Niner unveiled their IMBA bike at Sea Otter and it was a hit! It features trail maps on the panels and its theme resonates with every mountain biker who’s used these maps to navigate through new trails. The maps are complemented by an attractive mustard yellow color. Very smart logos and icons adorn the fork.

Instead of the trademark ‘Pedal damn it’ sign on the top tube, this one says ‘Join damn it’.

The paint job was conceived through a contest where anybody could submit their ideas. The winner was chosen by Niner and the paint job was executed just in time for Sea Otter. (more…)

Mark Reynolds, 48, died in a bicycle accident at The Sea Otter Classic Downhill race on Saturday, April 19. Mark was the founder of Wicked Racin, a high end bike drivetrain company specializing in chain guides for down hill bikes. Mark was an icon in the Norcal biking scene and was a friend to many, many cycling enthusiasts.

On a fast section at the end of his downhill race run, Mark failed to negotiate a narrow bridge and crashed into a dirt embankment, suffering severe injuries. Some suspect that Mark might have experienced a medical problem since the section where he crashed is very simple for a rider of Mark’s abilities. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

Please join us and express your condolences and share your experiences about Mark’s remarkable life.

A video of Mark at Interbike talking about his product is available here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1480107757/bclid1493222173/bctid1502855367

Information about Memorial Service for Mark

Sunday, April 27th
Service 10:00am-11:00am
Reception 11:00am-1:00pm [Breakfast and beer]
Hakone Gardens
21000 Big Basin Way
Saratoga CA 95070

http://www.hakone.com/visit/information.html

Hutchinson Unleashes TORO 29′er at Sea Otter All-Mountain Tire Expands Range of Big Wheel Options

Monterey, CA - April 18, 2008 - - Hutchinson, a world leader in bicycle tire technology, has unleashed its new TORO 29 inch tire to the masses at the Sea Otter Classic, one of the largest cycling events on the globe.

The TORO features All-Mountain capabilities as well as marathon-friendly features to satisfy the needs of the ever-growing 29 inch mountain bike market.

“TORO is the natural extension of our success with the Python 29 inch tire,” states Eric VanHaverbeke, International Director of Marketing, and GM of Hutchinson USA. “While the Python provides lightweight, fast rolling performance in dry conditions, the TORO brings bigger knobbies, a wider profile, and longer wear for year-long weather and trail variations.”

TUBELESS READY

The TORO also features reinforced sidewalls with tubeless beads for use with the Hutchinson FAST AIR latex sealant, to create the ultimate sealing and puncture resistant system on the market.

HARDSKIN TECHNOLOGY

Sidewall durability has been greatly increased with the inclusion of the new HARDSKIN protective textile grid. Integrated into the casing, this reinforcement provides resistance to perforations and cuts without reducing comfort and overall performance.

The TORO is available in sizes ranging from 1.85 to 2.35, and in 127 and 66 threads per inch (tpi) reinforced construction, and in weights from 510 grams to 970 grams for the burliest Enduro version.

SEE TORO AT THE SEA OTTER

Come by Booth #826 at the Sea Otter, and read about the TORO and other exciting introductions from Hutchinson on Cyclingnews.com, VeloNews.com, mtbr.com and more. Look for the new TORO tire to be in top dealers and on your local trails and race courses in May. Enjoy the Hutchinson All Mountain Revolution.

About Hutchinson Hiram Hutchinson, an American expatriate, founded Hutchinson in France in 1853 and began producing bicycle tires in 1890. Starting with Louison Bobet’s three Tour de France victories in 1951, legends from Jacques Anquetil to Anne-Caroline Chausson, Nicolas Vouilloz, and current Olympic and World Champion Julien Absalon have proven the superiority of Hutchinson tire technology.

Hutchinson Pneus http://www.hutchinson-pneus.com/en/

About CFE PR+

Industry leaders including Shimano, RockShox, Giant, Ergon, adidas eyewear, Red Bull, Nike Cycling, GU, Brave Soldier and more have utilized Steve Boehmke’s proven Public Relations, Marketing, Copywriting, Business and Product Development skills to take their businesses to new levels of success.

Contact CFE PR+ at 714.633.9955 to Elevate Your Brand.

Make it a great day.

Website: http://www.cfeprplus.com

Hutchinson Tubeless Technology. Taking over the two- wheeled world. Let’s Ride.

source: Steve Boehmke

Finally, the full team have got together!

