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Neil’s latest video from Sea Otter poses another big-picture question to the bike industry. To get a better sense of how AI is being used by companies big and small, he asked 27 representatives about their use of the technology. Watch the full video for all the answers on how AI is affecting the bike industry…
Following my video getting the industry’s thoughts on 32-inch bikes, I asked an even bigger question to the industry’s best and brightest at the 2026 Sea Otter Classic. In Does the Bike Industry Use AI?, I look at how the industry is using large language models and modern intelligence tools to try to get a leg up on trends, product development, and sales. Check out the video below for all of the answers:
With some saying basically not at all and others suggesting their employees should polish their resumes if they aren’t using AI in everyday practice, the answers to my questions were varied. Folks like Brian Szykowny of Hudski Bikes, for example, said that they barely used it and that he feels “creating content with AI is a really bad thing for everyone.” Chris Kratsch of Old Man Mountain also pointed out that they had seen an influx of customers who purchased the wrong axle due to the technology. Loren Mason-Gere of Rolf Prima admitted that while he did use it for some research and product analysis, it “feels like I’m playing with the devil.”
Others, though, were less skeptical and said they planned to implement it more, on top of the fact that they already use it for things like copy, social media, and converting engineering insights into customer-facing language. More specifically, Tyler Reiswig of BITCHN Bikes said he’s using the technology to simplify shipping to other countries, while Shae James of Kona said it was really helpful with sorting through and answering the enormous amount of emails they get. Charles Wells of Verum Velo spoke to how Claude AI could help him restructure his Shopify-based site.
If you missed it, Lucas spoke to our position on AI back in February. The entire post is worth a read, but, as he put it, “When one of our editors’ names is attached to a post, you never need to wonder: a real person wrote those words, shot those photos, and designed that graphic. We stubbornly insist on doing it this way.”
What do you think? Does AI have a place in the bike industry? Let us know in the Conversation below.
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