After days of walking the expo area and taking in as much as I could at the Sea Otter Classic, my brain is still overwhelmed with all the cool new stuff I saw. Here are a few of the parts and components that struck my fancy.
Mavic
After replacing broken spokes and stripped alloy spoke nipples, you have to retape most rims, and then reinstall and reseat the tubeless tire. Unless it’s a rim like the Mavic CrossTrail SL — I want these wheels for the ease of maintenance alone. While this design has been around for a while, after having to retape many rims after changing tires and spokes, I find this design has an increased value proposition. And if you take a close look at the rim profile, you’ll see a shallow middle channel to aid in popping the bead in the seating process. Mavic Marketing Manager Josh Saxe says this rim is easy to mount using just floor pump. The alloy CrossTrail SL 29 comes in at a reasonable 1980g for the wheelset and retails for $900.
Mavic offers a full range of wheels in a variety of price points. If you’re fond of the bold yellow DeeMax DH wheels, you might be pleased to see the refreshed line of DH and Enduro DeeMax wheels. (note: there’s only one yellow model) The new Deemax DH and Enduro SL wheelsets that have a 30mm rim profile, and start at only $850 for the DeeMax DH, (weight: 2050g for the pair) and is available in 29″ and mullet.
Mavic had several display bikes in their booth showcasing their wheels and adorned with some amazing bits, including jewel-like bits from Josh Ogle/Ogle Component Design. Mavic’s Josh Saxe had his personal bike on display and it was completely pimped out. Josh also had his personal limited-edition-of-one bike on display, and it was so rad I have to save it for another post.
I was stoked to discover, Mavic has kept 26″ alive with the DeeMax Park model, which lists for only $550. (Also: discovering another option for 26″ wheels makes me very happy)
Mavic also offers a lineup of MTB helmets, shoes, and apparel. Check out the full line at Mavic.com.
Hunt Wheels
I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Hunt Bike Wheels in person, so I stopped by to check out the lineup. Designed and engineered in the UK, Hunt also has an office in Boulder, Colorado, to serve US riders.
Hunt is surprisingly open about their engineering processes, sharing white papers of their CFD simulations on their aerodynamic rims and Finite Element Analysis simulations for improving impact resistance in their mountain rims. If you enjoy geeking out on this stuff, they have a whole section on their website dedicated to sharing information about their technology and engineering processes. Having spent several years working for an engineering firm and Siemens Software reseller producing Simcenter Femap (FEA) and Simcenter STAR-CCM+ (CFD) webinars, I enjoyed reading how Hunt is leveraging their engineering software tools.
I’m not clear on if Hunt also produces their hubs but I was impressed with the minimal amount of parts and ease of maintenance. If you’ve ever spent time on the dirty floor of a shop scanning the area with a magnet to locate an errant spring, you might know what time talking about.
I’m also amazed at how reasonably the wheels are priced. If you’re on the lookout for a killer price on enduro-rated carbon wheels, at the moment of this point, Hunt Proven Carbon Enduro wheels are 1/2 off and a steal at $800.
Spank Industries Limited Edition Ano Stems
I haven’t caught up with the crew from Spank Industries for some time, and while they didn’t have any new product releases, they did have some beautiful limited edition anodized Split Stems (read our review on the Split Stem here) on display. I’m digging this sweet camo model as well as the gun metal gray and black options.
Check them out at theGravityCartel.com or order yours from our online partner JensonUSA.
SDG Components
SDG Components recently introduced some new colors for their grips and pedals in their lineup. I’m especially enamored with the olive green, as that’s definitely the color of the season for me. (must have MOAR green!)
SDG’s Tellis Post and the Bel Air saddles have a sweet spot in my heart and place on my favorite bikes. Tyler at SDG also showed me some sweet new stuff in the works. I’m not sure I’m allowed to share quite yet, but hopefully I will soon!
SAMOX Cranksets
Until I came across their booth, I had never heard of SAMOX, but they have the affordable cranksets in the shorter sizes you’re looking for. There isn’t a lot posted online about them, and I didn’t get into it with the folks at the booth, and I’m unable to find any info about the brand on their website, which is typical of a Taiwan direct from the factory brand. Reviews online are non-existent, so they don’t appear to put any dollars into marketing (aside from their Sea Otter presence), but the cranks are manufactured by Chuan Wei Industrial CO., LTD, and it looks like they have some OEM spec from mainstream bike brands. Cranks are available at 145, 155, 160, 165, and 170mm lengths.
There are a few legitimate online retailers in the US selling them as they’re distributed by QBP, so if you’re looking for an inexpensive option to experiment with shorter crank lengths, without resorting to potentially sketchy Temu or Amazon options, for $99, they could be a good way to go.
Aeron TPU Inner Tubes
We’re seeing more options for TPU Inner tubes on the market, and I’m all for it, even though I hope to only carry one and never actually use one. After all, with modern tubeless tire technology, sealants, plugs, and tire liners, flat tires are far less commonplace. We should all carry a spare though when we’re far from the car or home, so why not carry the lightest innertube/insurance possible?
Aeron TPU tubes should be available at your favorite retailer soon. Learn more at aeron-tpu.com.