Sea Otter Day 1
Sea Otter is a veritable goldmine of new bike components. While we have a ulterior motive in place for our interviews on Friday, today’s content focuses more on the interesting bits cruising around the Laguna Seca grounds on the big show’s opening day.
Slipping through the cracks, a sneak peak at the Shimano Zee line-up while the hungry journalists wait outside. Photo ~ Seb Kemp
Troy Brosnan, Sam Hill and Manager Sean Heimdal do deliveries at DT Swiss. Photo ~ Seb Kemp
Shimano – New Saint and Zee Gravity Groups
Saint pedals. Replacing the long-tenured DX MX30 pedal, this is Shimano’s first foray into the flat pedal market since the Pliocene era.
A chunky, concave platform, and a combination of roller and needle bearings. 480 grams for the pair. Not the thinnest, nor the lightest, but the Saintest. Durability wins out over other concerns here.
The new Saint pedal spindle – the same as the previous DX MX30 pedal but, and I quote from the Shimano reps, “gold and lighter”. Roller bearings on the inboard side and needle bearings on the silver bit.
Colour is a new look for Shimano. Photo ~ Seb Kemp
Zee is Shimano’s new “gateway gravity” group, named after Mike Ferrentino’s brown Doberman. The brakes are one-way bleed, just like the new Saint group, and get a streamlined look and short lever like last year’s XTR Trail series.
Zee brake. Zee calipers will have zee option of zee Saint pads with fins, or zee standard, less expensive finless model. Four ceramic pistons should provide rotor crushing power. This is basically a Saint brake because, as Joe Lawwill told us “there aren’t many places to cut corners on a brake.”
Front zee brake.
Zee derailleur is 10-speed, Shadow Plus clutched, and 40% cheaper than Saint.
Zee shifter is two-way release, but not double release like its Saint counterpart.
The new Saint group should be available this July. Starting with the cranks, the new group will be lighter and stronger… of course.
Saint moves to 10-speed, which allows the use of the directionally-ramped HGX chain.
The new Saint derailleur includes a pile of new features. This includes the move to 10-speed, a bump stop at the hanger to prevent noise, and the longer Dynasys-compatible 10-speed cable pull for more reliable shifting. While all this sounds like marketing jargon, Shimano is trying to move towards an even more dependable system for the gravity market.
New Saint derailleur all packed up. The derailleur’s new bumpstop should help prevent noise in the smaller cogs.
The only Saint chainguide in existence… Joe Lawwill’s hand is demonstrating the sprung lower piece, which lacks a pulley but slides nice and smooth. Three different bash guard options will be availalble, this being the sleekest of the bunch.
Shimano’s direct mount derailleur standard. If you look at a standard Shimano Shadow derailleur, you’ll see that the direct mount bolt is already there – the new standard eliminates a moving part. The question is whether manufacturers buy in to the new standard with proprietary hangers.
Another look at the direct mount standard on an XTR Shadow Plus derailleur.
The direct mount standard was being shown off on an XTR-branded carbon Yeti SB66… you want?
Direct mount derailleur hangers.
The SLX Shadow derailleur has a plastic lockout switch. No comment.
Aaron Gwin’s proto derailleur on his Session 9.9 from Petermarysburger.
Plate number one, place number two.
Gwin’s cut down rubber from Pietermaritzburg.
Gwin’s proto brakes. Looking a lot like the new Saint group, but who knows…
Gwin having his Trek Slash dialed in for DH racing duties perhaps? Photo ~ Seb Kemp
Spank Industries
Spank makes hubs with a thought-to-be-obsolete technique known as Drillium. The resurrection of weight reduction by drilling out holes is a simple, yet effective method.
Spoon wheels come with random red spokes.
Sculpted from molten chromium, the Spank Oozy 29 wheelset is a flagship model with an outsourced hub production, 28 straight pull spokes, and a steel freehub body.
The 20×110 front hub of the Oozy wheelset, with 28 direct-pull spokes.
