Bikes of Sea Otter (Part 1): Neuhaus, Space Truck, and HotSalad

Someone asked me how I choose what to photograph and write about with the variety of stuff at Sea Otter. There are thousands of vendors and hundreds of thousands of bikes, components, shoes, helmets, and every accessory you could imagine. My answer was pretty simple: I was really only documenting things I’m personally interested in or that I find generally fascinating. Obviously, the result isn’t an encyclopedic opus of what was there, but if I went after every new bobble and all things bikepacking-related, it would get pretty boring and overwhelming, in my opinion.

That means you’re not going to see any carbon bikes in the mix this year; I’m personally not vested in them at the moment. In fact, I heard about a new gravel bike from a company that will remain unnamed. I hunted down their booth, somewhere in the endless “S” zone. When I finally found it, it only took a few seconds for me to realize it was the same ol’ carbon gravel bike we’ve seen hundreds of over the last few years. I discretely slinked away before the people working the tent could read the word “MEDIA” on my badge. And there weren’t really any bikes from mainstream brands, either—a byproduct of the industry’s COVID-induced cash-drunk spree and the hangover and overstock that ensued.

Still, I managed to find more than a dozen bikes that interested me for one reason or another. Read on to find details and galleries of the first group, and stay tuned for more throughout the week.

Neuhaus Metalworks HBSL and Hummingbird

We posted a survey in our Friday Debrief at the end of last year asking what bikes readers would like to see us review in 2024. The top picks were surprising, but one of them was a brand we already had our eye on: Neuhaus Metalworks out of Marin County, California. Neuhaus increased its bike lineup from three hardtail models to four this weekend at Sea Otter, and I had the chance to catch up with founder and partner Nick Neuhaus at the show to check out the new Neuhaus (new neu!?) HBSL, hear what it’s all about, and learn more about the company.

Neauhaus Metalworks is largely run by Nick Neuhaus and designer, engineer, and 3D-printer Daniel Yang. Nick grew up racing BMX and started making bikes in 2017. He recalls being inspired by his childhood BMX buddy’s dad who made all his kid’s frames. “I felt like that was something I had to do some day,” Nick mentioned. Long story short, as an adult with a design and fabrication background—and access to the tools and skills needed—he finally decided to pull the trigger. He made a few bikes a year for himself, close friends, and family before deciding to commit to it as a business. “The goal was always to create a brand that offered all of the positives of a custom framebuilder but without any of the hurdles or lead time,” Nick added.

Neuhaus Metalworks was started in 2021 with the help of design engineer Daniel Yang. “We focused on designing and building bikes that were truly inclusive, focusing on a size range for all rider shapes and sizes,” Nick explained, “All of our bikes use size-specific tubing that provides a consistent experience for riders of any size and skill level.” Customers also have a variety of colors and add-ons to choose from and Neuhaus is still able to keep lead times at or below three months, which is pretty impressive.

Up until this weekend, Neuhaus offered three mountain bikes and two gravel bike models, and they currently produce around 150 bikes per year. The brand has now officially increased its hardtail range to four with the addition of the Neuhaus Metalworks HBSL, which stands for Hummingbird Superleggera—Italian for superlight—a name that was given to an innovative and lightweight automobile exterior construction technique developed in the 1930s.

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Superleggera is an apt name for the HSBL; it’s made to be light and fast compared to the other bikes in the lineup. Nick spelled out an evolutionary snapshot of the brand’s two other staple hardtails: “The first bike I built was a steel mountain bike. My goal was to make small improvements to my steel Spot Rocker. I achieved what I set out to do with that frame, but my love for prototyping also meant that I was constantly looking for ways to improve it.”

