{"id":615647,"date":"2026-04-18T19:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615647\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:18:13","slug":"rowdy-retrofuturism-gravels-past-and-future-take-over-sea-otter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615647\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowdy Retrofuturism: Gravel’s past and future take over Sea Otter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sea Otter continues to grow and evolve. Once a pure mountain bike event, the gravel race is now front and centre. In the rows of booths, gravel also had a massive presence. Both in numbers and literally just massive bikes. 32\u201d is here in gravel as much, if not more than in mountain bikes\u2026 for now.<\/p>\n

That gave the gravel and road booths a curious presence at Sea Otter. )ld school, hand-made bikes and retro paint jobs mixed with futuristic wireless shifting, a fresh crop of less-familiar Asian manufacturers and the so-new-its-still-barely-here 32 wheel size.<\/p>\n

Faction Bike Studio continues pushing 32\u2033<\/p>\n

Starting with some CanCon, Faction Bike Studio had this 32\u2033 take on a smaller-frame-size gravel bike in TRP\u2019s booth. Faction designs bikes for some of the world\u2019s biggest brands and fastest riders<\/a>. The Quebec brand is showing its homework a bit more lately after years of secrecy. This 32 is clearly designed for quick prototyping but, at Sea Otter, it was also showcasing TRP x Classifieds new wireless drop-bar group, Vistar.<\/p>\n

Geoff Kabush\u2019s custom titanium Naked has curves<\/p>\n

Another very-Canadian partnership, Maxxis housed Geoff Kabush\u2019s new 32\u201d gravel bike, made by Quadra Island\u2019s Naked Bicycles (and the official bike of the unofficial Underbiking World Championships, held since 2022). The titanium rig rolls on new 32\u201d Aspen ST tires, one of five tires now offered by Maxxis as the brand continues to push big wheels, with a seat tube curved perfectly to match. Wheels with extra-long Berd spokes to keep the weight competitive are another nice touch.<\/p>\n

One Btchn\u2019 Shimano gravel bike<\/p>\n

Continuing the theme of custom 32\u201d gravel bikes, Shimano housed a big wheeled gravel beast from custom house Btchn\u2019. With one-piece ti bars and a ti seat post, this is a very bougie take on big wheels. Add GRX Di2 1x and it\u2019s an interesting mix of welding and wireless.<\/p>\n

Cannondale CAAD lives<\/p>\n

Cannondale\u2019s CAAD isn\u2019t 32, but it is a long-awaited throwback, or revival, of the CAAD name. It sat front and center in the brand\u2019s booth, right beside a wild \u201cNoterra\u201d concept mountain bike throwing back to the same era.<\/p>\n

Salsa made a big impression, showing two production 32″ gravel bieksNothing looks too weird from the front, other than that wildl sloping top tube Does 32″ wheels work for small riders? I don’t know which way this Salsa moved that debateIt’s an interesting look …
\nSalsa production 32\u201d for \u201ceveryone\u201d<\/p>\n

While there were many custom rigs, Salsa had one of the few production bikes, mountain or gravel, in the new wheel size. Two, actually. One Fargo in steel, one in Titanium. The Ti was showing in a small frame intended to prove riders as short as 5\u20192\u201d could fit the new wheel size. It also proved that some laws of physics are unavoidable. With the post down, the back tire is almost taller than the seat, so \u201cfit\u201d is a loose term here.<\/p>\n

Kenda Crusher 55mm in Coffee sidewalls Looks fast 700cc still, but in sizes up to 55mm now.
\nKenda Crusher<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking this looks a lot like a tire from a \u201cS\u201d brand, you\u2019re not wrong. It borrows liberally from that tire, but you don\u2019t have to go to a Specialized dealer to get this Crusher. It\u2019 also comes in up to a 55mm size. While Kenda did have 32\u2033 tires in its booth, the news on the gravel side is the Crusher, and soon the Alluvium, are matching the trend to higher-volume gravel<\/p>\n

Garmin Rally pedals grow up<\/p>\n

Garmin had its newest generation of Rally power meter pedals in its booth. The new design makes the modular pedal body far more functional. You can switch a pedal body, from road to SPD for gravel or XC, in under a minute with a single 5mm tool. Garmin\u2019s also keen to point out that, if you\u2019re really chasing data-driven performance, the pedals connect to input from all other Garmin wearables, which feeds into Garmin Connect\u2019s coaching programs. So your training can be based off of a broader picture of your body, sleep, diet (beers), not just what your coach sees in your workout data.<\/p>\n

FSA x Rodeo Labs Lancia tribute<\/p>\n

FSA was looking back in a different way, partnering with Rodeo Labs for this 70\u2019s-era Lancia rally car tribute. The brand focused on its Italian office for this one, pulling colours from the iconic rally car, down to the yellow-bladed spokes on the Vision 48 wheels. Add some Super Record to FSA\u2019s carbon gravel cockpit and a nod to classic Campy rim brakes, and it was one distinctive ride.<\/p>\n

Look takes a one-sided approach to gravel<\/p>\n

As gravel gets specific, so does the gear. Look joins Wolf Tooth in offering high-end one-sided pedals. The brand\u2019s not making any silly aero claims. It\u2019s just lighter. Russel Finsterwald had them on his GRS Cezal, which also was tricked out with Look\u2019s road cockpit for more speed.<\/p>\n

Osprey<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going extra long on your next gravel adventure, Osprey has new versions of its hydration vests. The Escapist 3 updates the design to be more stable and a bit wider. There\u2019s still pockets up front and a bit of storage around back along with the hydration bladder and hose. The brand also updated its Berm riding packs for bigger days out or mountain bike rides.<\/p>\n

Kona Sutra x Sim Works<\/p>\n

Kona partnered with Portland trend-setters Sim Works for this bespoke take on its Sutra drop bar bike packing rig. Bespoke bags. A Brooks saddle and rims and cable housing to match. Fancy fenders. If you\u2019re going to bike glamp, do it in style.<\/p>\n

Aenomaly Switchgrade Pro brings the wild concept within the scope of gravel … and maybe road? Ok, you’re probably not looking for this much tilt… but… The new Pro model lets you limit the angle adjust to just 5 degrees fore\/aft, if you want
\nAenomaly targets gravel with Switchgrade Pro<\/p>\n

While 32\u2033 wheels are out there, Vancouver\u2019s Aenomaly Constructs has an even more out-there idea. Adjustable on-the-fly saddle angle. Set your perfect saddle height for flat or rolling riding. Then have a 5-degree tilt forward for better power-transfer on steep, over eight percent climbs. If your lower back ever hurts climbing, or you\u2019ve felt yourself pulling on the bars to stay on the bike on steep climbs, you know this idea has promise. Enough for INEOS to show some interest in the Switchgrade Pro<\/a>, apparently. For now, there\u2019s no remote, just a lever under the saddle. So it\u2019s best for longer climbs where you\u2019re not constantly switching saddle angles. But the smaller steps compared to the original Switchgrade make this a more interesting product for more riders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sea Otter continues to grow and evolve. Once a pure mountain bike event, the gravel race is now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[298850,64,63,784,193640,143629,242643,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-615647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-2026-sea-otter","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-gravel-features","13":"tag-gravel-gear","14":"tag-sea-otter","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}