2024 Sea Otter Finds (Part One)

The Sea Otter Classic expo is an endlessly confusing maze of products and a reunion of friends and folks from the bike industry at large. It’s chaos, capitalism, creativity, and kindness all rolled into one big event. This is the first Sea Otter I’ve been to since 2019, so day one was mostly about being lost in the cacophony and reconnecting with friends and my extended bike family, many of whom I haven’t seen in half a decade. Along the way, I managed to track down quite a few interesting new products and cool brands. Find them all here, and watch for several more updates soon.

Wheels Mfg SOLO-SPLINE

I went in search of Wheels Mfg right off the bat yesterday. It took me a while to find booth “S402” and I ended up stopping to chat with at least four people I ran into before actually finding it. However, I was pretty excited about a new singlespeed conversion kit they were showing off. It’s the little things, you know. The Louisville, Colorado, company launched the SOLO-XD at Sea Otter Classic last year, offering an elegant solution for converting a SRAM XD free hub to singlespeed. This year, they’re giving folks a sneak peek at a new variation on the SOLO platform. The SOLO-SPLINE is designed to operate with Shimano Micro Spline hubs so prospective singlespeeders can swap their Shimano 12-speed cassette for a one-gear setup. I’ve been waiting for this one as I have a couple of wheelsets with Micro-Spline free hub drivers.

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While the SOLO-SPLINE isn’t officially launched yet and isn’t available for purchase, Wheels said they’re aiming to bring it to market within the next few months. Oh, and they’re also adding a few more cogs to their SOLO lineup, including 21-23T options!

Vittoria Peyote

It was great catching up with the Vittoria crew, who had just dropped an intriguing new tire at the show yesterday. The new Peyote was designed with cross-country racing in mind, but it looks like it might have potential in ultra-endurance bikepacking. Vittoria claims its tread pattern and casing were designed for speed and confidence and that the tire is positioned between the Terreno and Mezcal.

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The Peyote comes in two sizes, 29 x 2.5” and 29 x 2.4”. Its tread features a low-profile, alternating V-shaped center pattern that they say digs through loose terrain to find traction while laterally clearing debris. It has some decent side knobs, all in the Graphene + Silica compound for maximum speed. More interestingly, they mentioned that the tread area uses a suppler 60TPI rubber, but the sidewall is made from significantly stiffer materials to stand up in the corners.

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In addition, they also showed me a new version of the Mezcal in 2.4”, which is going to make a lot of Tour Dividers happy. The new Vittoria Peyote is available in a Black and Tan wall for $99.99. Find details over at Vittoria.com.

Revelate Designs Holster Panniers, etc.

I spent a fair amount of time at the Revelate Designs tent catching up with Bekka, Eddie, and longtime friend Eric Parsons. After a red eye and delayed flights, the team still managed to haul quite a few bags down from Alaska, including several all-new, close-to-production models. A chunk of that was their long-awaited holster panniers. Eric has been working on these things for nearly 10 years, and with the help of several ambassadors and an extensive testing/revision process, they’re finally close to finished and almost ready for production.

The holster panniers will come in three sizes, each featuring a thin plastic back plate affixed to a 3D-printed horizontal brace that carries the load. The brace/plate assembly attaches to the rack using two hooks that make it easy to secure it using corresponding Voile Nano Straps. The front of each holster system is made from X-Pac and ripstop nylon, has one or two top straps depending on the size, and two side compression straps to cinch down a fitted welded waterproof drybag. It’s a sharp-looking pannier, and the three size options should fit most folks’ needs.

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The next bag Bekka showed me isn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse, but I was impressed. I’ve never used aero bars, and I don’t plan to start any time soon, but their forthcoming Pitchfork Aerobar System is unlike any other bag I’ve seen and has a couple of unique features.

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The harness attaches to the aero bars and allows a single Ultra 200 drybag (in this case, a Pronghorn bag) to be strapped underneath. There are two “feed” bags on either side of the top that almost look like saddlebags to the roll bag. Each has a one-handed drawstring and is purpose-built for on-the-move snacking. The center of the harness has a bungee cord area for strapping down a layer or other items you might need to stash on the fly. The aero-bar harness is coming very soon, and we’ll have a more detailed review on it when it launches this summer.

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Revelate also had their new Tarsier Cargo Cage on display. It’s not just any cargo cage, either. Their take on this accessory includes a couple of features not found on most cages: a removable foot/base and four TPU inserts that hold the straps in place and provide cushions to prevent noise or abrasion when using something like a Klean Kanteen, titanium BOT/pot, or other metal objects. It’s made from 6061 aluminum and has triple bolt mounting points with key slots so you don’t have to remove bolts to install the cage. They are waiting on final production of the inserts, but more details should be coming soon.

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There were two more new bags on display. First, the Stoat, a small seat pack that’s kind of like smaller version of the Shrew. The Stoat is made from welded materials and looks like a good day-ride bag for spares or tools. There was also a sharp-looking welded version of the Joey down tube bag on display. Both of these should be available fairly soon.

Zeno

The decoupled titanium frame on display Zeno’s booth caught my eye. It was showing off their Speedlink Q-Connector lineup of products. These hydraulic brake quick-connectors allow you to decouple hydraulic brake lines to box your bike or put it in a travel case. I’ve seen similar products in the past, but these look pretty polished. The Taiwanese company also had a true floating rotor on display and a good-looking travel brake bleed kit.

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Wolf Tooth Fat Paw

It was good to catch up with marketing director Kurt Stafki at the Wolf Tooth Components tent and check out some forthcoming rad prototypes that I can’t yet reveal. However, they did have one new product on display that a lot folks will like. Foam grips are popular among bikepackers for their vibration-damping qualities, but one thing that drives me nuts about them is getting them on and off the bars. Wolf Tooth answered that problem with the new Fat Paw Lock-On Grips, bringing the same texture and feel of the popular Fat Paw silicone foam grips to a lock-on grip format.

