at Sea Otter, designed to sit between its Pro and XC options. Go and check that out in our day one round-up.

Sea Otter saw a number of drivetrain challenger brands exhibit in a continued attempt to muscle market share from Shimano and SRAM.

Tom Marvin’s already covered new nine-speed parts from Box Components, aimed at providing an affordable alternative, while TRP had its new EVO12 drivetrain on display.

We reported on the launch of EVO12 in March, but this was the first time we’d seen the 12-speed mechanical drivetrain in the flesh. There’s also a seven-speed version for downhill racing.

With SRAM and Shimano continuing to focus on high-end electronic groupsets, could TRP provide an alternative for mountain bikers who want the tactile feel – and lower cost – of cables? We’ve got an EVO12 en-route to BikeRadar HQ for review so will find out how it performs.

If you’re not familiar, TRP – Tektro Racing Products – was founded in 2006 as the high-end components of Tektro, the brakes brand that makes millions of brakes each year. Therefore, this is a company with scale and expertise when it comes to manufacturing.

EVO12 supersedes TRP’s TR12 rear derailleur and shifter kit. Here, we’ve got a complete drivetrain, with TRP making almost everything in-house, including the crankset and cassette. The chain comes from KMC.

The new cassette is a two-piece design, with a 10-52t range (10-11-13-15-18-21-24-28-32-36-44-52).

The bottom 10 sprockets are made from steel, for improved durability, while the two largest sprockets are made from aluminium, to reduce weight. The cassette is compatible with Microspline freehubs, but not XD drivers.

The carbon crankset is also new and is available in 165mm and 170mm crank lengths, spinning on a 30mm aluminium axle. There’s a forged aluminium version, too.

Elsewhere, TRP says the shifter ergonomics have been improved, with a lighter lever action compared to TR12. It’s Matchmaker compatible. One of the neat features here is the option to toggle the shifter between one upshift per click or five, using a small switch on the underside of the unit.

As for the rear derailleur, Tektro says it now shifts on a horizontal parallelogram, compared to the more angular actuation of the TR12 derailleur, and it’s a stiffer design.

TRP’s Hall Lock feature remains. It’s effectively an on/off lever that, when ‘on’, locks the B-knuckle in place to secure the derailleur body, and reduce chain movement and drivetrain noise. The Hall Lock can be turned off to remove the rear wheel. There’s also a clutch.

Finally, before we get on to pricing, all EVO12 components are available in the gold-black finish pictured, as well as an all-black option.

Turner is well-known for its titanium mountain bikes and the Scrub, an “aggro-enduro hardtail”, is the California-based brand’s latest model.

The Scrub has had the low, long and slack treatment, getting a 64.5-degree head angle, a 76-degree seat angle, 435mm chainstays, and 440mm and 465mm of reach for the Regular and Tall sizes respectively.

“The wheelbase is plenty long so when going full gas down bombed-out enduro runs, the Scrub will provide plenty of security,” adds Turner.

The frame is designed to be built around a 150-160mm fork, while the top tube is intentionally low to boost standover heigh and increase seatpost insertion, to 280mm in the Regular size and 320mm in the Tall size.

Turner says the frame’s tubes have been “beefed up” to withstand the hard riding the Scrub is designed for, and there are also gussets in high-stress areas. Tyre clearance comes in at 29×2.5in or 27.5×2.8in.

Turner says the Scrub will be available from mid-May. Pricing is to be confirmed.

We covered Boyd’s new aluminium road wheelset, the Altamont, in one of our drop-bar round-ups from Sea Otter, but there was also a new MTB wheelset on display at Sea Otter in the form of the Bracken.

As we covered with the Altamont, this is wrapped up into the news that Boyd has brought its production of aluminium wheels back to the United States, at a facility close to its headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Bracken, designed for enduro riding, has a 30mm internal width, hookless rims and reinforced wall thickness for 2.4in tyres and beyond.

Claimed weight is 1,850g for the set and they’re priced at $725.

MTB nostalgia is having a bit of a moment, with recent gravel bikes from Canyon and Vielo sporting paint inspired by the early days of mountain biking.

And that continues here with a new, limited-edition run of purple Hayes Dominion A4 brakes.

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember some of the top teams of the late 1990s, including Specialized-Mountain Dew, Volvo-Cannondale, Trek-Volkswagen, Tomac Racing, Maxxis, Foes, Fisher, Be-One Racing, Haro and Mongoose, using Champagne-coloured brakes with purple logos. This then evolved into a Purple Hayes release to the public in 2000.

The 2023 Purple Hayes brakes apply the anodised finish to a standard set of Dominion A4 brakes, with a four-piston actuation, 17mm pistons, and 160mm, 180mm and 203mm rotor compatibility. Claimed weight is 310g per brake.

You can get hold of these for $249.49 (that’s the same price as the regular Dominion A4 brakes), limited to 500 sets worldwide.

Ergon had the new GDH Team grips to show us.

These are a new addition to the German brand’s gravity collection and are described as a “Frankenstein” option for enduro/downhill, combining features from Ergon’s existing grips.

That includes the soft box-like pattern on the top of the grips, inspired by Ergon’s GD1 Evo, and the ribbed lines on the underside, similar to the GFR1. This is designed to boost finger grip.

