Spotted At Sea Otter: Freaks, Geeks and Retro Bikes

by and 13

Sea Otter is a bike expo and festival of racing that takes place in Monterey, California each year. We didn't make the trip over there for 2023, but our US correspondent Fahzure Freeride dropped in to catch up with bicycle peeps of the world. He's snapped you this collection of bikes on his way round. If you're a bike nerd and get the chance to make the trip over for it, it's worth doing - there are show ponies and retrobikes all over the place. Plus a few freaks.

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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  • Spotted At Sea Otter: Freaks, Geeks and Retro Bikes
  • nickc
    Full Member

    This feels like it should be an round-out article that’s entitled “after all the new stuff that we’ve shown you and you can learn about, here’s some photos of the weird shit we found while walking about”.

    Sea Otter is mostly all about the new stuff and what’s coming and who’s doing what, and hell, even the racing, I guess I’ll skip over to PB to look at that stuff?

     

    stwhannah
    Full Member

    @nickc It takes a huge amount of investment to go to Sea Otter and cover all the new product launches. At the point where we would have had to book plane tickets, accommodation etc, brands wouldn’t commit to sufficient advertising to cover that investment, so this year we didn’t go. It just doesn’t make sense for us to travel across the world at our expense to advertise brands’ products to you.

    tazzymtb
    Full Member

    I love the Mone’ bike, but then Cjell does make some fab stuff and definitely knows what he’s on about as he’s raced all his own mad contraptions on things like the great divide.

    I’m also slightly biased as most of my bikes are based on a similar retro klunky aesthetic

    nickc
    Full Member

    @stwhannah I know, I do appreciate it’s prohibitively expensive, could you ask Fahzure to point his lens at the shiny new stuff occasionally?

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    could you ask Fahzure to point his lens at the shiny new stuff occasionally?

    He could but it is all pretty comprehensively covered elsewhere so if Fahzure prefers the oddball stuff let him indulge I say.

    mick_r
    Full Member

    Bianchi SASS was Shiny Ass Single Speed not Sick Ass. Because it was shiny chrome finish 🙂

    pictonroad
    Full Member

    bloody hell that Powerline is splendid

    kimbers
    Full Member

    Jesus built that hot rod

    (Ministry Psalm 69)

    fivetones
    Full Member

    PinkBike’s coverage has been rubbish this year. The Orange thread from last night was entertaining though as the tired old jokes from people who’ve never ridden/seen an Orange in real life met with some resistance from those that had.

    dangeourbrain
    Full Member

    The Orange thread from last night was entertaining though as the tired old jokes from people who’ve never ridden/seen an Orange in real life met with some resistance from those that had.

    So it was the same thread as every other orange thread for the last 50 years? I suppose that that appeals to some people the same way as watching dad’s army or fawlty towers.

    fivetones
    Full Member

    I live in hope that it’ll stop. However, serves me right for even bothering with their bro-fuelled comments section.

    dangeourbrain
    Full Member

    Reading the comments section of PB is a lot like rubbernecking on the motorway.
    You shouldn’t do it, you know you shouldn’t, you don’t like that you do it, but you do it anyway.

    Otoh, other than Friday fails, there’s nothing much else worth reading on PB unless you’re interested in pro racing.

    fivetones
    Full Member

    @dangeourbrain – yep, nailed it.

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