Sea Otter Classic is underway at Laguna Seca Raceway, just outside Monterey in California. Part bike show, part festival, part multi-discipline race event, the Classic has been running for more than three decades and will attract tens of thousands of people over the coming days.
The racing, of which there’s all manner of disciplines including road, gravel, mountain biking, and even dual slalom, has attracted some huge names in years gone by; the US Postal team a long time ago, and Marianne Vos more recently. The expo attracts just as stellar a field, with Francesco Moser here to promote his brand’s new bike, and rumours of Gary Fisher, Floyd Landis, and more roaming the dusty walkways between the hundreds of booths.
In each of those booths is the culmination of the brand’s hard work, often years worth, and as ever there are some seriously cool things on show. Having followed (literally) in the footsteps of those aforementioned stars by roaming the dusty walkways myself, here are the coolest things I spotted on day one.
Classified does mountain biking, with new shifter and lots to come
I spend a lot of time waxing lyrical about Classified’s two-speed Powershift hub, dubbed the ‘front derailleur killer’. However, one of its downfalls on the road has been the lack of easy integration with Shimano and SRAM, so it often requires a separate shifter. Notably, it’s possible to splice and connect to Di2, which some OEMs already have – as found in my Ridley Grifn review – but it can void your shifter’s warranty, so proceed cautiously.
Classified has recently adapted its tech to mountain biking, and with that it has announced this new ring shifter. I took it for a spin, and the same impressive Powershift tech is now actioned by a light-action machined alloy ring. It’s a small thing, but the attention to detail is impressive.
What’s more, there was a strong inference that there are lots of new things to come in the coming 12 to 18 months, so we’ll be keeping our eyes on the brand for sure.
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