The result of all his experimentation was the first official production Neuhaus model, the Solstice Mullet. It was a rowdy hardtail that was perfect for the type of riding Nick was doing at the time. He mentioned that it was was very good for its intended use, but he and Daniel quickly identified the need for a more “civilized” hardtail trail bike. That led to their most popular model, the Hummingbird, a 120mm-travel bike with a 66.5° head tube angle. That bike is now available in steel or titanium and is pegged as a “Downcountry all-rounder.” By comparison, the slightly more aggressive 130mm-travel Solstice has a 65° head tube.

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The HBSL distills the essence of the Hummingbird into a 110mm-travel light trail and XC bike made for folks who like to climb, race, or want to fill the gap between gravel and trail riding. It has a 67-degree head tube angle and a 74-degree seat tube angle, and it will eventually follow the same Full Spectrum Sizing as the Hummingbird, which comes in a whopping 16 sizes from XXS to XXL+.

The HBSL is hand made in Marin County, California, using custom-butted titanium tubing and will be offered in select Cerakote colors starting at $3,000 for the frame only, with frame kit and complete options. The HBSL will be available for purchase mid-May.

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Neuhaus will be finalizing and posting the geometry in the next week or two. Like their other bikes, the reach, stack, and chainstay length scale with rider height. This allows a very deliberate fit designed around weight distribution. They’ll start with M-L (M, M+, ML, ML+, L, L+) sizes, and as they build bikes for riders that fall outside of this range, the size offerings will grow. The bike shown is an ML. Along with its 67° head tube and 74° seat tube, it has a a 450mm reach, 440mm seat tube length, and 430mm chainstays. It’s designed to keep the rider in a comfortable position for climbing without biasing too much weight onto the hands for flatter rides.

One thing’s for sure: both the Hummingbird and HBSL were a treat to see and photograph. The 3D-printed seat tube junction, dropouts, and yoke gave it a clean and precise look. There were also a few details that set it apart, such as the 3D-printed bottle cage boss mount, which keeps the bolts from interfering with a long dropper post, and the Cerakote finish with titanium highlights was (chef’s kiss) nice. For more, head over to NeauhausMetalworks.com and stay tuned for details on the HBSL.

Bourdreau/All-City Space Truck

Even with all the fancy titanium bikes on display, my personal favorite bike I saw around Sea Otter this year had to be Josh Flores’s (@drinkcraftbeers) Bourdeau/All-City “Space Truck.” The moment I spotted it, I knew I had to shoot it then and there or miss my chance, despite the fact that it was blindingly bright at high noon, and the light couldn’t get much worse.

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As it turns out, the Space Truck was made (or reimagined) by Jarod Bourdeau (@jarodbourdeau), who’s been featured on the site before. Jarod is a local Monterrey frame builder who, as a matter of fact, made an appearance in Evan Christenson’s Sea Otter coverage last year when he helped repair Evan’s post-Baja Divide broken chainstay after the event. Frankenbikes seem to be Jarod’s forte, and his incredible cargo bike was a favorite Reader’s Rig back in October 2023, made by combining a Velo Orange Neutrino mini velo and a BOB Yak trailer. Jarod and Josh work together at the local Work Horse Bicycles in downtown Monterrey and rode in for the Sea Otter Expo on Friday.

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The bones of the Space Truck came from a 58cm All-City Space Horse from 2021. It was owned by a customer of Jarod’s who ended up crashing it, resulting in a buckled top tube and down tube. Since it was of no use to him anymore, he left it with Jarod. “Being made of steel, I knew it was usable in some way for me. So, after some thinking, I decided to make a cycle truck out of it,” Jarod mentioned. Luckily, it was a larger bike, so Jarod was able to cut out the bad parts and still have it be long enough to be useful. The end result is a 56cm-ish frame.

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The build features a custom-made fork that Jarod fabricated with internal dynamo wire routing. It has a 20 x 2.4” Van’s Cult tire and wheel laced to a Shutter Precision dynamo hub powering a B+M IQ-X light. The rear tire is 700C x 42mm Teravail Rampart on a “god knows what wheel,” according to Jarod. The parts are a straight-up hodgepodge of stuff Josh had on hand: a Shimano drivetrain XT/GRX, “old ass” Saint brakes, a Thomson stem, a take-off handlebar, and a bunch of other bits and bobs. You get the idea.

