I’m a bike nerd. I think about bikes; I talk about bikes; I probably bother people about bikes. During Sea Otter, even when we “weren’t working,” the BikeRumor team still talked about bikes.
We’re dorks, which is why a place like Sea Otter is perfect. There are tons of bikes to look at and drool over. Many times, it is the bikes in the booths that we ogle at. Other times, it is someone’s personal bike that turns our heads. Often, and especially this year, it was due to the particularly large wheels. Other times, it was the crazy paint jobs that caught your eye. (Seriously, go read Jeremy’s post about the paint!)
They all draw me in. But the ones I really like are the truly unique, one-off custom frame builds of the mountain bike variety. It’s the full suspension, long-travel (usually), gravity-oriented bikes that catch my eye. So, without further ado, here are some special full travel rigs I found creeping around Sea Otter.
Taken Cycles was one of the first brands that I saw that really caught my eye. First, I didn’t think I’d ever heard of a bike brand dubbed “Taken.” Secondly, it features a high-pivot take on the CBF suspension platform. I’ve yet to see a CBF bike with a mid- or high-pivot. The closest thing would be Canfield’s Jedi DH bike with their CBF-adjacent Formula 1 suspension.
Making their first Sea Otter appearance, Taken is a new bike brand out of Boise, Idaho. The frames are aluminum, can run between 150-170mm of rear travel simply by changing the shock stroke, and are 29 or MX-wheel compatible. Plus, they look damn good! I’d love to get one in and see how the CBF platform feels with a more rearward axle path. I couldn’t find a social media or website for them (only Liam Neeson movies popped up), but we’ll keep an eye out.
I spotted this steel big-travel monster outside of the DVO booth at Sea Otter. Unfortunately, the rider wasn’t around (he’s a DVO athlete) and the employee at the booth didn’t know much about the bike. However, I’m pretty sure it is a Vessel, built by Jack Harle. A lot is going on here, with a mid/high-pivot, pivots, links, and a floating brake arm.
Okay, I wasn’t completely unaware of all of the bikes I saw. This post is more about covering the truly unique mountain bikes seen at Sea Otter. This includes brands we don’t often see here in the States, such as Starling.
The Starling on display at the Samox booth was the Saturn V2. Steel bikes are boutique enough, but this is truly weird (by weird, I mean very awesome!). The driveside sports a very unconventional belt-driven singlespeed, with the “chainring” (essentially an idler) disconnected from the crankarms.
Rather, the “chainring is on the non-driveside (or, in this case, would it be the driveside?), with a chain running up to an idler. Basically, these two idlers are connected through the frame, driving the bike forward. Starling did this to create a DH bike with no chain growth. I’ve never seen it in person (you probably haven’t either), and it is rad. And, yes, I apologize for the poor lighting in the photos.
The Yoshimura booth at Sea Otter had a pretty rad Gamux DH bike. Again, maybe not a one-off, but extremely rare and, frankly, something I’ve never seen in person before. The story I was told is that it belonged to a former Gamux athlete and was sold to a friend of the dudes at the Yoshi both. He was kind enough to allow them to display it, complete with Yoshimura products.
Gamux machines the frame from a block of alloy, but an interesting point they shared with me was the carbon inserts. Gamux designed the frame to fit these carbon strips (I tried to get a good photo) to adjust the frame’s stiffness to the rider’s preference. I thought it was a cool idea, but just a rad bike overall.
Keeping in line with the gearbox DH bikes, I spotted this Shredline DH bike at the Spank booth (I realize that sounds funny). Along with a gearbox and a carbon belt, Spank fitted the bike with as many of their components as you can imagine. I’ve never heard of them, and it looks like a rad bike.
While this Shredline DH bike was in the Spank tent, I also spotted what seemed to be a longer-travel Shredline trail/enduro bike rolling around Sea Otter – the one that Jordan got the details on here.
Even more gearbox bikes! This is the Tripping Balls bike by Blues Bikes, which was located at the Gates tent at Sea Otter. It is a very cool-looking steel frame, featuring 145mm of rear travel paired to a 160mm fork. It can be full 29er or MX wheels, and of course, sports a Gates carbon belt and a 9-speed Pinion gearbox. The Tripping Balls can be a mullet or 29 and is built around the “Chris Canfield Suspension Formula.” (I think that means CBF; it looks like a CBF…)
Cane Creek was showing off their new Invert Enduro fork, along with their other suspension and component offerings at Sea Otter. To do so, they had two very, very cool steel Significant Other frames built up.
These are hand-built titanium bikes from Golden, Colorado. I can’t remember the names of the frames, but there was a shorter and longer travel version. And, names are besides the point. I mean, just look at them. Hands down, these are some of the best-looking bikes at Sea Otter, in my opinion.
I couldn’t find much information about this Vessel bike, but I believe it is Jack Harle’s (Vessel’s owner) personal bike. It’s a big rig–170mm rear travel with 180mm fork, a high stack (660mm), and LONG chainstays (modular at 460mm or 470mm). And, I mean, just look at it. The bike looks rad, give his website a look.
Alright, there was another cool enduro bike I spotted, ARC. My recollection is alloy lugs and carbon tubing. The guys I chatted with explained they are still working on prototypes, and gave me a bunch of other info that, well, my phone didn’t save. Sorry boys. Still a cool bike, though. If you’re familiar, link them in the comments!
Okay, lastly, here are a few bikes that are either just really cool or I just don’t see them very often.
Neko and the Frameworks crew were bouncing around Sea Otter all weekend. I spotted several iterations of his bike, including a 32” Frameworks mega-mullet. But this DH rig is Anna Newkirk’s race bike and just too cool not to snap a photo of.
Atherton is another brand we see very few of. There were a few around Sea Otter this weekend, including some with Gee on top.
Pretty cool Pivot Switchblade with some funky colors.
This Ripmo was at the Ibis booth. I stopped and looked every time I walked by, and I walked by a lot! Rumor has it that an Ibis staffer is building it up. Well done; it looks ready to shred.
I know a Santa Cruz V10 isn’t very uncommon. However, Jackson Goldstone’s v10 is pretty rare! It was on display at the Fox tent, along with Jackson’s Speedsuit. I can confirm that it wasn’t Jackson himself on display in his race kit, unless he is just able to hold still for a really, really long time.
If you have the choice, which one would you take home?