The Oozy stem is light, wide at the clamp, and includes the recessed top cap as shown. Burly enough for DH, light enough for the Tour de Fromme. This is still a prototype model but expect to see it in production later this year.
Snazzy colours are the name of the game in the cockpit world. Spank’s got a wide selection.
Spike stems are available in both 35mm and 50mm. The 35 comes in at 135g and the 50 is 150g.
Spank’s Spike pedals have a redesigned cromo spindle for ease of service, and look and feel quite nice. Super thin and a clean profile.
Kenny Smith has been shredding the Subrosa rims, and only used two of his four rims in 2011. This is a good sign for the longevity of these hoops.
More colourful accessories from Spank.
Spank has their own bar manufacturing facility in Taiwan, which results in a whole pile of well-engineered bars of many widths and weights.
Norco’s 2013 Splash
Norco’s 2013 collection has some bright multi-colour options. These will look good in photos.
Another look at the 2013 Aurum. We’ll speak more with Norco about 2013 shortly…
Fairclough’s SCOTT Voltage FR Dual Slalom Bike
Brendan Fairclough will be racing this modified SCOTT Voltage FR in Saturday’s Dual Slalom races. The rear end has been short shocked with a 200x57mm shock, and up front it has a 100mm Fox 831.
Fairclough’s short travel Voltage FR DS bike. Ben Walker of SCOTT Europe was very stoked to see his brainchild hitting the track in modified short travel mode.
Fox Shox: DOSS Dropper Post and CTD Cartridge
The DOSS dropper post is a long-awaited piece from Fox. Cable actuated, air sprung, available in both 30.9mm and 31.6mm diameter, and $439 MSRP.
Two-bolt head and one-piece construction put the DOSS among the more reliable posts – at least from an engineering stanpoint.
Two levers to actuate the 40mm drop and full 4″ or 5″ drop. While the cable actuated levers are quite functional, they do add another level of complexity to your bars.
Another view of the DOSS lever. Fox says the posts are already in production and should be available in late May this year.
The DOSS clamp can be used on either side, and has a fore-aft adjust as well as the obvious angle adjust.
CTD – Climb, Trail, Descend – is Fox’s new multi-stage compression damping system. Standard on all 32 and 34 forks, CTD replaces the previous RLC cartridge. These forks will be available in 26″, 650B, and 29″ versions by late May 2012.
CTD also follows in shocks, with an option for three-stage compression damping tune in the middle Trail setting. This correspondence with the fork system also means the Fox suspension system will be compatible with a bar-mounted remote.
The new CTD shock, with an updated air chamber shape, and gold all over the place as expected.
The remote actuated CTD on the 26″ Fox 34 will eliminate the 3-stage damper adjustment, but you can still use optional inserts to choose which damper setting you’d prefer your “Trail” mode to use.
The Fox CTD remote lever is even more complex than the DOSS lever. Two paddles, two cables, but the ability to tune your suspension from your bars. SCOTT has been doing this with TwinLoc for years, and it’s good to see a suspension company diving into the idea.
A redesigned arch for the 34mm stanchioned Fox claims improved stiffness and lighter weight.
The Fox 34 will be available in travel amounts up to 160mm, with a shorter axle to crown than the current 36 and better stiffness than the 32. In our opinion, the 34 is a much needed change in the AM/Trail/ShoreXC category.
Zerode Industries
Zerode’s gearbox frame should be available within about a month.
The Shimano Alfine 11 hub fits right in to the Zerode frame. The possible complications of a proprietary gearbox are nullified with use of a proven Shimano product.
The Zerode frame and a spare Alfine hub. $3499 USD including the shock, gearbox, and shifter.
So that wraps it up for our first day’s look at what Sea Otter had to offer. We have a full day of appointments on Friday, so stay tuned on Saturday for more fresh content out of Monterey. We’re still working on the overarching themes of the week noted in our preview article, so if that’s what you’re after, hang tight. Any questions, or things you’d like to see? Speak below…
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