When I followed up with Jarod to ask what the Space Truck is used for, Jarod replied, “Josh has a bunch of bikes, so this one is just in his rotation. He doesn’t necessarily haul stuff all the time with it, but who can resist riding a weird bike like this around, loaded or not!?” The Space Truck was magnificently raw in person, and with All-City being another recent casualty in the ever-volatile bike industry, it couldn’t be more fitting to roll around a show filled with carbon frames, fancy e-bikes, and ultra-expensive parts.

HotSalad Sierra Roamer

We already published a fairly extensive Dispatch about the HotSalad Sierra Roamer using press photos and details a couple of weeks ago, but I’m pretty chuffed I got to see and shoot it in person. This is the seventh annual PAUL/Sierra Nevada collaboration, and I’d wager to say that it’s the best fundraiser raffle bike Paul and Sierra Nevada have helped put together to date.

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The Sierra Roamer frame came from the hands of B Vivit, the framebuilder behind HotSalad Bicycles. B has been featured on the site before. Miles photographed her and the titanium klunker she had on display at MADE last summer in Portland. As Miles summed up in that writeup, B’s been in the bike industry for a long while, honing her skills as a mechanic before becoming an instructor at United Bicycle Institute in Ashland, Oregon. Naturally, she moved into framebuilding and eventually worked at Seven Cycles in Boston before relocating to Portland, where she helped build frames for Simple Bicycle Co. Later, she set out on her own and created HotSalad Bicycles. The Sierra Roamer is a manifestation of all that experience and seems perfect in every way, despite being delightfully quirky.

Each year, the PAUL/Sierra bike raffle is held with all proceeds going to a non-profit of their choosing. For 2024, they’re supporting The Roam Collective’s mission to celebrate and elevate representation in the mountain bike community. With that in mind, B Vivit set out to create a modern tribute to mountain biking legend Jacquie Phelan and her historic bike, Otto. Back in the 1980s, Jacquie Phelan (aka Alice B. Toeclips) raced undefeated for six consecutive years in women’s mountain bike events aboard her custom-built “Otto.” Not only that, but she did so wearing polka-dot tights and soundly beat most of her male competitors. She was a force of nature in both racing and advocacy for the sport. Not only was she co-founder of the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) and a charter member of the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA), but Jacquie led a tireless crusade to open doors for women in cycling, which was and still is a male-dominated sport. In 1987, she founded the Woman’s Mountain Bike And Tea Society (WOMBATS) to encourage women’s and girls’ participation, and in 1984, she held the first women’s off-road skills camps and clinics known as “Fat Tire Finishing School.”

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Otto was built by Charlie Cunningham and was among the first modern lightweight aluminum frames and the first of a few raced off-road with drop bars. Otto went unbeaten for six seasons with Phalen at the helm, and it ironically drew criticism from traditional framebuilders, who believed durable frames had to be made of steel. Otto held up for over nine consecutive seasons.

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B Vivit’s tribute to Otto doesn’t focus too much on sentimentality. Instead, it’s a lovingly concocted blend of old-school charm and modern elegance that oozes creativity. The swooping top tube and bridge-less seat stays are wonderful details, as are the custom anodizing and curved stem. The frame is nicely finished with top-shelf components donated by White Industries, PAUL Component, Velocity USA, SimWorks, Ultradynamico, King Cage, Forager Cycles, and WTB. You can still put your name in for it, too. Head over to the Roam Collective website anytime before May 16th, where every $5 you donate gets you an entry to win and helps make mountain biking more inclusive and accessible.

Stay tuned for many more bikes to come later this week, and let us know your favorite in the conversation below! Also, if you missed our previous coverage from the 2024 Sea Otter Classic, you can find that in the Further Reading grid below…

Further Reading

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