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I'm curious.. How does the staff feel about doing the coverage like this? I've personally liked it. Plus, the fact that others have been able to contribute what they saw and liked at the otter is pretty cool...

Neko Mulally won the DH on his freak bike with 32" front wheel w/ XC racing slick. - https://results.raceroster.com/v3/events/ajsmbwfa6za9y9np - chatting with him at dinner the other night (before the race), all he cared about was rolling speed. cornering knobs were "good enough" and if he could manage the off-camber after the uphill on the course, the rest was basically going straight and fast. seems like his strategy paid off.

New EVO lineup from Hope The new GR4 below was released late last year from Hope. Lots of options, 3 pads and lever blades and 2 different rotors (fixed or floating)

Stinner Frameworks Romero LT Uses the licensed 3VO suspension system from Ministry Cycles

EXT Vecta EXTs more budget friendly coil shock based off the Stoira. Not brand new for 2026 (came out last year) but I like what EXT does and the craftsmanship is always incredible!

Microshift Advent MX Groupset One thing to note: Microshift only sells Cassette, Der and Shifter so chain and cranks and chainring will have to be found yourself.

I generally want to know if brands have any plans to improve long-term support on their products - especially anything electronic and electric motors. Are any of them planning on building a platform with a motor that can be repaired or upgraded/replaced over time? And are they going to be locked to an app that can disappear in a few years, or do they have EOL plans that let you keep using them as long as you want once its been discontinued? Avinox seems to be doing the drop-in upgrade part of that, but long term mechanical and app support...

That battery is basically at the headtube. Interesting to see the 'lower weight placement = better handling' argument has lost to having an SL-slim downtube. It would be really interesting to ride a mondraker or commencal Bosch and DJI back-to-back to see if there's any merit whatsoever to the argument. Although you raise the bikes center of gravity the extra weight over the front. Unrelated, the shiny black lower ohlins are way better, but please just go back to a vertical O or invent something that isn't this pathetic new shape.

Lil shout out to Blake Carney making it into pro finals after a decade away, moving from WA back to CA, having a kid, and taking over a PT clinic. GET SOME.

Motion ratio is the inverse of leverage ratio. The leverage curve is a motion ratio curve or sorts. Besides being a multiplier for force on the wheel vs force on the shock, it's also a multiplier for mm the wheel moves per mm the shock moves.

That's mind boggling. I was excited to read about it this morning and when I arrived at Sea Otter today I was genuinely confused when I tried the brake and it went all the way to the grip. I then tried every bike they had on display sharing booth with Ohlins, and every bike had the same issue. I mean, what?!

Brembo are cowards. You can’t launch a brake and then have no fucking oil in the lines. What are they scared of?

Industry Nine The Industry Nine booth had their gorgeous wheels on display with the current crop faded color spokes. The drool factor was high.

Porsche-inspired Propain at Crankbrothers Crankbrothers always has the coolest one-off builds at Sea Otter. This year it's a Porsche-inspired Propain.

All they had to do was this ...

Stablead Stablead showing off their suspension. The frames are for display only and aren't planning on being released. Tom Rogers is the man behind the squish with consultation from guys like Brian Lopes. Besides the product, the most surprising thing in their booth was none other than the infamous Sanjay Sanbhag who hadn't been to Sea Otter since he was "hitting the dirt jumps on a road bike."

Fairdale Elevator Taj's Fairdale Elevator. A breath of fresh air among the never-ending display of electronic tech.