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At 36mm, the installed diameter of Fat Paw Lock-On Grips is the same as the Fat Paw silicone foam bike grips. The Fat Paw Lock-on Grips are made with black silicone foam and come with anodized aluminum collars that match the eight primary colors of other Wolf Tooth anodized bits. They come with rubber bar plugs for $34.95 but can be upgraded to matching alloy bar plugs for an additional $20. Learn more at WolfToothComponents.com.

Kyoot Bikes and Split Bags

Perhaps my favorite thing at Sea Otter so far was meeting up with Phil Bailey and Fajar “Fudge” Hassan of Kyoot Bikes and Kierstyn Breaux of Split Bags. I ran into the three early in the morning when they were rolling several versions of the Kyoot Itty Bitty into the expo to set up their display tent. Kierstyn’s striking frame bag caught my attention, as did the wild paint job on one of the 20″ wheel bikes. I asked them where their tent was and told them I’d catch up a little later. After stumbling around lost most of the day, I finally found them an hour before the Expo closed for the day.

Kyoot is based out of Austin, Texas, and was founded by designer and BMXer Phil Bailey (center above). Phil spent a decade in the bike industry working for a mainstream BMX brand and the last 15 years riding BMX bikes. He brought his BMX bike everywhere. “I smuggled it on planes, trains, and boats as my exploration companion,” Phil mentioned. In 2017 Phil and his partner and traveled to Japan, and he brought his BMX bike along. He was blown away by all the small-wheeled BMX-shaped bikes everywhere and realized there simply weren’t that may companies making mini velos in the US. That’s when Phil set out do design his own small-wheel exploration vehicle, and Kyoot was born in 2022.

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Kyoot’s flagship bike is the Itty Bitty, a mini velo with 20″ tires that’s designed to be efficient and fun but not overengineered. It’s loaded with mounts and options, and they had a few of them on hand set up in a variety of ways: with dropper posts, singlespeed, set up with racks and gear, and even with drop bars. Phil even mentioned that his partner recently rode one in The Mid South event. The bike above was a fun one to shoot. Thanks for your help with that, Fudge! Also, watch Kyoot for some sweet flat moto style riser bars coming out soon.

Many of the Kyoots were adorned with handlebar bags, frame packs, and other luggage made by bag maker Split Bags owned and operated by Kierstyn Breaux out of Tampa, Florida. Kierstyn started making bags when the world shut down in 2020—a familiar turn of events. “I was just so fascinated with the craft and really loved how shops in other cities/states had local makers,” Kierstyn mentioned. “I kept wishing Tampa had a bag maker, and then I got to became that person.” The owner of the shop she works out of, City Bike Tampa, actually bought her first sewing machine to help her get started. “I’m really lucky that I have such a great bike community backing me and giving me a lot of love and support over these last four years.”

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I loved the look of the graphics and logo used on the Split Bags patches. Kierstyn said that she landed on the name Split because it’s a relatively vague word that perfectly describes her brain. “I’m split on most things, kind of indecisive, and constantly try to figure out how to split my time between all my hobbies.”

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When I asked Kierstyn what types of bags she likes making and selling the most, the mentioned that her favorite thing about bag making is designing new things. “Drawing a picture and then figuring out how to make it come to life is so exciting to me,” she said. “Figuring out the steps is like solving one big puzzle.” Still, she admits that most popular and consistent things she makes are frame bags, by far. “I love making bags that match people’s bikes or their personalities, and it’s even better when it’s custom and made to fit their bikes perfectly.”

Ergon GT-1 Touring Grips

Maybe not quite my cup of tea, but I thought some readers might be interested in the new GT-1 Touring grips from Ergon. At any rate, it was nice to catch up with Jeff Kerkove and hear about his plans for summer bikepacking trips and get a demonstration on these grips.

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The GT-1 is a new multi-position comfort grip designed to offer four gripping areas to change up hand and arm positions. As Jeff demonstrated, the above hand positions can be used: standard grip position, outside grip position, thumb up or palm position. Ergon claims the large flat area is for maximum pressure distribution and wrist support with the extra-large ergonomic wing. The GT-1 sells for $44.95 and is available at ErgonBike.com.

Hope Valves and Gravel Wheels

It was great to put a face to a name and meet Robin Godden, my longtime marketing contact at Hope Technology. I always love to see what Hope is up to, and Robin showed me their new gravel wheels and UK-machined, color-matched tubeless valves. The RX24 gravel alloy wheelset is designed for gravel and bikepacking with 24mm inner rim width for compatibility with tires up to 60mm. The RX24 is available in 24 hole and 32 hole configurations, weighs about 1780g per pair, and retails for £580-660.

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Robin also showed me their new CNC-machined alloy tubeless valves. As expected, their take on valves offers a few interesting features, including a five-way valve to allow maximum airflow, two different rubber seals to achieve an air-tight seal with any rim profile, and a Presta valve core remover cap. The Hope valves come in 40 and 60mm lengths and are available in all seven Hope colours: Red, Blue, Orange, Purple, Silver, Black and Bronze, for £25. Both of these products will be available May 1st.

Blackheart Bikes

I stopped by Blackheart Bikes early on to see what they were up to and was wowed by the Cerakote finishes on their two aluminum display bikes. I came back later in the afternoon to shoot the Gravel AL, but it’s hard to do justice to them with photos. The Cerakote has a wild iridescent feel that changes with light.

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They also had their New Road AL on display in a powder blue finish that was equally as enchanting. Both bikes had a lot of cool details. You can learn more about the Gravel AL that’s available in a dizzying array of more than 130 colors in our dispatch from January here.