All the boys from Team ChainReactionCycles/Intense have been out in Temecula, the home of Intense, for the last week riding and preparing all their bikes for the start of the season.

This is the first time the team has all been together - although mechanic Cord is stuck back in England working on the finishing touches to the race van, nice one kid! With all the different charactors on the team, it is great to see how well everyone gets on - and we are really glad as it seems the jigsaw is finally piecing together!!

Chris is riding amazing this year and was really going off the other day. His DH riding scaring the crap out the guys but I believe that Ruaridh and Matt will learn a lot from him this year. Julien is fast and very focused - his all round professionalism will teach the younger guys a few things about becoming a top World Cup rider.

Check out http://www.crcintense.com for more pix and information

source: Tony - CRC/Intense Team

April 20, 2008
Monterey, California

Santa Cruz Syndicate (SRAM) racer Greg Minnaar headlines the downhill and dual slalom winning both gravity events at the Sea Otter Classic this weekend. Sharing the love with Greg on the downhill podium were teammates Steve Peat and Nathan Rennie placing 4th and 5th respectively, with Chris Kovarik 2nd and Justin Leov 3rd. Minnaar was on the top blocks in the dual slalom with Steve Peat 2nd, Andrew Neethling 3rd and Kirt Voreis 4th. Minnaar’s double wins this weekend show that he has made a seamless transition to the Syndicate squad and seems to be getting on quite well on his new Santa Cruz bikes.

DUAL SLALOM:

Minnaar surprised himself with his double victories. In the dual slalom he and Peat worked their way through the rounds to meet up in the final guaranteeing 1st and 2nd for the Syndicate. Voreis also was absolutely flying and on form and made it to the small final. It is with good reason that he teaches dual slalom clinics for Bikeskills, and the Syndicate boys lent him a hand with his clinic on Thursday. It would seem that he might have shown Minnaar and Peat a thing or two as they aced the race. Kirt says, “It’s good to be out of the Allride van and on the race course. It felt awesome to be on the podium especially next to my teammates! Racing lives alive and well in my heart always and forever.”

Minnaar said, “It was great to be in the final with Steve. I was very relaxed having a friend next to me. From that aspect it was pretty cool. I wasn’t concerned with crashing or anything knowing the Syndicate had the top two positions regardless of which of us won. I was very happy to win the event. I haven’t raced here since 2002, so I’m stoked to be back.” Peat said, “I was happy to make it to the finals. It was a great day for the Syndicate to have two in the final. My Blur 4X was hooking up good. I had tough rounds with EC, Houseman, Voreis, Lopes and then Greg. I had to dig in deep on every round. By finals time my legs were absolutely spent, I had nothing, Greg got lucky!”

DOWNHILL:

The Syndicate racers impressed even themselves on Sunday in the downhill. With Greg picking up another win he had this to say, “At first I never expected to double up. You always race to win, but I didn’t expect it, especially in the downhill. I manage to nail all my lines in the final, which I was pretty happy about. Thanks to all the staff and mechanics, and it being the first race of the season it was hectic with new bikes being built and all, and the mechanics did a great job.”

Rennie says of his 5th place run, “My run was pretty good but with such a short course any mistakes can put you back a bit. I had a solid run, but just a few small mistakes put me into 5th. I’m happy on the first race to have the Syndicate take three out of five of the podium spots.” Peat says, “I had a decent run, but I had a little slide out on a corner up top before a pedaling section, so I lost some time there. The track here is fun for about 100 yards, and then it’s not fun anymore. I choose to ride my V-10 and it definitely was the right choice. I’m stoked to make two podiums this weekend. It was a hellava great weekend for the Syndicate and great job to the boy’s!”

Jamie Goldman placed 3rd in the Dual Stunt competition, which pitted racers head to head racing over manmade obstacles. Kyle Strait took the win. Goldman was also busy this week being a guide to blind racer Bobby McMullen helping him to a 30th place downhill result, beating 14 people in his class. Goldman says, “We pinned it in the race run going faster than anything we had done in practice. Bobby nearly crashed in a section but was able to get back on course. He had a great race.”

Prior to arriving at Sea Otter the squad was attending Syndicate training camp doing photo shoots, bike testing and training rides. Between photos shoots, the riders got to ride at the local skatepark, the Aptos Post Office jumps and hit up Alex Reveles backyard jumps and mulch pit. Minnaar got into his backflips, Jamie Goldman and Kirt Voreis were going off and Josh Bryceland was stoked to join in the fun.

