by Nathan Riddle

I’ve been going to the massive bike racing festival known as the Sea Otter Classic for at least 20 years now and it’s impossible not to see trends over the years. Some things stay the same (like the downhill and slalom courses) and some things change. Some of the notable changes that I observed this year were an increase in the number of vendors displaying versus years past, as well as what they were displaying. One of the Sea Otter employees said that the booth count had grown by over one hundred new companies displaying and that there had previously been something like one thousand companies displaying. This was actually observable in the newly paved area dedicated to vendors (light green area on right side of the map) as well as companies being tucked into just about every open space possible. The two things that really struck me though were the number of e-bikes on display as well as the number of dedicated kid’s bikes and kid targeted components.

 Contemplated by B Vivit

by B Vivit

Recently I did a small, overnight bikepacking trip with Liv Bikes on Mt. Hood along with the photographer Gritchelle Fallesgon. The event was run through Gladys Bike Shop in Portland, OR; and we had a few of their mechanics along for the ride as well. This is my down and dirty take on the out-and-back to Black Lake on Liv full suspension bikes with two Giant Bicycles bikepacking bags. The event filled within 3 days after posting, and out of 13 riders(total including Casey from Liv, 1 from Northwest Trail Alliance Trail Sisters and 1 from Fernweh Food Co.), 10 had never bikepacked before. Also out of the 13 riders, 2 people had never mountain biked before. With the amount of NEW riders during this event, I think you can safely say that it was an immense success that created a community around an adventure. Here's the summary, and maybe your shop can sponsor something like this. 

Written By: Jeff Menown / Instructor / UBI Portland Campus

1. Take the time to set up your suspension.

To get the most out of your suspension it needs to be set up correctly. Start out by getting the spring rate right. In doing so you don’t want the dampers function to interfere during this process so make sure any compression adjusters you have are set to the softest settings and any rebound adjusters are set to the fastest settings. A good starting point will be the manufacturer’s recommendations, but they should be considered just that, a starting point.