Finally, the CNC’d clamp and inner flange are borrowed from the GD1.

Ergon says the grips were designed in collaboration with Vali Höll, Troy Brosnan and Jesse Melamed.

They will be available this summer, costing around $40.

Cane Creek has redesigned its Air IL and Coil IL shocks to offer improved suspension performance, increased reliability and better compatibility with a wider range of trail bikes, according to the brand.

The new shocks have thicker inner damper tubes for increased strength, Cane Creek claims, and slimmer valve bodies and air cans for additional frame clearance.

The Air IL and Coil IL continue to use Cane Creek’s twin-tube damper layout, which allows for four-way independent adjustment of the damper (high-speed compression, low-speed compression, high-speed rebound, low-speed rebound).

The shocks now have a 3mm Allen key nested in the climb switch and held in place by two magnets, for damper adjustments.

Cane Creek has increased the maximum pressure for Air IL to 350psi, while the Coil IL now has preload adjustment with three detents for, the brand says, more precise spring rate tuning.

Claimed weights are 385g for the Air IL and 280g for the Coil IL, and they are priced at $629.99 and $579.99 respectively.

Here’s a neat little gadget from 12-Speed Products, the Door Mate.

It’s a garage door remote for road and mountain bikes, with the former integrated into a bar-end plug (which looks similar to a Di2 junction box) and the latter designed to sit on the headset stem cap or handlebar.

Apparently, it can be programmed to work with 85 per cent of garage doors in the US, Mexico, Canada and New Zealand. It’s not currently available in the UK due to different garage door technology.

However, if you live in one of the above places and want to be able to open your garage door from your bike without fumbling around for a key fob, you’re in luck.

It weighs 0.5oz/16g, is powered by a replaceable A27 battery said to offer one year of battery life, is IP65 water and dust resistant and, according to 12-Speed Products, has a range of 50ft/15m. Oh and it costs $39.99.

From one quirky product to another, this is the Branchy, a rear derailleur guard for mountain biking, gravel riding and, well, another other type of riding where you’re worried about your derailleur being damaged or ripped off by an impact.

It’s made, according to Branchy, from an impact-resistant thermoplastic designed to retain some flexibility to absorb and deflect impact, and weighs 35g.

The Branchy attaches to the chainstay with a couple of zip-ties.

It’s yours for a cool €64.95. Let us know your thoughts on this one.

If you like to ride with your phone, then Peak Design’s case and mount setup looks like a smart option.

Peak Design now offers smartphone cases for iPhone, Samsung and Google Pixel devices. It’s a neat-looking case in its own right and uses Peak Design’s SlimLink mounting system.

This is essentially a mechanical and magnetic lock built into the case, which then attaches your phone to a wide range of Peak Design mounts.

For riding, that includes an out-front bike mount, while there are also various car mounts, charging mounts, tripods and the like, so you can use the same system across your bike and anywhere else you need to hold your phone steady.

We covered this one upon the launch of Maxxis’ new XC tyres but it’s worth another look, seeing as Sea Otter was our first chance to see the Severe in the rubber.

The Maxxis Severe uses a new compound dubbed MaxxSpeed, said to increase wet-weather grip while also lowering rolling resistance by 25 per cent, compared to the MaxxSpeed 3C compound.

With the Olympic Games coming up once again next summer, XC is hotting up right now, with big bike launches coming in the form of the Specialized Epic World Cup (Pinarello has an XC prototype up its sleeve, too). We can expect plenty more new XC tech over the coming months.

The Maxxis Severe is designed specifically for wet and muddy conditions and, as well as that new compound, there’s a new tread pattern that was apparently tested on the World Cup circuit last year by the likes of Nino Schurter and Bec Henderson.

It’s available in two sizes (29×2.25in and 27.5×2.25in), with Maxxis sticking to the slightly narrower width to cut through mud, despite the trend for wider rubber in XC.

The new Maxxis Severe costs $93.

Fox now covers riders head-to-toe having launched the Union shoes earlier this year.

There are two clipless versions, with the option to choose between Boa dials or laces, and a single lace-up flat-pedal shoe.

The Union Flat costs £129.99/$149.95/€149.99 and has hex-shaped lugs to add pedal grip, according to Fox. The welded construction of the upper is said to add some light water resistance.

The Union, meanwhile, has a cleat cut-out and gains a Velcro strap on the upper. This shoe comes in at £159.99/$179.95/€169.99.

Finally, the Fox Union Boa ditches the laces and gains two Boa dials for closure.

Like the other two shoes, there’s a moulded toe cap and reinforced toe box, to protect against rock strikes.

The Union Boa costs £219.99/€239.99/$249.95.

Editor-in-chief

George Scott is BikeRadar's editor-in-chief. He has been writing about bikes for more than a decade and riding them for much longer. He's a road cyclist at heart and is happiest in the mountains, even if he can't climb them particularly quickly. George has ridden the Etape du Tour, Maratona dles Dolomites and Haute Route sportives, but has also caught the gravel riding bug. George also contributes to the BikeRadar Podcast and YouTube channel, and, as well as being the former editor of RoadCyclingUK.com, has also written about cycling for Rouleur, Cyclist.co.uk and T3.

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