Next up for the Syndicate the downhill crew goes to Europe for the World Championship test event, first World Cup and Lisbon Downtown. Goldman goes to the Qashqai events, while Voreis takes his Allride tour on the road.

DOWNHILL TOP TEN:

GREG MINNAAR: 2:11.2
CHRIS KOVARIK: 2:12.0
JUSTIN LEOV: 2:12.0
STEVE PEAT: 2:13.0
NATHAN RENNIE: 2:13.4
JARED RANDO: 2:13.7
DAN ATHERTON: 2:13.9
JURGEN BENEKE: 2:14.1
ANDREW NEETHLING: 2:14.3
AARON GWIN: 2:14.4
Thanks to the Syndicate Sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard Skins
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
Chris King
Five Ten

source: Kathy Sessler

Colavita’s Cromwell Commands SRAM Circuit Race, Successful Living Surprises
Minnaar and Jonnier each take wins in Dual Slalom
Wind is part of the training program for BMX
Dual Stunt qualifiers sets stage for Sunday stunt showdown
Short Track Crowns First Time Winners Davison and Schultz
Video highlights of Day 3 of the Sea Otter Classic

Tiffany Cromwell taps her time trial skills to take the win photo: Sean Walkinshaw/brightroom.com

By JACKSON WEBER

With winds gusting and temperatures only reaching into the low 50’s on Day 3 of the Sea Otter Classic, riders in both the men’s and women’s pro fields were left shivering at the start line. Fortunately for all, the cold did nothing to deter the heated attacks that tore both races to pieces as riders enjoyed what was described as “a good breakaway course” where the winds largely negated any aerodynamic advantages of the peloton.

(more…)

xDave Weagel and Jon Heim met at Sea Otter to complete e-13’s acquisition of the Heim 3-Guide. Hopefully the e-13 name and marketing will help the 3-Guide become better known and more readily available. The 3-Guide is a super simple, elegant, and effective guide for 3-ring drivetrains. It’s easy to set up, weighs next to nothing, and works really, really well.

e-13 and Heim 3-Guide press release >>
e-13Web site >>

We’ve been working on putting together a fast, good quality video player. We’ll be posting videos from events and you can post your videos too. This is the beta version, so feedback would be great to hear. Especially any bugs you run across.

Thanks, Enjoy.

www.mtbr.com/video

-adam, MTBR Admin, email: adam@mtbr.com

A lot of bike companies come to Sea Otter with surprises up their sleeves. Marzocchi showed up with a new XC / All Mountain fork from their 2009 lineup, the 44 ATA Micro. As the “44” moniker suggests, Marzocchi is positioning the new fork as the smaller, lighter sibling of their 66 and 55 forks. The new 140mm travel 44 ATA Micro fork weighs just 3.92 pounds (1778 g) with 32mm stanchions and Marzocchi’s QR15 quick release axle. The 44 has Marzocchi’s ATA travel adjust system, lockout, compression and rebound control, and pedal platform.

(more…)

WILMINGTON, Mass. Pedro’s brand bicycle care will at last make public a company announcement at noon this Thursday, April 17, at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif. So far, Pedro’s staffers have been frustratingly successful at keeping zipped lips on the news but that will change at a media luncheon where attendees will learn of a new development over at Pedro’s USA. This development has been in the works since late last year but the time is now to shout out the results!

In keeping with the top secret theme, Pedro’s will also give attendees a sneak peak at upcoming products due out this summer.

To attend, contact Jason Elhardt, Marketing and Communications Manager, at jason@pedros.com

Who: Pedro’s
What: Media Luncheon (yes, with food and swag bags)
Where: Our Sea Otter Booth at the entrance to the VIP/hospitality island
Why: To announce company news, show off some new product and give a sneak peak to upcoming products
When: Thursday April 17, 12 pm PST
RSVP: Jason Elhardt, jason@pedros.com or 978.494.3600

About Pedro’s:
Pedro’s is a Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA based supplier of high quality bicycle tools, lubricants and care products created with a focus on sustainability. Pedro’s products have been helping champions reach the podium at events ranging from the World Championships to the Tour de France since 1989. To learn more, visit www.pedros.com

source: Booher Media Group